Sweet Hoyden (17 page)

Pandora turned to cast him a sharp look, a rebuke trembling on her lips.
Most fortunately it was never uttered, for at that moment she caught sight of
Fanny Courdon, who was just entering the gallery. On finding Pandora in the
earl's company, the young woman looked not at all pleased.

She gave Pandora a cool look as she said, "Madame de Chambray, I have
been seeking you out for an age."

'Indeed. That is a singular honor, my lady."

'Lady Asheville charged me to do so," the marchioness replied, making
it quite clear it was not on her own account. "She wishes me to convey her
desire for you to join her in the salon."

Pandora's eyes opened wide in alarm. She glanced at the earl, who appeared
bland, and then she turned back to her old rival. "That must be a great
honor, but surely there are others who are more deserving of it than I."

'I entirely agree with you on that score," murmured the other woman.

But the earl added quickly, "If Mama requests a coze, madame, I assure
you she will not be gainsaid. Lady Courdon, while Madame de Chambray cozes
with my mother, mayhap you would like to come with me to see the finished
portrait of my wife."

Fanny Courdon's manner thawed considerably at the invitation. "It would be a great pleasure
to accompany you, my lord. Good day to you, madame"

The earl bowed to her as he took his leave. As Pandora watched them walk
away together, their heads close in conversation, she experienced emotions
that were not only new to her, but not very pleasant. Moreover, she felt a real
sense of loss at his departure.

On her way back to the salon, when she passed the staircase, she was tempted
to run down and out of the house, but pride would not permit her to do so. She
drew up her head and went back into the salon to the greatest test she had yet
endured.

The lady conversing on the sofa with the dowager rose as Pandora approached
them. She glanced around to catch a glimpse of Rosamond, whose face had become
a horrified mask at the sight of her friend approaching the dowager. Lady St.
James, unaware that Pandora had been summoned to meet the earl's mother,
frantically shook her head in an attempt to dissuade Pandora from such
foolhardi-ness Pandora, however, who had come too far to retreat, firmly turned
her back on all others as she curtsied before her mother-in-law, who patted the
now vacant seat at her side.

'Madame de Chambray, I believe," she said crisply. "We meet at
last."

'My lady, this is an honor," Pandora murmured in her soft French
accent, keeping her head slightly averted all the while.

'Well, do sit down. I cannot forever be craning my neck, and I wish to have
a proper look at you." Fortunately Pandora was able to seat herself in such
a manner that Lady Asheville could not look directly into her face in the
searching way she habitually employed.

'I have been hearing much about you, madame," the dowager told Pandora,
"which I confess has made me a mite curious to make your acquaintance
today."

'I trust what you have heard about me is favorable, my lady."

'Oh, indeed. Everyone is most impressed by your bearing, in view of your
recent misfortunes."

'I am safe in
England
and
surrounded by so many friends, I consider myself fortunate, certainly more than
many I have been obliged to leave behind in
France
."

'You are too modest, I feel, but that is also a quality I greatly admire. So
many young ladies cannot count modesty among their attributes."

'I wonder to whom you allude, my lady," Pandora
murmured, allowing herself a wry smile.

'It is of no account. Having spoken to you, I am now more able to understand
my son's admiration of you." Pandora felt her cheeks begin to burn.
"And for your part, I do not doubt you reciprocate that esteem."

'How could I not, my lady? Lord Asheville is everything which is
laudable."

'I am persuaded you must also be aware of his long and illustrious
lineage."

During the period of Pandora's betrothal, the dowager had ensured that she
did know of it. Lectures on the family lineage had been so intense,
she felt she knew most of
Asheville
's
antecedents better than her own. Every painting in the galleries, both here and
at Brocklesby Hall, was as familiar to her as her own face.

'Only moments before I came here, Lord Asheville was showing me portraits
of his ancestors, and the new one of his wife. I could not help but be aware of
the splendor of your line, and I am most impressed, you may be certain."

