A Lady Compromised by Darcie Wilde

Author:Darcie Wilde [Wilde, Darcie]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2020-08-20T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 24

The Foundation of a Marriage

As to marriage, what a serious, terrible thing!

Maria Edgeworth, Tales of Fashionable Life

Louisa was pleased that Rollins suggested a drive to the lake after luncheon. It would be a chance for them to talk and perhaps allow a little breathing space and privacy. Even better, since they were to be married in two weeks, Aunt Showell had relaxed the rules and allowed Louisa to take only her maid as chaperone.

Louisa had not met her fiancé at a ball or any grand entertainment. It had been at a perfectly ordinary dinner on a perfectly ordinary night at Casselmaine’s London house. Casselmaine had been inviting bankers and investors since the start of the Season, trying to put together yet more money for the drainage works, and Mr. Rollins and his father had been among those invited.

It was the Season, so normally Louisa would have been out at some party or entertainment. That particular night, however, the invitations, or perhaps the fates, had conspired, and she dined at home.

She noticed Firth Rollins at the table. Then, she thought him amiable, and unexceptional. It was a conversation she overheard later in the hallway that led her to believe this amiable young man who might be useful to her cousin’s plans needed some assistance. Or rather, his family did.

Louisa tracked Rollins down in the small gallery where Devon kept a few obligatory Renaissance-style paintings and family portraits. She approached casually and pretended to stop to examine the landscape that he was also pretending to examine.

“Good evening, Mr. Rollins.”

“Good evening, Miss Winterbourne,” he replied.

Louisa waved her fan. “It is very close in the drawing room, is it not?”

“Very,” he replied. “I find it much cooler out here.”

“There is something you should know, Mr. Rollins.”

He lifted one brow. “I am all attention, Miss Winterbourne.”

“I suppose I should say I shouldn’t be saying this, but since I am going to, I won’t bother. If your father is giving out loans to Lord Howell, he should stop. Now.”

She waited for him to ask how such a little girl could possibly know anything about money, loans, or anything at all. But Rollins just looked down at her with his drooping eyes and nodded.

“Thank you,” he said seriously. “I’ll look into the matter.”

Two weeks later, Aunt Showell came to her with a note. “This is for you, enclosed to me, from a Mr. Rollins.”

The handwriting was neat and unadorned and rather small, more suited to writing figures in ledgers than notes to young ladies in their second Season. It was also quite brief and to the point.

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