Aunt Sophie's Diamonds by Joan Smith

Author:Joan Smith [Smith, Joan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Regency Romance
Publisher: Belgrave House
Published: 1977-07-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Sir Hillary was out in his estimation if he thought he would be kept waiting by the ladies. They were from their beds at six, had dressed, eaten, and done all that was necessary before seven-thirty, save throw on their bonnets and pelisses. They therefore had an impatient wait for the appearance of Thoreau’s traveling carriage and team of four. Miss Bliss had risen early to see them off, knowing Mrs. Milmont would not be on hand.

“Everything all right?” Hillary asked her when he was admitted to the house.

She nodded quietly and slipped into his hand that same parcel he had given her the previous day under the pretext of taking his hat.

“We’ve been ready and waiting this age,” Loo told him.

As promised, the gentlemen had removed their armbands, and it was a merry party that set out for the metropolis. The ladies did not look precisely fashionable, but in their best bonnets and pelisses, they were at least respectable. Gab and Loo sat on one side of the banquette in the carriage, and Claudia and Thoreau on the other. Both girls found it exceedingly pleasant to have a sheepskin rug beneath their feet, a snug blanket over their laps, and satin squabs to cushion their backs and heads.

“What luxury!” Claudia marveled. “This seems a positively decadent carriage.”

“We have more debauchery in store for you,” Hillary promised. “Hot coffee in this wicker basket you see here on the floor, and some scones, still warm from the oven. I had my cook make them specially this morning, in case the crumbs at Swallowcourt were not sufficient for two growing girls.”

“Sir Hillary always does things in style,” Luane informed her cousin. “He doesn’t often exert himself, but when he does take you anywhere, you may be sure he will not stint.”

“Thank you,” Hillary said with a quelling look at his ward, who smiled sweetly back at him.

“Let’s eat, before everything gets cold,” Loo suggested. Whatever they had managed to find to eat at Swallowcourt did not appear to have dulled their appetites, for every drop of the coffee and every bit of the scones was dispatched within twenty minutes.

Settling back amidst the pagan luxury, Claudia said to her companion, “I take it you talked Jonathon into staying the night? I didn’t hear him come home.”

“He’s still sleeping, or was when I left. The accounts are in such a state we were up till midnight trying to make any sense of them. Old Sophie was a dreadful rackrent. If Jonathon had known the way she was letting the whole place go to ruin, he would have been justified in having in the authorities. An entailed estate is subject to minimal maintenance. I mentioned it to him more than once, but he was afraid it would turn her against him. I never thought he had much hope of getting anything more than the estate.”

“It seems a pity, and he can’t sell it either since it’s entailed.”

“Nor rent it, unless he brings it into some sort of order.

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