PoetsandPromises (16 page)

“I had not heard this,” Earlywine replied, startled.

“Yes, and Miss Ashwood also tells me she feels it is because
he has developed a
tendre
for the artist Miss Thibeau. Do you believe
this to be possible?” Mary asked bluntly, her large gray eyes inviting a frank
response.

Earlywine thought of the flirtatious artist. “It is
possible,” he confessed, “but it would be most unlike Sherbourne.”

“Love causes us to behave ways we might not otherwise,” Mary
Shelley responded unanswerably. “You may perhaps feel that I am forward, that I
involve myself in that which is none of my affair,” Mary continued. “It is true
I do not know Miss Ashwood well but I do know that Miss Ashwood is the only
member of
ton
who has befriended me here in London and I am loyal to my
friends, Mr. Earlywine. I wish to help her but can think of nothing I might do.
It would not be appropriate for me to betray Miss Ashwood’s confidence by
approaching Lord Sherbourne directly. You are close to Lord Sherbourne, is
there anything
you
could do?”

“I was not aware of these circumstances but I shall think
upon what you have said most seriously,” Earlywine said, his normally merry
countenance showing the dismay he felt upon the news. He had become quite fond
of Miss Ashwood and had come to believe the betrothal a good thing for both the
young woman and his friend.

“Then I am satisfied,” Mary replied and they walked back
into the inn to join the others in a ploughman’s luncheon.

Unburdening herself to Mary Shelley helped Elisabeth to feel
somewhat more cheerful for the better part of a day but when, several evenings
later, the viscount failed for the second night to come for dinner at his
sister’s, Elisabeth’s misery returned. An answer from Jane in response to her
letter did not help.

“My dear Elisabeth,” Jane had written, “I was distressed
beyond measure by the news that Lord Sherbourne has broken his betrothal to
you. I must confess I do not understand, for no gentleman would do such a
thing. Are you certain you have told me all the circumstances? Is there some
small happening you might have forgotten to mention that the viscount might
have misconstrued?”

The small happening of Mr. Shelley kissing her, and she
allowing it, Elisabeth thought in misery. Yet even now she dared not tell Jane
the truth—what a woman of low character she would appear if she did! She could
not bear for Jane and the vicar to think ill of her. Oh, what an unfortunate
muddle it all was, and how miserable she was! And how was she to pretend to
Lady Parker that all was well—since the viscount had requested no one yet be
told—if Lord Sherbourne so obviously avoided her company? Elisabeth threw
herself on the sofa in the drawing room and buried her face in Revati’s fur.

“Are you weary, Miss Ashwood?” Lady Parker asked, coming into
the drawing room. “You need not sit up with me tonight. I shall retire early as
well.

“Oh dear, I almost forgot,” Lady Parker continued as
Elisabeth slowly rose to a seated position. “My brother sent a note asking if
we would wish to accompany him to the bookshop he told us about several days
past. I cannot go tomorrow morning, for his grace has asked me to luncheon with
him, but I took the liberty of accepting for you.”

News of the invitation improved Elisabeth’s spirits
immediately. Surely the invitation was a sign the viscount was relenting?
Perhaps he was even sorry he had ended the betrothal. “I shall look forward to
it. Is there any book you wish me to purchase for you, Lady Parker?”

“If you should chance to see Thomas Peacock’s
Headlong
Hall
I would enjoy having that volume
.
I have heard it is a short
but amusing work of fiction and I have no time at the present to peruse longer
works.”

“I shall search for it,” Elisabeth promised.

The next morning Elisabeth dressed carefully for the outing
to the bookshop, choosing a flattering pleated walking dress of lilac, white
and yellow. Molly had persuaded her mistress to try a new high-crowned bonnet
and as Elisabeth viewed herself in the cheval glass she was satisfied she
looked both neat and smart.

The admiring look in Lord Sherbourne’s eyes when he called
for her boosted Elisabeth’s confidence and she felt encouraged for the first
time in days. All was not lost! Surely if they had a pleasant outing today Lord
Sherbourne might reconsider his decision to end their betrothal. Buoyed with
hope, Elisabeth allowed herself to be helped into the tilbury and they set off
on their outing.

