Lord Harry's Daughter by Evelyn Richardson

Author:Evelyn Richardson [Richardson, Evelyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

They reached Saint Jean just as night was falling. Speen led them to headquarters, where General Curtis greeted the ladies enthusiastically. “It was a magnificent operation, Wellington's finest so far. Our lads were absolutely unstoppable and the French lost heart completely. But come, I have found us a snug little house near the Eglise Saint Jean Baptiste. It is owned by a banker who was only too happy to retire to his country estate once the British arrived, but he has left some of his staff."

He led them to a spacious house whose balconies afforded a view of the ocean and whose reception rooms were spacious enough to please his wife. “Excellent, my dear.” Lady Curtis surveyed the dining salon with satisfaction. “Now we can entertain the duke himself without apologizing for our surroundings."

“Nonsense, my dear. Everyone enjoys your good company and Jorge's excellent cooking so much that they have not the least notion of their surroundings. However, I think you will find that there are considerably fewer fleas and flies here than in Lesaca."

They fell gratefully into their beds and awoke the next morning to the bells of Saint Jean Baptiste, refreshed and ready to establish the household to their liking. Lady Curtis was pleased with the two spritely serving girls who, once they had seen how ladylike and civilized the general's wife and daughter were, fell to their tasks happily enough and were delighted to recommend the local dressmaker to the two ladies.

“I feel certain that with winter setting in we shall be here for some time and if I know the duke, he will soon be entertaining. We would not wish our wardrobes to look as though we had spent the last few months in a small Spanish village,” Lady Curtis confided happily to her daughter.

“Even though we have.” Sophia turned to smile at her mother as she straightened the looking glass Luis had just hung in Lady Curtis's bedchamber.

“Jeanne assures me that this dressmaker is seamstress to the Condesa de Gonsalvo y Coruna, who is extremely a la mode."

“A condesa, here in France?"

“She is the daughter of the Comte de Brissac. According to Jeanne, the de Brissacs are a noble Gascon family of ancient and illustrious lineage. During the revolution they fled across the border into Spain where the daughter, Diane, grew up and married the Conde de Gonsalvo y Coruna. When Napoleon allowed the émigrés to return to France, her father, then a widower, returned to claim their estates while his daughter remained in Spain with her husband. However, the conde was a good deal older than his wife and when he died several years ago, the condesa returned to France. I believe that the de Brissac chateau was destroyed during the revolution, but their hotel in Saint Jean was not, and it is here where the condesa acts as hostess for her father."

“And has her dresses made up by the seamstress you hope to patronize. You certainly learned a good deal of information in your quest for improvements in your wardrobe, Mama.

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