The Bohemian Girl by Frances Vernon

quitting the Army three weeks after gaining his captaincy in the Coldstream Guards. He now lived alone in very expensive rooms off St James’s Street, and his parents were worried both by his extravagance and by the inefficient taste he had always shown for literature and the arts. Like Maud, he had inherited Lady Blentham’s fine-boned beauty, but like her also, he could not make others see that he was a strikingly handsome person. He was fair and slender, with an aquiline nose, a brief moustache, a sharp expression, light-blue eyes and quickly-moving lips and eyebrows. His complexion was slightly ruddy, like his father’s, and in secret, he blamed this defect on army life.
    ‘Well, Mater! Father – hullo, girls,’ Edward said, walking into the room and pulling Diana’s hair-ribbon. He wore amorning coat, and his very well-brushed hair had been faintly disturbed by the removal of his hat.
    ‘This is a surprise, Edward,’ said Lady Blentham, continuing to wind her wool. ‘Surely you have more amusing things to do than visit us on a Sunday afternoon?’
    ‘Nothin’ at all, Mater.’ When Edward was a child, Angelina had so adored him that she had feared herself guilty of idolatry.
    ‘It is nice to see you,’ said Violet.
    Lord Blentham woke ostentatiously, got to his feet, and went to stand with his back to the fire. He eyed his son, who two days ago had broken an appointment to meet him at Brooks’s for a glass of madeira and a little chat, and said: ‘Very nice, I must say, Edward.’
    ‘As a matter of fact,’ said Edward, spreading his coat-tails and sitting down behind a miniature palm-tree, ‘I thought it best to come today, as I knew you’d all be at home, no Sunday callers. I’ve got some rather important news, don’t you know.’
    ‘Edward …’ Lady Blentham smiled, for she was suddenly hopeful, though she could not quite think why or for what. ‘What is it, good news? Perhaps you mean to travel?’
    Edward twirled his knobbly cane, and put his head on one side to gaze at it, so that his collar cracked. He had always been a man of fashion, ever since he left school. ‘Fact is, I came to tell you that I got married quite recently. I thought you ought to know.’
    There was silence for several moments, until one of the terriers began to yap and had to be shushed by Maud. Violet was the first to speak.
    ‘Teddy dear, who to ? To whom, I mean? You can’t really be married! Goodness, why didn’t you have us as bridesmaids? I do think it’s unkind!’
    ‘Be quiet, Violet!’ said Angelina. She looked at her husband, then said: ‘Girls, I think you had better leave us. You’ll learn about – this marriage of your brother’s in due course, I don’t doubt, but he ought not to have made such an announcement in front of you. Your father and I must decidewhat is to be done.’ She stopped, and fixed her eyes on them.
    Maud, Violet and Diana slowly prepared to leave, and they all looked equally resentful. Diana thought that if she were Maud’s age, she would not submit to Mamma’s pieces of arbitrary tyranny no matter how much she loved her.
    Suddenly, their father said: ‘I don’t see why they should. If Edward’s married, it’s a great pity they can’t be bridesmaids at the wedding, but his marriage does concern them, after all, and we’ve no reason yet to believe it’s a scandalous affair, Angelina!’
    Angelina sat back in her chair, glanced at Diana, and shook her head at her daughters with a sad, angry smile.
    ‘Just so, Pater,’ said Edward, adjusting his monocle.
    ‘Well, Edward, who is this fortunate young woman?’ said Charles, with his hands behind his back, swaying gently back and forth in front of the fire in a way he usually considered to be rather pompous, a habit suitable for a certain type of judge, a comfortable tradesman, or an ambitious politician from the middle class.
    ‘Well, her name used to be Kitty Dupree,’ said Edward.
    ‘Oh… Miss Kitty Dupree? An