The Beast's Beauty (The Bluestocking War) by Eva Devon & Maire Claremont

Author:Eva Devon & Maire Claremont [Devon, Eva & Claremont, Maire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Historical, Romance
Publisher: Bard Productions
Published: 2023-01-23T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Politicians, much to Jane’s astonishment, were easy.

Or at least that’s what she was finding.

Mostly, they loved to drink and hear themselves speak in long-winded monologues, shouting and cheering or arguing over beef and claret.

But they enjoyed her presiding over their dinners. And that was something she appreciated very much indeed as she found herself back in society.

The days that had passed over the last several weeks had gone by like a whirlwind. Mrs. Hamilton had been a jewel. They had planned several dinners to start out, a grand ball halfway through the Season, and several smaller affairs.

Over the last weeks, they’d had multiple political dinners with the House of Lords in full session.

They had invited all the members of the Whig Party because that was her husband’s affiliation. There had been twenty to thirty gentlemen every night.

She had sat at one end of the exceptionally long, polished table and Brookhaven had sat at the other.

They had listened to speech after speech after speech. And of course, this could grow wearying, but the truth was that she found it all exhilarating because she felt as if they were standing on the cusp of something.

It was a moment in the world when they had one foot in the old ways and one in the new. Gone were the days when kings could rule as tyrants. Something else was coming, a time when the people had more say, a time when the people were pulling themselves out of poverty and gaining access to education. Yes, they could demand more for themselves and their children.

And she, for one, reveled in it, because she could see the direction in which society was moving. It was moving forward, not backward. Gone was the time when peasants needed permission from their lords to even leave an estate.

Now? Now those peasants, they weren’t called peasants anymore. They were workers. They were people. They were individuals who by the Declaration of Independence in the United States of America were due the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Such a document had never been made here in England yet, but the philosophy of Europe, Montaigne, Burke—all of it suggested that was also where England was moving.

And she felt such glory in it because she was also certain it meant that women would have more independence too.

Surely, that was where they were going.

Women would have more. If not herself, perhaps her daughter or her daughter’s daughter would have the same rights as a man. At the very least, they would not have to be afraid of being ruled by their husbands and fathers as they were now. They would not need to fear being afraid of losing their fortunes or their children.

They would own things, have rights, have the right to life, freedom, and the right to be happy.

Of course, though all such promises had been made on another continent, that document was a philosophical treatise of ideas. In her mind, Jefferson’s work was not just for a few Americans.

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