Edwardian Candlelight Omnibus by Beaton M.C

Author:Beaton, M.C.
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Constable & Robinson

CHAPTER TWO

Three weeks had passed since the funeral of Mr. Giles Frayne and the day of Ginny Bloggs’s arrival at Courtney had dawned.

Lord Gerald wished he could wash his hands of the whole thing. But he had promised to keep an eye on Ginny and she was in for quite a dreadful welcome. A large house party had been planned for her arrival, full of the most terrifying members of society, all of whom seemed determined to put the coal merchant’s daughter in her place.

All had been outraged at the idea of a member of the lower-middle classes inheriting Courtney. Lord Gerald had visited the Frayne mansion two days before to find it alive with comments such as:

“Bound to smell of the shop.”

“No breeding, mark my words.”

“Probably got a common accent.”

“How can we socialize with someone who could be one’s scullery maid?”

And so on.

Lord Gerald had been asked to invite guests of his own and had grimly chosen the type of men and women he admired most. He detested what he termed “old-fashioned girls”—the kind interested only in getting married and having babies. He liked his men friends to be cultured and witty and his women friends to have careers and do things. He liked women to wear long, lean lines instead of the depressingly fashionable laces and frills.

He liked them to have well-kept hair and well-kept short nails and to state their views with the forthrightness of men. He abhorred flirting. Romance was a tinsel invention of sentimental poets. Lord Gerald believed firmly in the marriage of true minds. He was by no means a virgin, having experienced several interesting affairs in his early twenties. But now from the height of his thirty-three years he could smile indulgently at the follies of youth. The urgings of the human body were a depressing hangover from prehistoric days and could be easily subdued by either hard work or a cold bath. He had been celibate for four years and had, he reflected, enjoyed every minute of it.

The trouble with Lord Gerald was that he had never had to seek female admiration. His combination of good looks, a title, and a great fortune were enough to secure him the attention of every woman when he walked into a room. He felt more comfortable with his court of hard-bitten, chain-smoking, intelligent women who, he felt sure, admired him for his mind alone. Surprisingly enough he had no liking for Tansy. She was too avaricious for his taste. Too blatantly grasping.

The more he thought of Ginny Bloggs, the more he found he was looking forward to meeting her. A girl from her class of society would have experienced something of the rougher side of life and would surely be no pampered doll. His women friends at least were not snobs. Weren’t they always talking about the equality of birth and opportunity?

He glanced at the clock. Miss Ginny Bloggs was due to arrive at any minute. The least he could do was to be there to meet her.

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