because I proved you wrong. Carlin ain’t above my touch, like you claimed. I don’t understand you, aunt! I’d think you’d be pleased your own niece had attracted the attention of one of the highest-bred men in town,”
Although the Dowager Duchess displayed a unique civility toward her scapegrace niece—a civility observed and remarked upon by every member of the Queen Anne Street household, all of whom considered this unprecedented forbearance an awful portent—this ill-judged utterance almost caused her composure to crack. With keen interest, Jaisy watched the Dowager struggle for self-control. “I would indeed be pleased,” Lady Blackwood responded bitterly, “had you done so, miss! Explain to me how it is that you consider it a matter of some encouragement that a gentleman should brand you Fair Fatality. To think that a member of my family should be an object of vulgar tittle-tattle— it is not at all what I am accustomed to, my girl!”
The magnitude of this understatement, Lady Easterling failed to grasp; Jaisy minded not the least if she provided grist for the common mill, and would always prefer scandal to obscurity. Not that Lady Easterling intended to involve herself in outright scandal, for she realized that arrant misconduct could not add to her consequence. Toward a little notoriety, however, Jaisy had no objection. It pleased her to be so very famous that her name was on every tongue. Even if he wished to, Lady Easterling smugly mused, Lord Carlin would not long be able to banish her from mind.
“There!” Triumphantly, Lady Blackwood broke into her niece’s thoughts. “You cannot answer me. Well, you have been very foolish, and exhibited a monstrous lack of address, but all is not yet lost. Put these air-dreams about Carlin out of your head and I fancy we may yet see you established creditably.”
Did Georgiana dare infer that Jaisy could not marry where she wished, must settle for less than the most eligible? Such blatant lack of appreciation could only set up the back of a damsel accustomed to deem herself a nonpareil. Only consideration for Jevon and Miss Valentine, dependent upon Georgiana’s begrudging good will, enabled Lady Easterling to curb her tongue.
“By Jove!” she uttered, nettled, depositing herself gracelessly in a straight-legged gilt chair, and on the floor her chocolate cup. “You are determined that I may not have Carlin. But I am equally determined that I shall! He is a bachelor of the first stare with everything prime about him—precisely the sort of gentleman I have hankered after—and I have decided that no one else will do!” Beneath her aunt’s acerbic gaze, Jaisy propped her elbow on the arm of her chair and dropped her chin into her hand. “Moreover, I’ll wager he’s a prime goer after hounds.”
The dowager unclenched her slender fingers from her chair and pressed them to her brow. “You misunderstand,” she said in surprisingly calm tones. “I see nothing objectionable in the connection, providing you may bring it off, of which I have my doubts! I have known Carlin since he was in short pants. You aren’t the first chit who’s tried to bring him up to scratch. Mayhap you will succeed where the others failed. I wish you might. Now be about your business! I wish to discuss some trifling matters with Sir Phineas.”
That gentleman did not look especially delighted with the prospect, decided Jaisy, as she obediently took her leave. Though startled by her aunt’s abrupt capitulation and even more abrupt dismissal, Jaisy did not consider either circumstance noteworthy. She was not an especially curious girl, her attention being primarily taken up with her own concerns.
The matter of most concern to Lady Easterling, as she made her way up the stone staircase and along the hushed corridor to her bedroom, was not surprisingly a certain viscount. Despite the blithe rejoinders with which she turned aside adverse comments, Jaisy was not altogether
Although the Dowager Duchess displayed a unique civility toward her scapegrace niece—a civility observed and remarked upon by every member of the Queen Anne Street household, all of whom considered this unprecedented forbearance an awful portent—this ill-judged utterance almost caused her composure to crack. With keen interest, Jaisy watched the Dowager struggle for self-control. “I would indeed be pleased,” Lady Blackwood responded bitterly, “had you done so, miss! Explain to me how it is that you consider it a matter of some encouragement that a gentleman should brand you Fair Fatality. To think that a member of my family should be an object of vulgar tittle-tattle— it is not at all what I am accustomed to, my girl!”
The magnitude of this understatement, Lady Easterling failed to grasp; Jaisy minded not the least if she provided grist for the common mill, and would always prefer scandal to obscurity. Not that Lady Easterling intended to involve herself in outright scandal, for she realized that arrant misconduct could not add to her consequence. Toward a little notoriety, however, Jaisy had no objection. It pleased her to be so very famous that her name was on every tongue. Even if he wished to, Lady Easterling smugly mused, Lord Carlin would not long be able to banish her from mind.
“There!” Triumphantly, Lady Blackwood broke into her niece’s thoughts. “You cannot answer me. Well, you have been very foolish, and exhibited a monstrous lack of address, but all is not yet lost. Put these air-dreams about Carlin out of your head and I fancy we may yet see you established creditably.”
Did Georgiana dare infer that Jaisy could not marry where she wished, must settle for less than the most eligible? Such blatant lack of appreciation could only set up the back of a damsel accustomed to deem herself a nonpareil. Only consideration for Jevon and Miss Valentine, dependent upon Georgiana’s begrudging good will, enabled Lady Easterling to curb her tongue.
“By Jove!” she uttered, nettled, depositing herself gracelessly in a straight-legged gilt chair, and on the floor her chocolate cup. “You are determined that I may not have Carlin. But I am equally determined that I shall! He is a bachelor of the first stare with everything prime about him—precisely the sort of gentleman I have hankered after—and I have decided that no one else will do!” Beneath her aunt’s acerbic gaze, Jaisy propped her elbow on the arm of her chair and dropped her chin into her hand. “Moreover, I’ll wager he’s a prime goer after hounds.”
The dowager unclenched her slender fingers from her chair and pressed them to her brow. “You misunderstand,” she said in surprisingly calm tones. “I see nothing objectionable in the connection, providing you may bring it off, of which I have my doubts! I have known Carlin since he was in short pants. You aren’t the first chit who’s tried to bring him up to scratch. Mayhap you will succeed where the others failed. I wish you might. Now be about your business! I wish to discuss some trifling matters with Sir Phineas.”
That gentleman did not look especially delighted with the prospect, decided Jaisy, as she obediently took her leave. Though startled by her aunt’s abrupt capitulation and even more abrupt dismissal, Jaisy did not consider either circumstance noteworthy. She was not an especially curious girl, her attention being primarily taken up with her own concerns.
The matter of most concern to Lady Easterling, as she made her way up the stone staircase and along the hushed corridor to her bedroom, was not surprisingly a certain viscount. Despite the blithe rejoinders with which she turned aside adverse comments, Jaisy was not altogether
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