Misfit Maid. Elizabeth Bailey
Delagarde could answer this, ‘you should be happy that it is not you who will have to appear in society with me.’
‘This is absurd!’ Lord Shurland burst out angrily. ‘I am far from accepting this faradiddle about your mother, Delagarde, but I take leave to inform you that there will be but one construction to be put upon the matter, if you take it upon yourself to interfere in this way.’
Maidie felt a sudden shift in the atmosphere, as though a chill entered the room. Glancing at Lady Hester, she was startled to find the elder lady’s eyes sparkling with something other than humour. Her attention was drawn to Delagarde, who had stiffened, she thought. His narrowed eyes were turned upon the Earl, and there was a hint of ice in his voice.
‘Indeed? Perhaps you would care to elaborate.’
Shurland glared at him, but blustered it through. ‘Poker up, if you will, sir! You know very well what I mean. I shall not demean myself by explaining it further.’
‘Very prudent,’ returned Delagarde sardonically.
The Earl coloured. ‘If we are to talk of prudence, let me advise you to inquire into the way things are left before you do what you may come to regret. You do not know her, Delagarde. I do!’
Maidie could make nothing of this. She saw that the Viscount’s brows had snapped together, and he was now looking more puzzled than angry. Before she could request an explanation, Lady Hester had moved forward again, her calm tones dispelling the discomfort in the air.
‘You quite mistake the matter, my dear Shurland. Delagarde is acting, I assure you, from motives of the purest chivalry.’ She laid a hand upon Adela’s arm. ‘I fear you are very much put out, my dear. Never fear. We shall say that the child has come expressly to stay with me, because Delagarde’s mama wished for the connection, and because Reginald Hope was my own dear friend.’
‘You may say so,’ answered Adela shrilly. ‘I will not. No one will think that an adequate reason for Mary to come out under your aegis instead of mine. I shall be made to seem the greatest beast in nature, and I think it is quite heartless of Mary to subject me to such a horrid slander!’
Upon which, Lady Shurland burst into sobs, and rushed out of the room. Her harassed spouse turned on Maidie.
‘I hope you are satisfied!’ He swung round on Delagarde. ‘As for you, sir, concoct what story you wish, but don’t expect me to corroborate it!’
‘The only thing I require,’ responded Delagarde calmly, ‘is that you will keep quiet about Lady Mary’s fortune. Neither you nor I can wish for the sort of speculation that must arise if society should hear of it.’
‘I shall say nothing, but I must point out to you that you, far more than I, are likely to be hurt by its becoming known.’
‘Well, if you spread the news about, you will discover your mistake,’ Delagarde said trenchantly. ‘Because I will set it about that you tried to marry Lady Mary off to your brother-in-law.’
‘If you imagine that Eustace wishes to marry her, you are mightily mistaken,’ objected Shurland, incensed. ‘The truth is that he desires nothing less—as who shall blame him?’
On this parting shot, he stalked out of the room, leaving Maidie a prey to conflicting emotions. On the one hand, she was relieved that Delagarde had perversely chosen to champion her; on the other, she was disturbed by Firmin’s veiled hints. What had he meant? Her thoughts dissipated as Lady Hester gave way to laughter.
‘What a dreadful liar you are, Laurie! I don’t know how I kept my countenance.’
Delagarde grinned. ‘You can talk, Aunt Hes!’ He saw that Maidie was staring at him in frowning silence, and raised an eyebrow. ‘Well? You have got what you wanted, have you not?’
‘Yes, but I can’t think why, when you know very well that you heartily dislike the notion,’ she said frankly.
‘True,’ he agreed. ‘But not as much as I disliked Lady Shurland. Come to that, I am not overfond of Shurland either.’
‘They are both hateful! And Firmin was lying, too. It is quite possible that Eustace does not wish to marry me—for he doesn’t like me any more than I like him—but he will overcome his reluctance in order to get his hands on my money.’
‘So will a great many others,’ Delagarde said. ‘Which is why we are going to say nothing about it.’
Maidie frowned. ‘Then how am I to get a husband?’
‘You will have to rely on your looks and natural charm of manner.’
‘Oh,’ Maidie said doubtfully. Then Lady Hester began to laugh again, and a slight flush crept into her cheeks. ‘You mean to be sarcastic, I suppose, but I do not care.’
‘You need not tell me that.’
‘Well, but you completely agreed with Adela. You said exactly the same as she did about this gown.’
‘Did I?’ Delagarde looked her up and down.
Then, so suddenly that she had no time to protest, he stepped up to her and, in one swift movement, ripped the bandeau from her head. Maidie uttered a stifled cry and put her hands up to her hair. She hardly heard the shocked reactions of the other ladies, for Delagarde had seized her wrists, and was pulling down her struggling hands.
‘Stand still!’ he ordered. ‘Do you think I am going to hurt you? Just be quiet a moment!’
Maidie stared up at him, lost in amazement, unable either to speak or move as she felt his fingers moving deftly in her hair, running through her curls, and prinking them. She followed the motion of his eyes as they flicked about together with the action of his fingers. As he finished, the dark eyes came to rest on hers. They smiled.
‘There, that is better,’ he said, and stepped back. ‘You look much younger, and the gown is now unexceptionable.’
Lady Hester clapped her hands. ‘Well done, Laurie!’ She came up to Maidie. ‘Don’t look so bemused. He is quite right. The bandeau and feathers were a mistake.’
Maidie blinked. ‘But he hates my hair! I know he said something silly to Adela, but—’
‘Whatever I may have said,’ interrupted Delagarde, ‘it is quite untrue that I hate it. Besides, since you are desirous of catching a husband, it will usefully attract attention. There is bound to be some deluded fool who falls in love with it! And the sooner the better.’
‘At last we are of one mind!’ retorted Maidie, reviving from her bemused state. She drew a breath, and smiled at Delagarde.
The effect was blinding, and his brows rose. Perhaps it was not such a far-fetched notion that someone would fall in love with her. Provided, that is, they had no opportunity to discover her character first.
‘I must thank you, my lord, for having supported me,’ Maidie was saying. ‘I do not understand why you should have done so, but I won’t tease myself about that.’ She added in a confiding way, ‘I was afraid you meant to encourage Firmin and Adela to take me away.’
‘I know you were,’ Delagarde said. ‘And I have no more idea than you why I did not do so. I have every expectation that I will live to regret it!’
The better relations that had been established between himself and Maidie were not the only thing that prompted Delagarde to offer his escort when she expressed a need to visit the lawyer who dealt with her affairs. He’d had time enough since Wednesday to wonder why he had allowed himself to be dragooned into submission over her ridiculous charade. It was not, he thought, the advent of the Shurlands. He had been more or less reconciled before that. He had spent that first day smouldering over the perfidious way Aunt Hes has spiked his guns, but had arrived home without any real expectation of discovering the whole episode to have been imagined, as he had told himself might well be the case.
His resentment had flared anew at sight of