The new bookshop proved to be a treasure trove of volumes
and Elisabeth and Lord Sherbourne spent two exceedingly pleasant hours browsing
through the stock. Elisabeth found several volumes for herself and for Jane and
did not forget to set aside a copy of
Headlong Hall
for Lady Parker.

Lord Sherbourne noted the novel as Elisabeth placed it
beside her other selections.

“I thought you did not read novels, Miss Ashwood,” he
commented with a smile.

“It is for Lady Parker,” Elisabeth explained. “But I must
confess I am rather curious to look at it myself after having met Mr. Peacock
at Mr. Hunt’s that afternoon.”

“While Mr. Peacock’s novel is sharp and satirical and rather
amusing, I think I might find a novel you would prefer,” Lord Sherbourne
suggested. “If you will allow me?” he finished interrogatively.

Elisabeth, delighted with the return of their old ease for
the first time in weeks, acquiesced prettily and Lord Sherbourne pulled a
volume from the shelves, offering it for her inspection.

“
Sense and Sensibility,”
Elisabeth read the title. “I
have heard of Miss Austen’s works. I believe the Prince Regent is partial to
them.”

“Yes, I have heard that myself. Whatever else one might say
about the Prince, he admires, recognizes and supports great talent.

“When you read it, take particular note of the character of
Elinor,” Lord Sherbourne commented. “I find you not unlike her.”

“I shall note her character in particular,” Elisabeth
promised demurely, earning a quizzical look from Lord Sherbourne. Suddenly they
both laughed, quickly stifling their merriment as other shop patrons looked
askance at them.

“Miss Ashwood…”

“Yes, Lord Sherbourne?”

“I would like to have the opportunity to speak to you alone,
perhaps this evening at my sister’s town house?”

“Of course, Lord Sherbourne,” Elisabeth agreed, her heart
pounding. There was no mistaking the viscount’s tone of voice. Elisabeth knew
instinctively that Sherbourne regretted their estrangement as much as she did
and that he wished to discuss a reconciliation. Her whole demeanor lightened
and she smiled in sheer joy. A matching smile appeared on Sherbourne’s tanned
face as he picked up their book selections and Elisabeth felt she wished to
dance from the bookshop she was so very happy.

In mutual satisfaction at the success of their outing, Lord
Sherbourne and Elisabeth returned to Lady Parker’s.

“I purchased the volume you desired, Lady Parker,” Elisabeth
said as she and Lord Sherbourne joined the viscount’s sister in the drawing
room. “It is in the parcel with the others. What a delightful shop it was.
There were so many books on a great many topics and all bound so beautifully.”

Elisabeth stopped, noting that Lady Parker was not
responding to her happy chatter and, in fact, had a most sober look on her
face.

“Is anything amiss?” Elisabeth asked, concerned.

“I fear so,” Lady Parker said slowly. “I must ask you and
you also, Richard, to attend to me most carefully, for we have an unfortunate
situation upon us.”

Elisabeth and Lord Sherbourne, after a wondering glance at
each other, took seats on the low-backed mahogany chairs and waited for Lady
Parker to elucidate.

“We have a most serious state of affairs that has
developed,” Lady Parker began. “Mrs. Abbott called upon me early this afternoon
and imparted unhappy news. It would seem that her neighbor, Lady Walburton, was
walking in Upper St. James Park yesterday when the raised voice of a woman
attracted her attention. She looked in the direction of the disturbance and saw
someone who looked like you, Miss Ashwood, speaking with Mrs. Shelley in
unguarded tones.

“I told Mrs. Abbott that her neighbor must have been
mistaken, that I had not given permission for you to walk in the Park
yesterday, but I must ask you, Miss Ashwood, did you do so?”

Elisabeth had been listening to Lady Parker in growing
dismay. Oh why did someone have to see her with the Shelleys now? She could
feel the cold silence from Lord Sherbourne and knew that nothing worse could
have happened at this time—the viscount would never believe she had not gone to
the Park to see the Mr. Shelley and the ease between them that had reappeared
at the bookshop would be destroyed.

“Mrs. Shelley asked me to meet them at Upper St. James as
they were in town for the day, Lady Parker,” Elisabeth confessed miserably.
“Neither you nor Lord Sherbourne were at hand to accompany me, and as Mr.
Earlywine happened by, I asked him if he would escort me. I did not go alone, I
assure you.”

