At the sound of Sommerset’s voice, he relaxed. “Not hiding. