LITMIR.BIZ

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      ‘Well, that explains the carriage, then,’ said Stepmama, hurrying back to her chair and flapping her hands to Sukey and Georgiana to adopt similarly domestic poses.

      When the Pargetters tumbled into the room, flushed from climbing the stairs, Stepmama pressed her hands to her bosom in feigned surprise.

      ‘My dear Lady Havelock, how good of you to call. What an unexpected pleasure!’

      ‘I hope you don’t mind. I have also brought my husband’s half-sister, Miss Julia Durant,’ she said rather breathlessly, as a rather spotty girl who didn’t look old enough to have emerged from the schoolroom came in behind her.

      As soon as everyone had dropped the necessary curtsies, Dotty and Lotty made straight for the sofa on which Sukey was sitting. They were soon busily discussing the gowns they planned to wear for the rout they were all attending that evening.

      Mrs Pargetter and Lady Havelock sat on the sofa closest to the fire. Stepmama joined them and immediately launched a barrage of questions. Ever since they’d visited Durant House, all sorts of people had approached Stepmama, wanting to know how Lady Havelock had managed to transform the place from a dreary mausoleum into what they now declared was a showpiece. And now that she had the chance to find out, Stepmama was wasting no time furnishing herself with as much information as she could.

      Which left Georgiana to entertain the spotty schoolgirl, who’d wandered across the room to the only remaining sofa and dropped on to it sulkily.

      Once Georgiana had made sure all the others had cups of tea and as many biscuits as they wanted, she took refreshments over to Miss Durant. The girl took her cup of tea with a polite enough smile, but when Georgiana made as if to sit next to her, the smile vanished and was replaced by a scowl.

      ‘If you’re planning to start talking about frills and furbelows, don’t bother,’ she growled. ‘And I don’t want to hear another word about paint or plaster or curtains or upholstery either.’

      ‘I didn’t have any topic in mind when I came to sit here,’ said Georgiana, promptly deciding that such frank speech deserved a frank answer. ‘It is just that, before much longer, there are bound to be some gentlemen callers and I’d rather not give them a chance to think they can sit down next to me.’

      Miss Durant’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. ‘Don’t you want to have admirers, then? Isn’t that why you’ve come to London? To find a husband?’

      ‘It is why I’ve come to London,’ she conceded with a sigh. ‘Yes.’

      ‘But you don’t like the way they will squash you on sofas if they think they can get away with it,’ said Miss Durant, demonstrating a quick understanding.

      ‘Good heavens, do they do that to you, too? But you’re only...’

      ‘Fifteen, yes, but that doesn’t stop them. In fact, it positively encourages some of them, because they think I’m too young and ignorant to see what they’re about.’

      ‘Good heavens,’ said Georgiana again, too stunned to think of anything more original. ‘That’s...that’s...disgraceful. Are all men such...?’

      ‘Bounders,’ said Miss Durant resentfully. ‘Yes, they are. All of them except my brother, that is. Gregory is a regular trump.’ She half-turned to Georgiana, her face coming alight. ‘He even married her,’ she said, nodding her head in Lady Havelock’s direction, ‘to save me from the perfectly ghastly man my stepmother was going to marry. And now I live under his roof all those scabby fortune-hunters will think twice about trying anything with me. Gregory would shoot them dead,’ she finished with relish.

      ‘Would he?’

      ‘Oh, yes. He’s already fought two duels and is a crack shot.’

      ‘That’s all very well, but...’

      ‘I suppose you’re going to say I shouldn’t be talking about duels and fortune hunters wanting you to elope, and stepfathers wanting to...’ She clammed up.

      ‘No. That wasn’t what I was going to say at all,’ said Georgiana indignantly. ‘I was actually just wondering why your brother hasn’t taught you to defend yourself, that’s all.’

      ‘Defend myself? What do you mean? Shoot a pistol?’ Her eyes lit up.

      ‘Oh, ah, yes, I did mean that, but—’ She darted a guilty glance in Stepmama’s direction. Oh, dear. She hoped this rather bloodthirsty girl wasn’t going to go home and tell Lord Havelock that Miss Georgiana Wickford had suggested she take up shooting pistols as a hobby. Stepmama would be livid.

      Miss Durant followed the direction of her guilty glance and cocked her head to one side. ‘She’s the kind of woman who lives by a set of silly rules and regulations, and thinks girls shouldn’t step one foot outside them, isn’t she?’

      ‘Yes, but how did you...?’

      ‘Oh, I’ve had dozens of stepmothers just like her,’ said the girl scornfully. ‘Not a one of them could break me, though.’

      Georgiana could instantly see Edmund’s hand in this meeting. Only last night he’d said she ought to mix with girls with whom she had something in common. Not only did Julia have an aversion to importunate suitors, but she also had experience of overbearing stepmothers.

      What was more, even though part of what she’d just said was clearly an exaggeration, it certainly confirmed a suspicion that was slowly forming in Georgiana’s mind. ‘You are...what they call...a hellion, aren’t you?’

      ‘Yes,’ said Miss Durant with pride.

      ‘I...I think I envy you,’ said Georgiana, faintly.

      Miss Durant’s upper lip curled in scorn.

      ‘No, truly,’ said Georgiana, with feeling. ‘I have only ever succeeded in being a bit of a hoyden.’ She’d crumbled under the pressure to behave the way Stepmama decreed. Not because of the beatings, but because of the more subtle pressure exerted by Sukey’s distress and Papa’s disappointment. Yet Julia was proudly defiant. Here was a girl who would say exactly what she thought, and behave exactly as she pleased, no matter what.

      For a moment, her heart lifted. For Edmund was sending her the message that he believed it was perfectly acceptable to be her true self.

      Or... Her heart plummeted. Was the message one of censure? Was he telling her that he was disappointed in her for not sticking to her guns, the way Miss Durant had clearly done, no matter how many stepmothers had attempted to ‘improve’ her?

      While she was wondering exactly what message Edmund had been trying to convey, through Miss Durant, the girl in question was laughing at her.

      ‘You?’ She scanned the stupid mass of curls clustering round Georgiana’s face, the frills and flounces abounding on her fashionable gown and the dainty slippers on her feet.

      ‘Yes, me,’ protested Georgiana hotly. ‘I might be dressed up like a Christmas goose, fattened for market, but that is only because she is determined to get me off her hands.’

      ‘I’ve had stepmothers like that, too,’ said Miss Durant with a twist to her lips. ‘Trying to make you into a lady. Strapping you into corsets and swathing you in muslin so flimsy you can hardly go for a decent walk let alone—’

      ‘Climb a tree,’ Georgiana finished for her.

      They sighed, in unison.

      ‘Do you hate London as much as I do?’ Miss Durant asked.

      ‘Probably more. At least nobody is trying to make you get married.’

      ‘No, I shall be spared that for a few years yet,’ Miss Durant agreed. ‘But in the meantime, what is a girl supposed to do? I mean, it wouldn’t be so bad if I could get out for a decent ride, but ladies aren’t allowed to go out without a groom—’

      ‘Or have a

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