“And then?”
“I was sent to Last...er...Lady Chase's Academy for Young Ladies, where I stayed until I graduated three years ago and went to my first position.”
Again they waited, all standing around that Gothic old chair like supplicants before a bishop. Felicity couldn't understand how Flint could look so cool and unconcerned. She was beginning to feel limp and wet from the unbearable heat in this cramped little room. She didn't even want to consider it might also have been from tension. Did she want this old woman to accept her?Didshe want to stay?
She was standing at attention, hands clasped in front of her as if awaiting punishment. As for Flint, he was languidly dabbing snuff onto the hollow between his thumb and forefinger and taking a sniff.
Felicity looked closer. She might be mad, but she could swear that he inhaled nothing. She afforded him a brief, sly glance to see him pulling out his handkerchief to brush at his suit coat, an aristocratic gentleman at his most officious. Which suddenly seemed odd.
She never had the chance to challenge him. Suddenly his aunt, or cousin, or whatever she was, straightened in her seat and gave a resounding thump of her cane.
“You might as well go back to where you came from,” she pronounced down her hawklike nose. “I refuse to countenance you.”
And Felicity, who had abruptly gotten her wish, was surprised by a sting of tears.
“Excellent,” she answered, straightening as if it didn't matter. “Then I can be on my way.”
Although where, inevitably, she had no idea. Perhaps the school would be considerate. In any case, it was well past time for her to go.
Chapter 5
“Rude miss!” Miss St. Claire snapped.
Felicity didn't bother to turn around. She needed to get out of the room before either that nasty old woman or her companion saw the sheen in her eyes.
“One moment please, Miss Chambers,” Lord Flint said, never raising his voice. “Higgins.”
Higgins stepped right into Felicity's path and bowed. She let him by.
“My lord?” he asked.
“Instruct Mrs. Windom to begin organizing Miss St. Clair's removal.”
Felicity stuttered to a halt and spun about. Higgins gaped. Miss Fare paled.
Lord Flint seemed to notice none of that. He was locked in silent combat with his aunt. “It is His Grace's wish that if Miss St. Clair cannot see her way to assist Miss Felicity, that she is welcome to return to her own home.”
Felicity couldn't look away from that frigid contest. Flint stood completely still, looking as relaxed as if he were making a morning call. His aunt all but vibrated with fury, her fingers taut as claws on the carved arms of the chair.
“You wouldn't,” the old woman rasped.
Was Felicity the only one who saw that terrible fear flare in those sharp old eyes? The vulnerability? Within the space of a few words, she looked suddenly old.
Flint shrugged. “It is not my decision, ma'am. It is my father's.”
Felicity felt a hot rage ignite in her. Why torture that poor woman? No matter the visitors, that one glance of stark terror betrayed that she was old and alone except for the place she held in this house. And Felicity didn't want any other person to know what it was like to be abandoned, no matter how surly they were, or how much they deserved it.
She swung around on Flint. “How dare you?” she demanded.
She wasn't certain who was more astonished, Flint or his aunt. They both gaped at her as if she were a talking dog.
“Pardon?” Flint asked.
Felicity advanced on him. “A gentleman does not extort a frail old woman to go against her moral code. Your cousin does not feel able to support a bastard. I understand that.”
Felicity heard gasps. Even Flint looked uncomfortable.
She focused on him, the cause of her distress. “Why be delicate about this?” she demanded. “It is obvious what I am. I have lived with the truth my whole life. I have also spent a lifetime being met with just such disgust, so do not think I shall shrivel and die. Your cousin has just learned that she is expected to accept that which to her is unacceptable. And yet you expect her to throw over decades of training and perjure herself about how delighted she will be to welcome me into her home.”
