The Northern Lady by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781788634298
Publisher: Canelo Books
Published: 2019-08-12T00:00:00+00:00

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After the engagement party, it began to be noticed that Miss Trent and Albert Darford were seeing rather a lot of each other, and were chatting with the ease of people who are on very comfortable terms. Rumours began to spread of an impending engagement in that quarter.

Albert, who still hadn’t made up his mind whether to launch into matrimony, which he had carefully avoided for the last ten of his thirty years, did nothing to scotch the rumours, but neither did he make any attempt to woo Cassie. It was enough, for the moment, to enjoy the novel sensation of making friends with a woman, of simply enjoying her company and her refreshingly different views on life.

Lady Berrinden went round looking like a cat that had swallowed a bucket of cream. Never had her family found her so easy to live with! Never had she spoken so caressingly to her children! She began to make plans for the coming-out of her second daughter, Marianne, in two years’ time. Of course, Marianne didn’t have Susannah’s looks, so she couldn’t be expected to make as good a match, but she was pretty enough, when properly dressed, and as biddable as her elder sister. She must be persuaded to practice the pianoforte more rigorously, however. She had a good ear for music, though her voice was nothing like as strong as Susannah’s, but her present standard of performance wouldn’t do.

Then there was Richard. He was presently travelling in Europe, which was such a foolish thing to do and why he had insisted on going, Amelia would never understand, for she’d told him straight that he was not even to think of travelling in countries which had so recently known the ravages of warfare. But he’d gone his own sweet way regardless. He was even worse than his father, who could also be as stubborn as a mule. Henry had started drinking heavily again whenever he was out of her sight and was making a fool of himself regularly at his club.

When Richard returned, they must find a suitable bride for him. She had several girls in mind, all from good families, of course, but more important, all with respectable fortunes of their own. She and her son might disagree about the benefits of foreign travel, but they were as one in their desire to restore the family fortunes to something more than ‘adequate’.

So much did Lady Berrinden allow herself to become immersed in dreams of further triumphs that she failed to notice the strain on Susannah’s face, or the fact that her eldest daughter was becoming daily thinner and had quite lost the roses in her cheeks.

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