Traitors Gate - Anne Perry [135]
“She is not marrying him.”
The old lady snorted fiercely. “Then she is a fool, that is all I can say! Now why don’t you talk about something sensible? You have barely asked me how I am. Do you know that that wretched cook of Emily’s sent me boiled fowl for my dinner last night. And baked mackerel the night before. And there was no forcemeat stuffing, and very little wine. It tasted of fish, and precious little else. I should have liked baked lobster. We have that when Emily is at home.”
“Perhaps there were no good lobsters at the fishmongers’,” Charlotte suggested.
“Don’t tell me she tried, because I shan’t believe you. I should have liked a little jugged hare. I am very partial to a well-jugged hare.”
“It is out of season,” Charlotte pointed out. “Jugged hare doesn’t begin until September.”
The old lady looked at her with acute disfavor and dropped the subject. She returned instead to Amanda Pennecuick. “What makes you suppose she is a fool, this Moneyfast girl?”
“You said she was a fool, not I.”
“You said she was not marrying the man because he was homely, in spite of being in every way that matters an excellent catch. That makes her a fool, on your description. How do you know she is not marrying him? That she may have said so is neither here nor there. What else would she say, I ask you! She can hardly say that she is. That would be premature, and vulgar. And vulgarity, above all things, is unforgivable. And extremely unwise.”
“Unwise?” Charlotte questioned.
The old lady looked at her with open disgust. “Of course it would be unwise, you stupid girl. She does not wish him to take her lightly.” She sighed noisily with impatience. “If she allows him to undervalue her now, it will set the pattern for the rest of their lives. Let him think her reluctant. Let him woo her so diligently that when he finally wins her he feels he has achieved a great victory, not merely picked up something no one else wished for anyway.
“Really, there are times when I despair of you, Charlotte. You are clever enough at book learning, but what use is that to a woman? Your career is in your home, married to the best man you can find who will have you. You should make him happy, and see that he rises as high in his chosen profession as his abilities, and yours, will allow him. Or if you are clever enough to marry a gentleman, then see that he rises in Society and does not run into debt.”
She grunted, and shifted her position with a rustle of skirts and creak of stays. “No wonder you had to settle for a policeman. A girl as naturally unintelligent as you are was fortunate to find anyone at all. Your sister Emily, on the other hand, has all the brains for both of you. She takes after her father, poor man. You take after your fool of a mother.”
“Since you are so clever, Grandmama, it is really a great misfortune we don’t have a title, an estate in the country and a fortune to match,” Charlotte said waspishly.
The old lady looked at her with malicious delight. “I had not the advantages of your good looks.”
It was the first compliment Charlotte could ever recall the old lady paying her, especially on such a subject. It quite robbed her of a reply, which—she realized a moment later—had been the intention.
Nevertheless in leaving her and riding in a hansom to Harriet Soames’s house, in order to go together to the flower show, she did wonder if Amanda Pennecuick was doing what the old lady had suggested, and actually intended in due course to accept Mr. Aylmer’s attentions.
She mentioned it to Harriet as they admired some magnificent early blooms arranged in a crystal bowl.
At first Harriet looked amazed, then as the thought took firmer hold in her mind, her attitude changed.
“You know …” she said very slowly. “You know that is not as absurd as it sounds. I have noticed in Amanda a certain inconsistency in disclaimers about Mr. Aylmer’s attentions. She says she has nothing in common with him but an interest in