Letters to a Lady by Joan Smith

Author:Joan Smith [Smith, Joan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Regency Romance
Publisher: Belgrave House
Published: 1987-10-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Diana did not awaken early in the morning. It wanted only ten minutes of eight when she opened her eyes. It immediately darted into her head that if she hurried, she might catch Harrup before he left for the office. She bounded from bed and scrambled into her gown. It was while she sat in front of the mirror brushing her hair that she asked herself why she was in such a panic to see him before he left. She had nothing in particular to say to him. They had had a long cose the night before. All the little wrinkles between them were once more ironed out to their mutual satisfaction, yet something in her was eager to run downstairs with her hair still in tangles and see him.

She could find no cause for her eagerness. It was just a vague feeling that she wanted to see him again before—what? She would see him at dinner. Her hasty departure was no longer spoken of. But at dinner they would not be alone—possibly they would not even be together. Harrup might dine out with Lady Selena and the Grodens. She hastened to the head of the stairs and was about to set her foot on the first step when she heard Harrup taking his leave of the butler.

“I’m off, Stoker. Say good morning to Miss Beecham for me. Tell her—oh, never mind. I’m not sure I’ll be able to return for luncheon. Make sure that she and Miss Peabody are comfortable and have whatever they desire.”

Stoker mumbled a reply, and Harrup left. Diana returned to her room feeling cheated. She had missed him—he would probably not be home for luncheon. She wouldn’t see him till evening. A whole long day to be got in, somehow. At least, Harrup had left a secondhand “good morning” for her. He had been thinking of her. Diana was reluctant to look into her reasons for the feeling of emptiness that was within her.

She went to see how Peabody’s earache was progressing, only to learn her chaperon was still afflicted with some pain.

“I shan’t stay in bed all day, Diana,” Peabody told her, “but pray do not expect me to go out of doors, with that hard London wind blowing. It is the nasty Thames that fills the air with moisture and does the mischief. I pray Ronald escapes it. You must send a note off and ask him to take you about the city.”

Diana made sympathetic sounds, but she found no pleasure in a contemplation of seeing London with Ronald. Again she asked herself why. Her occasional trips to London were the highlights of a dull life. This one was proving more interesting than usual. Life was sumptuous under Harrup’s roof, despite their quarrels. A quarrel was not something Diana ever dreaded. And still she hesitated to look into the cause for her gloom.

Her mind skated around the issue while she took breakfast alone. Unhappiness with Harrup’s coming marriage to Lady Selena certainly accounted for a part of her mood.

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