'My dearest wish, and
Asheville
's
most earnest desire, is for there to be an heir to the title and the lands,
which are considerable. In truth, madame, that is the reason my son felt it
incumbent upon him to wed this year. Had it been otherwise, I feel certain he
would have continued his bachelor existence, which was congenial to him."

As the dowager spoke, Pandora raised her head to find herself looking
directly at the earl, who had placed himself across the room. He appeared to be
supremely at ease, leaning negligently against a pillar, his arms folded in
front of him. As Pandora's angry gaze met his, he smiled almost knowingly,
although he couldn't possibly have known the content of the conversation or
her reaction to it, and she looked away quickly, for fear that her anger would
be detected.

'Madame" the dowager was saying, "I speak to you as one woman of
sensibility to another. I must appeal to you."

'My lady?" Pandora asked in astonishment,
wondering if she had missed something her mother-in-law had said.

'My daughter-in-law, of whom you will have heard much, will soon return to
town."

'I did not know that," Pandora murmured. "I understood that her
stay in the country was to be a lengthy one."

'My son assures me it is not so."

'And what, may I ask, my lady, is that to me?"

'Ah, yes." To Pandora's amazement her mother-in-law appeared somewhat
uncertain as she continued, "I must entreat you to allow them sufficient
time to fill their nursery." This statement caused Pandora to look even
more astonished.

'I cannot conceive how that may have anything to do with me, my lady."

'Come now, such coyness does not become you, my dear," the dowager
continued, returning to her more usual crisp manner. "Once there is an
heir to the title, no doubt my son will be able to make sure you and he meet
often. I do trust that I have now made myself plain, madame."

'Abundantly, my lady," Pandora responded through tightly clenched
teeth.

To anyone watching her sitting at the dowager's side, Pandora appeared to be
the epitome of decorum. Inside, however, her feelings were in a turmoil. How she longed to give vent to her anger. She
had never been closer to revealing her true identity than at that moment.

'Mama, you really mustn't monopolize Madame de Chambray," the earl
chided as he came up behind them. "You are not the only person to find
her company congenial."

Pandora started, but she was glad of the interruption, never more so. Had
she been left in the dowager's company for much longer, she might have been
tempted to say or do something rash. One thing her disguise had taught her, and
that was prudence. She doubted if she would ever be so impetuous again.

'We have finished our coze," the dowager told him, bestowing upon
Pandora a rare smile. "And I find we are totally in accord with one
another, I am delighted to vouchsafe."

Understandably Pandora found she could not respond but merely curtsied and
moved away, letting out a long sigh of relief as she did so. The old harridan,
she thought, how dare she collude at finding a chere amie
for her son? Pandora felt outraged by it, but she really couldn't pretend to be
surprised.

'I trust that my mother did not weary you with her prattling," the earl
ventured.

Pandora contrived to smile sweetly and reply, "Oh, no, 'twas most
pleasant, I own. Lady Asheville was most condescending to me. I do believe it
is time for me to depart. I see Lady St. James beckoning to me. It really is a
pity to end such a congenial afternoon."

Lady St. James was looking tense but relaxed a little when she saw Pandora
smiling. The earl bowed low over her hand.

'I sincerely hope it will not be too long a time before we meet again,
madame."

'I am quite certain it will not be, my lord."

Aware that he remained to watch her, she hurried down the stairs with her
friend without looking back. Neither of them spoke until they were safely in
the carriage and unable to be overheard.

Then Lady St. James cried, "My dear, how dared you approach Lady
Asheville so brazenly? I confess I was almost stricken with a seizure when I
saw you do so."

'To believe I would have the temerity to approach her,
Rosa
,
belies an ignorance of my mother-in-law. I was summoned to her presence, no
less."

Rosamond gasped. "How alarming it must have been for you, but do tell,
how did it go? I am in a fidge to know. There were times when you looked under
siege."

