The Duke Suggests A Scandal by Gemma Blackwood

Author:Gemma Blackwood
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: 0
Published: 2017-04-26T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Five long days followed before any word came from Mr Sharp. Catherine heard that Mr Hinton was back in Larksley, but he did not call upon her and, since she was forbidden from showing her face about town, she had no opportunity to see him. For this she was grateful. If the rules of Society had only allowed her to write him a note expressing her apologies, she would have done so. As it was, there was nothing to be done but let him lick his wounds in peace.

Harry came calling the morning following the dinner party, but was turned away at the door with a frosty not at home. He called the next day, and the next, and finally prevailed upon the maid to take in a note addressed to Miss Sharp.

It was not exactly a poetic love-letter. Harry had written two short lines:

I have written to your father. All will be well.

Westbourne

Agnes read it first, pinch-lipped, before allowing Catherine to take a glance.

She had not been allowed to step outside even for a moment. Agnes had divined that she must have come up with some way of meeting with Harry in secret, and the outside world was barred to her.

The one consolation Catherine had in her prison of solitude was poetry. Alice still conversed with her quite happily, it was true, but her talk turned too often to news of the scandal which was racing through Larksley and would surely reach London within the week.

In due course, a letter arrived from Catherine’s father. It was too early to be a response to Harry’s, naturally. It was the letter informing her that she was to be married to Mr Hinton. Agnes burned it without a word.

“Am I to remain a prisoner here indefinitely?” Catherine asked on the fifth day.

“I do not know what else I am to do with you,” Agnes snapped. “I can hardly parade you about town. The gossip is already too much.”

“Then let me go outside. Let me walk along the river, not speaking to anyone. I promise you I will not get myself into any further trouble.”

“Hm! A promise from the fallen woman. What is that worth, I wonder?” answered Agnes rather viciously. To Catherine’s surprise, it was Mr Blakely who interceded on her behalf.

“Let her go, my dear. What harm can she do on a short country walk? Let her have an hour of fresh air. It will do her no good at all keeping her cooped up in here, and you cannot mend her reputation by hiding her away.”

“Very well,” said Agnes. “One hour. Go.”

She turned away from Catherine with a careless shrug, as if her younger sister were of no more account than a slug she had kicked aside with her shoe.

Catherine knew that Agnes’s censure came from the burden of responsibility. As the older sister, Agnes had longed to see Catherine securely married and had almost achieved her goals. It was a bitter disappointment to her to see Catherine behaving so recklessly.

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