Banishment (Daughters of Mannerling 1)

Banishment (Daughters of Mannerling 1) by M. C. Beaton Page A

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Authors: M. C. Beaton
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hermit. The gossip among the Mannerling servants was that Mr Judd would marry Miss Isabella Beverley. Did Mr Judd know of the courtship of Lord Fitzpatrick? Besides, such a piece of gossip might make Mr Judd lose interest in this eldest Beverley daughter and that might be all to the good. Too many of the servants had shown their open dislike of the Beverleys, their lack of sympathy for the family’s plight. If Isabella were to become mistress of Mannerling, she might persuade her husband to get rid of them all and hire new ones.
    He slid quietly out before the couple could see him. He had been sent to check on how the repairs to the carriage were coming along and had already done that. So he rode back to Mannerling and asked the butler if he might see Mr Judd in private. The butler, Chubb, frowned and said anything that had to be said to the master must be said through him, and so John retreated, balked. But he waited for an opportune moment, which came in the early evening, when he saw Mr Judd walking in the grounds smoking a cheroot.
    He darted out of the door and approached him. ‘Sir,’ he began, coming up to him.
    Mr Judd swung round, his eyes narrowing as he observed his least favourite footman.
    ‘I have come by some intelligence that may amaze you,’ said John pompously.
    ‘I doubt it.’ Mr Judd dropped his smouldering cheroot on the lawn and ground it in with his heel.
    ‘I saw Miss Isabella Beverley in the Green Man with Lord Fitzpatrick.’
    Mr Judd looked at his footman with narrowed eyes. ‘And what’s that to do with me, popinjay?’
    ‘Well, sir, they were very
close
, if you take my meaning. All alone, too. No maid or footman.’
    Mr Judd strode away and John tittuped after him on his high heels.
    The master of Mannerling was thinking furiously. This was not working out as he had planned. He must behave in a warmer manner towards Isabella. He had deliberately not sent out the Beverleys’s invitation to his ball so as to ‘make them sweat a bit,’ as he maliciously put it to himself.
    He stopped so abruptly that John nearly cannoned into him. ‘You can be of use to me,’ said Mr Judd. ‘I want you to go direct to Brookfield House. I found the Beverleys’s invitations still on my desk. Take the carriage. I want you to bring Miss Isabella back with you . . . for dinner. I will write a letter.’
    He strode off towards the house, with the footman mincing after him.
    Isabella and the viscount rode easily and companionably back to Brookfield House. For the time being, Isabella had forgotten about Mr Judd and about her ambition to marry him. But Lady Beverley herself came out to meet her daughter. ‘Do come into the house immediately, Isabella,’ she cried. ‘We have such news.’
    The viscount dismounted and lifted Isabella down under the hard stare of Lady Beverley’s disapproving eyes. ‘Perhaps Lord Fitzpatrick would care to step inside for a glass of wine,’ said Isabella.
    ‘Oh, I am sure he has much to attend to,’ said Lady Beverley hurriedly.
    Isabella turned red with mortification at her mother’s rudeness. The viscount swung himself easily into his curricle, touched his hat, and rode off, with Satan following behind.
    ‘How could you?’ fumed Isabella as she followed her mother into the house. ‘How rude! And after all Lord Fitzpatrick’s kindness.’
    ‘Never mind that,’ said Lady Beverley eagerly. ‘You must get changed and put on one of your prettiest gowns. The Mannerling carriage is round the back, with John, the footman, waiting for you. You are to go to dinner at Mannerling!’
    Isabella stood stock-still in the dark hall. In her mind’s eye another Isabella raced away across the fields on Satan’s back, happy and free.
    ‘And he has sent the invitations to his ball with such a pretty note of apology saying he had found them down the back of his desk. Good heavens, child, do not stand there as if you had been struck by lightning like Mr Judd. Bustle

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