'As indeed I was. La!
Rosa
,
what a day this has been. That old witch. She has not
changed one jot. Imagine! She as much as gave her blessing for me to become
Asheville
's doxy,
providing I gave him enough time to provide an heir!"

'How provoking for you." Her friend chuckled.
"I am relieved to see you do not take it amiss."

Two spots of color in Pandora's cheeks gave lie to that. "I am in high
dudgeon, you may be sure, but I cannot help cry roast meat, for she had no
notion who I was!"

''Tis amazing."

'Can you imagine her vapors had I owned to being her reviled
daughter-in-law? In truth,
Rosa
, she was so
arrogant and disagreeable, I was sorely tempted to do so, and to the devil with
the result."

Rosamond St. James fell back into the squabs and roared with laughter.
Relieved at last of all constraints upon her behavior, Pandora was able to
join her, and the two young ladies were still merrily chuckling when the
carriage arrived back at

ELEVEN

'Shall you wear a blue or a scarlet dominco for the masquerade?" Lady
St. James mused as Pandora eased out of the sitting room window into Curzon
greet and the passing, ever-changing pageant of peddlers and pedestrians that
suddenly appeared to fascinate her.

'Whatever you do will suffice for me   she replied, exhibiting no
real enthusiasm for the matter.

 "Scarlet is not your color, my
dear; at least, it never was, but now with your hair…

There is no justice at all," Jeanne declared, looking up from her
sewing. "You both enjoy every diversion, and I am obliged to stay at home
unless it is to act the abigail"

'Tush" 
responded Lady St. James. " 'Tis
not for much longer. When your mama arrives; arrangements can be made for your
come-out next Season"

'I can scarce wait for it, you may be sure, "  the girl responded, casting a
meaningful glance at the deeply thoughtful countess at the window. "And when
I am wed, I shall never allow myself to be parted from my husband. I could not
bear it."

'In truth, ma chere, I shall be heartily glad when you are
leg-shackled," the viscountess replied.

'What gratitude for my cooperation!"

'
I
am indebted to you," Pandora
told her, coming away from the window at last.

Jeanne cast her a malicious look. "Have you
given any thought to what will happen if Lord Asheville is not amused by your
masquerade, Lady Asheville?"

Pandora sighed. "I think of nothing else at present. It is always
possible he will cast me off utterly when he hears of it, although I had
considered him to be kindhearted. I am no longer able to assume any such thing,
alas, and I could not bear permanent rustication, so it is like I could take
to playacting if he takes it all amiss. I have had a good apprenticeship.''

'If the members of Whites and Boodles knew of it," Lady St. James
observed, "they would be greatly amused, and the wagers would be of huge
proportions."

'Then it is well they do not know, for I do not wish to be the object of
wagers."

'You were once," her friend pointed out. "A great deal of money
was wagered upon whom you would choose to marry. As I recall,
Asheville
was the favorite."

'Which only proves they were all as foolish as I."

'St. James tells me," Rosamond ventured a few moments later, "that
Asheville
is in
a constant ill humor nowadays." She glanced slyly at her friend before
continuing. "I wonder why that is, Pandora?"

'He is perfectly amiable when I am in his company "
she answered in some surprise. "At least, when he
is in Madame de Chambray's company. If he knew it was me beneath that
wig, he'd be as mad as a weaver."

'He is perfectly amiable whenever he is in my company," Jeanne added.

Lady St. James looked across at her. "Young lady, our guests will be
arriving very soon. It would be best if you retire now."

'Very well," the girl answered crisply, gathering up her sewing. "Bonne nuit, Mesdames."

'Jeanne is becoming quite insolent," Lady St. James said with a sigh as
the girl left the room and Pandora went to pluck disconsolately at the harpsichord.
"St. James said
Asheville
is either mute as a fish," the viscountess persisted, "or as cross as
two sticks. Perchance he is missing you, Pandora, more than he would care to
admit. I'll wager you have not considered that possibility."

'His behavior has not demonstrated that,
Rosa
,
and recall, his mother is now in residence in