Maggie MacKeever by Sweet Vixen

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

Chapter 14

The dowager duchess was far too well aware of her own consequence to be the least gratified by the stream of noble visitors who presented themselves at Bellamy House on the day after Clio’s coming-out ball, and gazed unawed upon such illustrious and influential callers as Lady Jersey, the Countess of Lieven, Lords Petersham and Alvanley, and even Beau Brummell. Though totally devoid of any of the more praiseworthy virtues, Sapphira did possess a very lively appreciation of the absurd. With her favorite caller of them all seated nearby, and privy to her various acerbic comments, Sapphira allowed herself to be entertained by the raree show that was being enacted in her front drawing-room.

Excepting the duke, the entire family was present, though Evelyn and Nidget were speedily banished when the mongrel took loud exception to Lady Jersey’s bonnet; but Sapphira had no thought to spare for the volatile Silence’s sensibilities. She was far more interested in Tess, who was commanding much more attention than young Clio, a state with which neither of them seemed particularly pleased. Tess looked well enough, Sapphira conceded charitably, in that round robe of lilac cambric, but she couldn’t hold a candle to Clio, exquisite in a morning gown of fine white French lawn. All the same, Tess was being besieged by the gentlemen while Clio sat talking in a desultory manner to Lucille. It was deuced queer, concluded Sapphira, wondering what it meant.

The dowager duchess was not the only one to ponder Tess’s apparent success, and not the least of the others thus puzzled was Tess herself. It did not surprise her that the gentlemen were polite to her, for she knew them all to be friends of the Duke of Bellamy and Sir Morgan, and assumed that they had been asked to be kind to the country mouse. She thought nothing of it, though she appreciated the effort to make her feel comfortable, and when Brummell engaged her in a discussion of Wellington’s progress in the Peninsula, acquitted herself quite nicely with a knowledgeable discussion of the situation at Badajoz. The Beau—who, unknown to Tess, neither held a kindness for country bumpkins nor made a practice of obliging his friends—listened and smiled rather enigmatically, then with professed reluctance and an odd glance at Sir Morgan took his leave. This was the sign for a general exodus. Only Sir Morgan, Shamus, and Cedric remained behind. Conversation briefly lagged, then Drusilla—stunning in a Spanish robe of pea-green muslin for which she had not yet paid—suggested getting up a party to attend the Royal Opera House. The idea was seized upon eagerly.

One of the visitors, however, could not look upon such dissipation complacently. “I have a poor view of music,” stated Shamus for Tess’s unwilling ear alone. “I fear it often draws a person to mix with much company he would otherwise avoid.”

“Ah!” replied Tess, who had been hard pressed to greet his more inane utterances with civility. “Then I must allow myself to be guided by you, and refrain from exposing myself to contamination by remaining safely at home.

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