Phoebe's Duty by Lesley-Anne McLeod

Author:Lesley-Anne McLeod [McLeod, Lesley-Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 19th Century, England, family dynamics, Regency Romance
ISBN: 9781601742193
Publisher: Uncial Press
Published: 2016-09-16T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIVE

The Honourable Tobias Wavendon was true to his word. Phoebe saw nothing more of him. She had accepted that Mr. Wavendon had a twin mere moments after he departed. When one knew what question to ask, it was easy to discover from other stallholders the truth of the Wavendons. There were identical twin brothers, both gentlemen on the town, one a jokester and a rapscallion, the other an altogether more serious man of address. They were but two and twenty, handsome and sought-after by every hostess in Mayfair.

Cecily was enthralled by the twins, and displayed a desire to discuss each scrap of information about them in every detail. Phoebe quickly tired of such conversation. After considering the affair carefully, she warned Cecily to divulge no more than the bare bones of the matter to the family at home. The Wavendon brothers were nothing to them, she reminded her sister. They had only to complete Tobias Wavendon's special order, and they need never speak of him or his brother again. It soon became evident that Cecily was not pleased with her sister's strictures. The days passed and, as much as a cheerful fourteen year old could, she brooded.

But business at the Soho Bazaar was thriving. As the days lengthened and the weather mellowed, as spring beckoned and the opening of the fashionable Season neared, crowds seeking frivolity and novelty crowded the Bazaar. The Racksons were hard put to keep their counter full of stock, and that was a mixed blessing. Though the money they earned was welcome and eased their life in many ways, the continuous labour of sewing and contriving the goods took its toll on them all. Phoebe and her mother worried about the children who, though they were eating better, were foregoing the leisure and physical activity that would have benefitted them. Jonah was studying too hard, Cecily was spending long hours at the Bazaar and the two youngest, having suffered a mild catarrah, were long in recovering.

At the back of Phoebe's mind, through her busy days, was the fact that she would see Tobias Wavendon again and that pleased her. He had made a special order, and the items were nearly ready for him. With dismay, she admitted to herself that she would be interested to see him now that she knew the truth and understood their exchanges better. She rather thought she owed him an apology also; she had been discourteous and unkind. He had been as much a victim of his brother's unkind tricks as had she. In discussing the affair briefly with her mother, she had come to see that the twin, Matthias, had not really seen her at all, except as a means to annoy his brother. She had been no more than a pawn in a cruel joke.

Phoebe was thinking of this as they left their counter one evening shortly after six o'clock. Now that the sun did not set until after seven o'clock, she and Cecily had dispensed with Jonah's company, and carried their light baskets home alone.

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