presume to impart particulars so injurious to the reputation of a lady, and a lady so closely connected to himself,” Sir James said quietly. “In the present instance, indeed, he would not wish itknown that you have been associated with past cases of murder. It might enflame the gossip already circulating about the town.”
I coloured, doubted, and was silent.
“The intelligence I received, Miss Austen, was from a very old acquaintance we hold in common. He is presently residing at Chatsworth, being an intimate of the Duke.”
“Chatsworth!” I cried. “I must believe you to have been imposed upon, Sir James! For I know no one in Derbyshire.”
At that moment, the rustling in the passage increased and the parlour door was thrust open. I turned, gazed, and rose immediately from my chair. A spare, tall figure, exquisitely dressed in the garb of a gentleman, was caught in a shaft of sunlight. He lifted his hat from his silver hair and bowed low over my hand.
“It is a pleasure to see you again, Miss Austen. We have not met this age.”
Nor had we. But I must confess that the gentleman had lately been much in my thoughts.
“Lord Harold,” I replied a trifle unsteadily. “The honour is entirely mine.”
A Way of Getting Sons
ll babes are male in the womb, and turn weak and female only through the humours of the Mother. Therefore, if a girl child be desired, the Lady must spend her time of increase in lying upon the Sopha, and drink only warmed milk with little egg in it. If a boy child be the object, then the Lady is advised to eat heartily of chopped beef and mutton boiled in Claret nearly every day. She must rise early, and spend her Mornings in healthful exercise, such as walking about the country or riding to hounds; her evenings should be principally spent among friends, with the diversion of dancing and conversation. At no time should she waste more than seven hours in sleep, for a male child will not require it.
—
From the Stillroom Book
of Tess Arnold,
Penfolds Hall, Derbyshire
, 1802–1806
Chapter 8
A Period of Mourning
28 August 1806, cont.
∼
T HE APPEARANCE OF L ORD H AROLD T ROWBRIDGE HAS ever been a source of astonishment in my life, the sudden intercession of a breathless world, imperfectly understood. His taste for fashionable intrigue and clandestine statecraft, when allied with a character already prone to discretion, make him an elusive figure. Although an intimacy of sorts subsists between us—as much as any such condition may, when the lady is single and impoverished and the gentleman one of the most pursued
partis
on the marriage circuit—I never know when he is on the Continent or in Town; in danger of his life on behalf of the Crown, or dying of boredom at a country retreat. Ours is not the sort of footing that might encourage a voluminous correspondence. The exchange of letters between a lady of my station, and a gentleman of his, might suggest an improper liaison or a secret understanding. I have never enjoyed either in my association with Lord Harold.
On the present occasion we met after a silence of above eight months, and the absence, on his part, ofnearly a year. I had seen vague reports in the public journals of diplomatic sallies in the Baltic, and visits to the Prussian Court; I had snatched at rumours of romantic alliance with a certain Russian Princess, and the whiff of scandal in the Montalban chit’s elopement. I knew not what to credit, what to deny, what to approve, or what should give me pain.
I cannot presume upon Lord Harold’s notice, or even look for the continuance of his friendship. But he is, without exception, the most intriguing member of my acquaintance; to move in his circle is to drink a kind of elixir, not necessary to the maintenance of life, but sparkling in its effect and invariably invigorating.
Though my mother and sister disapprove Lord Harold’s influence, I consider my intimacy with the Gentleman Rogue to be a considerable
I coloured, doubted, and was silent.
“The intelligence I received, Miss Austen, was from a very old acquaintance we hold in common. He is presently residing at Chatsworth, being an intimate of the Duke.”
“Chatsworth!” I cried. “I must believe you to have been imposed upon, Sir James! For I know no one in Derbyshire.”
At that moment, the rustling in the passage increased and the parlour door was thrust open. I turned, gazed, and rose immediately from my chair. A spare, tall figure, exquisitely dressed in the garb of a gentleman, was caught in a shaft of sunlight. He lifted his hat from his silver hair and bowed low over my hand.
“It is a pleasure to see you again, Miss Austen. We have not met this age.”
Nor had we. But I must confess that the gentleman had lately been much in my thoughts.
“Lord Harold,” I replied a trifle unsteadily. “The honour is entirely mine.”
A Way of Getting Sons
ll babes are male in the womb, and turn weak and female only through the humours of the Mother. Therefore, if a girl child be desired, the Lady must spend her time of increase in lying upon the Sopha, and drink only warmed milk with little egg in it. If a boy child be the object, then the Lady is advised to eat heartily of chopped beef and mutton boiled in Claret nearly every day. She must rise early, and spend her Mornings in healthful exercise, such as walking about the country or riding to hounds; her evenings should be principally spent among friends, with the diversion of dancing and conversation. At no time should she waste more than seven hours in sleep, for a male child will not require it.
—
From the Stillroom Book
of Tess Arnold,
Penfolds Hall, Derbyshire
, 1802–1806
Chapter 8
A Period of Mourning
28 August 1806, cont.
∼
T HE APPEARANCE OF L ORD H AROLD T ROWBRIDGE HAS ever been a source of astonishment in my life, the sudden intercession of a breathless world, imperfectly understood. His taste for fashionable intrigue and clandestine statecraft, when allied with a character already prone to discretion, make him an elusive figure. Although an intimacy of sorts subsists between us—as much as any such condition may, when the lady is single and impoverished and the gentleman one of the most pursued
partis
on the marriage circuit—I never know when he is on the Continent or in Town; in danger of his life on behalf of the Crown, or dying of boredom at a country retreat. Ours is not the sort of footing that might encourage a voluminous correspondence. The exchange of letters between a lady of my station, and a gentleman of his, might suggest an improper liaison or a secret understanding. I have never enjoyed either in my association with Lord Harold.
On the present occasion we met after a silence of above eight months, and the absence, on his part, ofnearly a year. I had seen vague reports in the public journals of diplomatic sallies in the Baltic, and visits to the Prussian Court; I had snatched at rumours of romantic alliance with a certain Russian Princess, and the whiff of scandal in the Montalban chit’s elopement. I knew not what to credit, what to deny, what to approve, or what should give me pain.
I cannot presume upon Lord Harold’s notice, or even look for the continuance of his friendship. But he is, without exception, the most intriguing member of my acquaintance; to move in his circle is to drink a kind of elixir, not necessary to the maintenance of life, but sparkling in its effect and invariably invigorating.
Though my mother and sister disapprove Lord Harold’s influence, I consider my intimacy with the Gentleman Rogue to be a considerable
Similar Books
