The Suitor List (19 page)

Augusta straightened, holding the small sheet of
paper to allow the ink on her note to dry, and replied,
"No, I do not. I do not see the point when my sister
keeps far superior records than I ever could."

Moments later Augusta led the way down the corridor to the Grand Foyer.

"What's happened to the fruit?" Richard commented
upon seeing the bare trees. "I thought there were at least
a dozen oranges here"

"There might have been at one time." Augusta was
not about to confess her transgression. She had merely
removed the last, not all, of the fruit.

Augusta, with Richard trailing behind, came across
the butler, who seemed to have appeared merely because she was in need of him.

"Huxley, please make arrangements for Sir Benjamin
to leave"

"Yes, my lady." The butler remained as if he anticipated further instructions.

"Then would you be so good as to have a footman take
this"-she handed him a folded piece of paper-"and
deliver it to Sir Benjamin? I believe he may be found in
the orangery."

With a nod of understanding, Huxley left Augusta and
Richard, who both turned upon hearing Mr. Lawrence
Skeffington and Emily entering through the front door.

"Look who we ran into just as we arrived." Emily
stepped to one side to reveal Lord Arthur. On his arm,
Miss Olivia Skeffington was wearing a most fetching
ivory-plumed bonnet.

Augusta was in the midst of finding fault with every
one of her suitors. She recalled how Lord Arthur Masters was an aficionado of the arts. What could he possibly do to arouse her wrath?

"Perhaps we can exchange partners, eh, Wilbanks?"
Lord Arthur chuckled in good humor and relinquished
Miss Skeffington to the care of her fiance. "What is your pleasure, Lady Augusta? A leisurely afternoon
ride? A drive in a cozy curricle?"

"Perhaps a stroll outside, around the gardens," Augusta stated before he could make another suggestion.
"Allow me to retrieve my hat and parasol"

Ten minutes later it was Augusta who dangled off Lord
Arthur's arm. He led her through the knot garden and
around the edge of the building until they came upon the
large quatrefoil-shaped fountain located in front of the
house in the center of the immense circular drive. Lord
Arthur stopped to admire the view, almost as if he were
contemplating a landscape that begged to be painted.

Water climbed a great height into the sky, over the
heads of four cherubs frolicking in the large center bowl.
From the corner pedestals four swans, with their wings
outstretched, spouted water into the massive basin.

"This is quite delightful." The soothing sound of
water obviously made an impression on Lord Arthur.
"How very fortunate you are to live at such a beautiful
place. I'm heir to Parkfield in Somerset, you know." He
glanced at her. Had he hoped it impressed her?

"How nice for you," she replied rather curtly.

Augusta quickly scolded herself. She should not be
taking out her annoyance for Sir Benjamin Pelfry, Lord
Fieldstone, or Mr. Allendale on Lord Arthur. Lord
Arthur had done nothing to deserve a set-down.

Her thoughts had been unkind. She decided she must
treat him with greater care and with the respect he deserved. "Do you have such a fountain at Parkfield?"

"No, but I should like to build one. Do you mind if I
were to take a closer look?"

"We are here to admire the views, are we not?"
Augusta moved her parasol from her right shoulder to
her left and motioned that they should proceed. She
leaned against the side of the fountain while he examined one of the stone swans.

"Look at this detail. The striation of the feathers is so
lifelike."

She had nearly forgotten how he had admired the
various statues during their visit to the British Museum
while in London. At least he could find enjoyment in
something-unlike Lord Fieldstone.

"The curves of the neck and arc of the wings are simply exquisite."

And he only admired art instead of becoming obsessed with it, unlike Sir Benjamin Pelfry.

"How absolutely, how amazingly, lovely." Lord
Arthur's voice had changed from an admiring tone to a
silken croon. "Her skin is so very pale and as delicate
as alabaster."

Thinking he had just about lost his mind, Augusta
turned toward him. If she were not mistaken, his last remarks were not of the swans but of Charlotte, who
strolled through the knot garden with Muriel.

Augusta felt her anger rise inside. She narrowed her
eyes and pressed her lips tightly together, removing and
collapsing her parasol. Lord Arthur was about to meet
his end with the water, exactly as Mr. Allendale had,
only with water much shallower.

