The American Duchess by Joan Wolf

Author:Joan Wolf [Wolf, Joan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Regency Romance
ISBN: 9780451119186
Google: INUwAgAACAAJ
Amazon: 0451153642
Barnesnoble: 0451153642
Goodreads: 958478
Publisher: Signet
Published: 1982-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

For leaving apart what honor it was to all of us to serve such a lord as he whom I declared unto you right now, every man conceived in his mind an high contentation every time we came into the duchess’ sight.

—The Book of the Courtier

The unofficial government convention broke up at the end of August with everyone looking forward to pleasant leisure doings in the country. Tracy discovered to her dismay that it was a custom for political and society hostesses to entertain large parties of people at their estates for a week or more, but Adrian assured her that they would be spending a quiet month or two at Steyning Castle before undertaking any more socializing. She was delighted to hear this news; the last month had been rather a strain.

Aside from the politics, there were other aspects to life in English high society that Tracy found strange and upsetting. The political issue appeared to have been solved, but other problems remained. For instance, the amount of gambling that went on in her husband’s world shocked her to her core.

Tracy was a Yankee; she had a value for money. She knew where it came from—it came from hard work and effort. The sight of dozens of glittering aristocrats sitting up all night over a table of faro, winning and losing fantastic sums of money, disturbed her profoundly. Her husband did not seem to be interested in gambling, but she was uneasy. She said something of the sort to him once, tentatively, and had been surprised by the abruptness of his response. She said nothing more to him about gambling but the uneasiness remained.

The other aspect of English upper class life that shocked her was the promiscuity. She did not think she would ever in her life forget the casual words of Lady Fanny Melburn when she answered Tracy’s question about the identity of a very pretty young woman who was talking to the Duke. “Oh, that’s Sophia Hawley. One of the Hawlian Miscellany, you know.”

Tracy did not know. “The Hawlian Miscellany?” she asked, puzzled.

“The Hawley family,” her informant answered readily. “The children of the Countess of Cambridge.” Lady Fanny laughed lightly. “They are called the Hawlian Miscellany on account of the variety of fathers alleged to be responsible for their existence.”

Tracy, a true daughter of Puritan New England, was horrified. Marital infidelity was almost beyond the scope of her comprehension. Yet, once her eyes were opened, she saw it all around her in London. Among married women the practice of having lovers was too common even to stir much comment. The only rule, it seemed, was that one must keep up appearances.

This was a subject she never broached to Adrian. She was afraid to. She was afraid to find out what he thought on the subject.

She was very glad to be going home to Steyning Castle. She wanted to have him to herself for a while.

Unfortunately, life at Steyning Castle was not quite the reprise of her honeymoon that Tracy had hoped for.

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