“I knew I should not have allowed you to persuade me into
allowing that unfortunate acquaintance, Richard!” Lady Parker exclaimed, rising
from her chair in agitation.

“And you, Miss Ashwood. I am excessively disappointed in you
as well,” Lady Parker added sternly, her expression uncannily reflecting her
brother’s normally severe visage. “You knew I did not wish you to encourage the
acquaintance and yet you met the Shelleys without my permission, in Upper St.
James yet, during the height of the Season! There is no knowing how many others
observed you in the Shelleys’ presence!”

Elisabeth sat silent, wretchedly aware she deserved the
dressing down.

“Charlotte, I find I must beg your pardon, as you have been
proven to have had the right of it from the beginning,” Lord Sherbourne said in
a carefully controlled tone. “I should not have allowed the acquaintance to
continue after the initial meeting at Hunt’s. However, nothing can undo what
has been done. We must think best how to proceed from this moment.”

“I cannot think what to do, Richard,” Lady Parker said,
dropping back into her chair with a defeated slump of her shoulders. “If others
did see Miss Ashwood, if this gets out—we could lose our vouchers to Almack’s.”

“I should not miss them,” Elisabeth offered timidly.

“You do not understand, Miss Ashwood,” Lady Parker said
severely. “To lose vouchers that have been awarded…it is a disgrace! If we had
not had the misfortune of attracting the attention of the patronesses and did
not have tickets to Almack’s we might have been able to withstand the gossip.
But we should not be able to weather the disgrace of
losing
them. Your
reputation would be destroyed, Miss Ashwood, and while under my care!”

The shame of possibly having such a thing occur to a young
woman under her care overwhelmed Lady Parker and Elisabeth was disturbed to see
tears swimming in the older woman’s dark eyes.

“Oh please do not distress yourself, Lady Parker,” Elisabeth
begged. “It may not happen. And you were not at fault in any of this. The fault
was mine entirely—I have not acted with discretion. Oh please forgive me! I
promise I shall not meet the Shelleys ever again!”

“Indeed you will not,” Lord Sherbourne agreed with a black
look at Elisabeth. “I must ask your word that you will go nowhere at any time
with anyone unless it is in my company or that of Lady Parker.”

“I give you my solemn word, Lord Sherbourne, Lady Parker,”
Elisabeth promised.

The viscount turned to his sister. “We must hope for the
best, Charlotte. Perhaps if we are fortunate Lady Walburton was the only one
who observed Miss Ashwood and will not bruit it about.”

While Lord Sherbourne and his sister discussed possible
outcomes of the disaster, tears rolled silently down Elisabeth’s face at the
ruin of all her hopes of reconciliation with Lord Sherbourne. There was no hope
now. He would never forgive her.
N
ever
.

Sherbourne left his sister’s town house in a state of rage
such as he had rarely experienced. And to think this very morning he had
actually been thinking that he had made a mistake in telling Miss Ashwood they
should agree not to become betrothed! What a very narrow escape he had had!
Truly Miss Thibeau had the right of it, for Miss Ashwood appeared to have a
fatal inclination for the company of dissolute poets. What was it about Shelley
that was so attractive to women? In his own opinion he considered the poet
rather effeminate. Intelligent, yes, talented, yes, but rather weak in body and
morals. Perhaps Miss Ashwood simply preferred tall, stooping, pale poets with
high voices, long dark locks and no coat. If so, he would never suit for his
muscular strength, fair hair and skin tanned from years in the tropics made him
the antithesis of Shelley.

Back at his own town house Lord Sherbourne called for a
bottle of claret and sat nursing his anger as the shadows lengthened.

“What has brought on such a fit of the blue devils,
Sherbourne?” Earlywine asked as he entered the drawing room unannounced, the
informality a custom between the lifelong friends.

“A pickle into which I should have had the sense not to get
myself,” Sherbourne replied. “Care for a glass, Earlywine?”

“With pleasure,” Earlywine accepted, helping himself to a
glass of claret and settling into an overstuffed chair across from his
friend’s. “Is there aught I can help you with?”

Sherbourne sighed. “It appears that Miss Ashwood was seen
conversing with Mrs. Shelley on the day you accompanied her to Upper St.
James.”

“I say, that was unfortunate! I hope I did not overstep the
bounds but Miss Ashwood asked me to escort her to the Park and I did not like
to refuse a direct request from a lady.”