The House of Women by Anne Brear

Author:Anne Brear
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-9567901-9-4
Publisher: Knox Robinson Publishing
Published: 2011-06-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Diana sat like a stunned rabbit trapped by a fox while Letitia directed a mutinous glare at her eldest sister.

The silence, after Grace’s statement that she wished to marry the butler, continued as the women in the drawing room gazed at each other in utter surprise.

“What have I done to deserve such ungrateful daughters?” Diana managed to babble. “You cannot mean it, Grace?”

“Do you want to me to come back home, Mama?” Grace asked, from her stance by the hearth.

“Well, having you back would be lovely, indeed, but as for you marrying Doyle, I will not allow it.” Colour drained from her mother’s face.

“You have no say in the matter, Mama,” Grace informed her. “I am simply asking you whether you would like me to come back home, even though I will be married to Doyle. If you do not, then I will leave here today and never return.”

“You are not with child are you?”

“No, Mama, I am not.”

“Then, why?”

Grace sighed. “Because I wish to be married to a good and decent man and have a family of my own. There is no one in our society I admire and if I wait much longer no one will want me.”

“Nonsense! You hold your age well. There would be plenty of men wanting your hand.”

Grace ignored the slight. “Thank you, Mama.”

Letitia sauntered over to the drinks cabinet and poured herself a sherry from the only bottle there.

Diana scowled. “Letitia dear, it’s a little early in the day, don’t you think?”

“I’ve received a shock, Mama,” she replied lightly.

Diana turned her attention back to Grace, her worry over Letitia’s drinking evident in her agonized eyes. “Why must you do this to us, Grace? We are only now regaining some respectability in society. What do you think will happen to us when this is known?”

Letitia snarled at Grace. “You were always so high and mighty, yet all the time you were lifting your skirts for the butler. I have two whores for sisters now, have I?”

“Letitia!” Diana cried.

As the others gasped, Grace raised an eyebrow. “I am no whore, Letitia, nor is Gabriella.”

“Really?” Letitia laughed, her eyes over bright. “Do the lower classes have a certain way with them that our class does not? I might try one myself.”

“You have filthy tongue, sister,” Grace told her.

Diana banged her hand on the arm on the chair. “Stop this at once!”

“Do you love him?” This sudden question came from Phoebe, whose eyes shone with tears.

Grace smiled at her. “I think him a fine man, dearest, and I know of no other who would make me happy now.”

Phoebe glanced at their mother and back again. “So you are not bothered by his low status?”

“No, I am not.”

Phoebe nodded and then looked under her lashes at Faith and Emma Kate. She rose and kissed Grace’s cheek. “You deserve to be happy.”

After Phoebe left, silence once more settled on the room.

Diana wiped a shaky hand over her face. “Will you at least not rush the decision and think

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