Muriel caught some movement out of the corner of
her eye. A sheet of water sprayed into the air and gracefully fell to Earth.

"Oh, look there!" Charlotte pointed across the way
toward the front drive. "Someone must help him!"

"Send the footmen," Muriel, who had been through a
water rescue recently, advised.

"Yes, yes, I will, at once" Charlotte ran back to the
house to relay the message.

Muriel reached into her pocket and pulled out a
small folded piece of paper and a pencil. By the time
she had drawn a line through a name, striking Lord
Arthur Masters, she spotted Charlotte trailing behind a
pair of footmen toward the fountain.

"What's all the to-do about?" Richard came marching from the house. He stood with Muriel while Augusta strolled in their direction with her open parasol
resting upon her shoulder. "Gusta, what has happened?
How did Lord Arthur come to fall into the fountain?"

"He was completely oblivious to my presence and
talking nonsense to the marble swan. Then I realized it
wasn't the swan he spoke of at all. He was referring to
Char-Char," Augusta scoffed. "I asked him if he preferred to spend his time with my sister rather than me.
The only response he gave was to repeatedly coo her
name, and I prodded him with the end of my parasol"

"You pushed him in?" Richard sounded shocked, but
Muriel thought he shouldn't have been.

"He would not have lost his balance except he had
leaned so far over the water to be even nearer to her."
Augusta did not sound the least remorseful.

"That was most unkind even for you, Gusta," Richard
scolded.

"Unkind? What do you call spouting adoring words,
which I thought he had meant for me, while gazing across the green at Char-Char?" Not one word of blame
was directed at Charlotte. "Men!"

Muriel glanced at the two remaining names before
pocketing her small notepad and pencil.

"Lord Arthur was in your company and making calf
eyes at Char-Char?" Richard sounded outraged. "That's
inexcusable."

"Then I am not as irrational as you would make me
out to be, am I?"

"I most sincerely apologize." Richard bowed his
head respectfully. "However, it was very ill-done of you
to have left him there to drown"

"Honestly, he could simply stand. The water rises
only to one's knees"

"Char-Char did send the footmen to help Lord Arthur
and, see there, she's looking after his welfare herself."
Muriel pointed to the pair of footmen extricating the
soaking Lord Arthur from the fountain with Charlotte
looking on.

"I shall inform Huxley of Lord Arthur's impending
departure. Then I must change my dress" Augusta indicated an area on her frock before heading inside. "I believe he may have splashed water on my skirts."

"So Lord Arthur is another one gone" Penny did not
know the exact count of the gentlemen still residing at
Faraday Hall, but there weren't many left.

"It was horrid, Aunt Penny." Charlotte followed her
aunt to the Librarium. "Augusta pushed him in-on purpose"

"I'm sure she must have had a very good reason"
Penny did not wish to condone the action but felt that her eldest niece was incapable of such impish behavior
without due provocation.

"All I know is that Lord Arthur had not said one
word against her." The tremble in Charlotte's voice betrayed how the incident had affected her.

Penny contemplated all that had transpired the last
few days and the recent events within the short passage of time since their guests had arrived. "Faith, the
house is so quiet. Have all the guests left?" She gazed
out the window overlooking the parterre.

"Moo will know exactly how many suitors remain."
Charlotte ran to the doorway. "There she is nowMoo!"

Muriel stepped inside and, as if by instinct, she knew
the precise topic of discussion. "There are two left: Sir
Samuel Pruitt and Lord William Felgate."

"Only two?" Charlotte sighed with disappointment at
the sad news.

Penny could imagine either gentleman would make
her niece a fine husband, but she had no idea what
Augusta's feelings were regarding them.

Then there was the other side of the coin. Augusta
did not have to choose. The Duke had made that quite
clear. But no one wanted to be alone, especially an attractive young lady at Augusta's age. Especially since
she'd seen, first, her cousin Miriam just wed and, soon,
her friend and neighbor Richard Wilbanks following
down the matrimonial path.

