About a Rogue (Bonus Short Story Included) by Caroline Linden

Author:Caroline Linden
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2020-06-29T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

If asked, Bianca would have said that of course she had friends in Marslip. Amelia, for one, had been her compatriot in all manner of childhood pranks. Cathy, her pillar of family, was the one person she told all her secrets to. Then there were her cousins, who came to dine and would commiserate when her father was in a temper, and even some of the working women, with whom she had set up the Perusia school for employees’ children.

Nothing and no one, though, were anything like Lady Dalway and Mrs. Farquhar.

They called upon her almost every day after the dinner party, sweeping in like a perfumed hurricane of feathers, silks, and gossip. Sometimes Lady Carswell came, sometimes they brought someone else. They laughed and talked so gaily, Bianca found herself being drawn into their enthusiasms.

It had been Mrs. Farquhar—who had begged Bianca to call her Clara—who suggested the masquerade. “Don’t you remember how amusing it was last year?” she said to Lady Dalway.

Lady Dalway—Serafina—gave one of her perfect, dimpled smiles. “I do! But Clara, we mustn’t overwhelm dear Bianca. She’s never been to Vauxhall, you know.”

Bianca’s ears pricked up at the mention of the famous pleasure gardens. “Is a masquerade terribly scandalous?”

“Of course not,” cried Serafina, at the same time Clara gave a tiny nod, her eyes gleaming with glee. “Well, perhaps they can be,” the countess amended, having seen Clara’s gesture. “There are places where one mustn’t go, at least not alone. But I daresay Max wouldn’t stray from your side all evening, so that is of no consequence.”

“Royal princes and ladies of the realm attend Vauxhall,” Clara assured her. “Would they do that if it were appalling?”

Bianca had already deduced that Clara had a slightly naughty, fun-loving nature. In fairness, Bianca herself had been the same when she was younger. The fact that Clara didn’t seem to have outgrown it, as Bianca had done, she put down to the effects of London society. Bianca had become more sensible because she wanted to work in the Perusia workshops, and being a madcap girl hadn’t helped.

Still, part of her was fascinated by this talk of masquerade. “What is different in a masquerade?” she asked.

“It’s ever so exciting.” Clara leaned forward eagerly. “You may dress as anything, or anyone, you like! And all with a mask, so no one will know your name.”

“What did you dress as last year?” Bianca was intrigued and could not deny it.

Serafina laughed. “She dressed as a nun! Can you imagine? It gave Farquhar the start of his life, I don’t wonder!”

Clara only smiled, a touch smugly. “I thought I made a splendid Reverend Mother.”

Bianca wasn’t sure about that; religious figures were not to be mocked, in her upbringing. She turned to Serafina. “And you?”

Her dimples flashed again. “A queen! I looked very striking.”

Serafina would be a queen; she had a way of commanding attention without any effort Bianca could discern. “I haven’t got anything half that elegant,” Bianca said. “I don’t want people to think I’ve gone as a simple country girl, when I’ve only worn my best gown.

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