The Duke's Marriage Arrangement by Jane Grey

Author:Jane Grey [Grey, Jane]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-02-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Life had become surprisingly strange for Agnes. When she returned to the Claremont manor, she returned not as a penniless illustrator but as its mistress. Amelia was there to warmly welcome her. Together, she, Jason, and the Hornes spent a wonderful week together, walking during the day and playing a few hands of whist at night.

She had just gotten settled in with the leisure of her days when Jason departed for London. She still reddened a little, thinking of their passionate goodbye, but something about his leave taking bothered her.

“When will I see you again?” she asked the night before his departure.

“The season ends in May, so likely around that point, but don't fret, darling. I'll be sure to return and check-in on you from time to time.”

She swallowed her protests because it was their last night, but now she wondered what was happening. Jason had many business affairs that needed to be tended to, and she could hardly disagree that he kept her in style.

Ever since Jason left, the house played host to a number of skilled dressmakers, cobblers, and milliners, sent straight back from the great city itself. They had installed themselves and promptly gotten to work, the result being that she now possessed enough clothes to cover a small village of women. She had nightgowns, day gowns, evening dresses, tailored stockings, hats of all kinds and plenty of other things she could hardly begin to name. At some point, one sharp-eyed French seamstress had demanded to know what colors she liked. Agnes stuttered something about loving sky blue and gold, and now she had half a dozen dresses in those colors.

The dressmakers were severe women, intent on seeing her dressed as befit her station. When she hazarded that she might have enough gowns, one had looked at her over a pair of rounded spectacles with her eyes narrowed. “Your husband, do you wish to keep him?”

Agnes blinked. “I beg your pardon?”

“London is the finest city in the world. You are very beautiful, but you are not only competing with the women of London but also with their setting. Can you afford to look less beautiful than a star in the heavens?”

While she wasn't sure what the woman meant exactly, the gist had been quite clear. She swallowed her protests and allowed the woman to keep dressing her.

Through it all, Amelia was her rock, seeing to her comfort, helping her learn how to run the household. In some ways, she saw Amelia as the sister she never had; although, given all the woman had to teach her, she could easily have been her mother too.

Still, there was something empty about it. She tried to occupy her days with reading and walking and even drawing again. Now there was no impetus to earn her living, drawing could be a pleasure again, rather than a stressful nightmare of pleasing a dozen different people at the journals.

The emptiness was with her throughout the day, but at night, it was particularly sharp.

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