Below, in the garden, stood Richard. He held his hat
and faced his fiancee, Miss Skeffington, who wore a bonnet with a tall ostrich feather. If Penny was not mistaken,
there was some very serious discussion occurring.

"Moo, come here, will you?" Penny stepped aside,
allowing Muriel an optimal view. "Will you please tell
me what is going on down there?"

"Aunt Penny, really." Muriel pulled the opera glasses
from her skirts. "I thought you did not approve of my
eavesdropping."

"There is a time and place for it," Penny replied, "and
this is exactly the right time. Miss Skeffington seems to
be doing all the talking. What is she saying?"

Penny remained patient while Muriel brought Miss
Skeffington into focus, and it took a bit longer for her
niece to concentrate on the discussion itself.

"Miss Skeffington thinks their match may be a mistake," Muriel relayed.

Charlotte gasped. "Does she think our Richard is not
good enough for her?"

"Miss Skeffington says that it took her some time to
accept that she does not hold his affection."

"Richard does nothing but dote on her," Charlotte
said, defending their friend.

"He assures her that he is completely devoted to her."
Muriel backed away from the glasses and groaned. "He
calls her Livy."

"Keep watching!" Penny pressed, urging Muriel to
continue. Under normal circumstances, Penny would
declare this "activity" unacceptable, but she had a feeling they needed to oversee this private conversation and
hoped Richard would, eventually, forgive them.

Muriel leaned forward, once again concentrating on
the couple. "He is bound by duty, not affection, Livy
says. Richard wants to know why she should think that,
because he has great admiration for her."

"Richard would get on with anyone. He is the most
amiable and understanding of men" Even Charlotte,
who never took a dislike to anyone, sounded as if she
were finding his fiancee tiresome. "I am beginning to
think that Miss Skeffington does not deserve him."

"Livy wants to know if Richard would not wish for
more for himself. She wants to know if he would release her from their engagement if she told him she had
found love. Just as he had"

"She hands him the mitten and then blames him for
falling in love with someone else? With whom?" Charlotte demanded. "Who does Richard love?"

"Do you not know? Can you not even guess?" Muriel
replied for Miss Skeffington.

"Who is he in love with?" Penny and Charlotte said
at the same time. "What is he saying?"

"Moo!" Charlotte pleaded, becoming impatient.

"Miss Skeffington believes that more exists between
him and Augusta than a property line between our estates. She invites him to examine their longtime, close
friendship."

"Richard and Gusta" Charlotte's musical laughter
filled the Librarium with astonished delight.

"She thinks it's obvious and wants to know how he
could not see it. When Gusta and Richard are together
Livy sees the pleasure in his eyes. She accuses him of not
gazing at her in the manner in which he observes Gusta"

"Oh, dear," Penny voiced, sounding quite guilty. She
had noticed that several times since they'd traveled to
London. As an older, and supposedly wiser, woman, she
should have known better than to dismiss the awareness
as a passing interest.

"And Livy says Gusta returns his attention." Muriel
could not keep her opinion to herself any longer and
burst forth with, "She knows nothing of Augusta. How
could she make such an absurd comment? How could
Gusta be in love with Richard? We would certainly
have known if-"

"Muriel, please, we're missing their conversation."
Penny cut her niece's commentary short.

An undignified groan emanated from Muriel and she
continued. "Richard says he would never admit he has
any feeling other than friendship for Gusta"

"You mean Richard really does love Gusta?" Charlotte giggled. "How lovely! This is wonderful!" She spun
around with her arms out wide, nearly threatening to
strike the bookcases.

"Richard never meant to hurt Livy," Muriel continued translating. "He agrees to calling off their engagement. Miss Skeffington is telling him-" She continued
to watch in silence, her jaw slowly dropping open, until
she gasped. "I don't believe it!"

"What? What is she saying?" Penny stepped closer
to the window and watched the couple herself but could
not discern their actions.

"Moo?" Charlotte nudged, insisting her sister tell
them.

"Livy and Lord William Felgate wish to marry."

"What?" Penny and Charlotte cried in unison. Penny
moved to the table and sank into a chair. How had that
match happened right under their noses without their
notice?