Kitty by Chapman Catherine E

Author:Chapman, Catherine E. [Chapman, Catherine E.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2013-01-17T08:00:00+00:00

* * *

The morning after the ball, Mr Lewis took his wife and two younger daughters out for a brisk walk up to the Royal Crescent. He felt some fresh air was in order after an evening cooped up in the Assembly Rooms and, furthermore, he had discovered that Clara had not yet viewed the architectural phenomenon – he decreed that she must see it.

“Mr Lewis, have you no regard for my poor ankles?” Mrs Lewis complained.

“Is it all uphill?” Clara seconded.

“On the way there, yes, but on the way back, Clara, it will be all downhill,” Mr Lewis advised her.

“I never told you, Mama, how last night, when we said our farewells, Mrs Grimes declared that Cinders and Captain Clayton were the most handsome young couple in all Bath–”

“Captain Clayton and Lucinda are not a couple, Clara!”

“And honestly, Mama, the way Kitty looked at Captain Northwood, when he kissed her hand at the end of the evening, was positively sinful.”

“Clara!” Mrs Lewis exclaimed.

“But it was!”

“Clara, Kitty is no more capable of looking at a man sinfully than are you of detecting a sinful look,” Mr Lewis scolded. “Good heavens,” he continued, addressing his wife, “how are these girls become so wild and fanciful?”

She didn’t reply.

“I can only think they have inherited it from your side of the family as the Lewis name has ever been a bastion of propriety.” Turning back to Clara, he announced, “That’s the first and last time you attend a dance at the Assembly Rooms.”

“Oh Papa!” she cried, aggrieved.

“Did you speak with Captain Northwood last night, Father?” Kitty asked.

“I must admit, I barely saw the fellow all evening.”

“No doubt your father, left to his own devices, spoke only to those with whom he held a wager–”

“Mrs Grimes said that, had she been blessed with a daughter (which she was not – she was never blessed with any children), she could not have been blessed with a daughter more agreeably verbal than I!” Clara pronounced proudly.

“Ah, here we are,” Mr Lewis said as they rounded a corner. “There Clara; that is the Royal Crescent.”

“Which is?” Clara responded, unimpressed.

“A rather fine row of houses in a semi-circular formation, my dear,” Mr Lewis explained.

“Um,” was Clara’s only praise for it as she scanned her eye around its perimeter. “Look!” she announced animatedly, “Captains Clayton and Northwood, I do declare, and how wonderful they appear in full naval uniform!”

And, before her parents had the opportunity to remind her of propriety, Clara had set off running around the Crescent to greet them.

Eventually, Kitty and her parents met with the officers themselves, Mr Lewis wary what discussion had already taken place between Clara and the captains, in particular because the officers looked so amused.

After pleasantries had been exchanged, Captain Northwood apologised for the fact that he and Captain Clayton could not linger. They had been given word that they were soon to mobilise for their next operation at sea and had a number of errands to fulfil in town in readiness for their imminent departure from Bath.

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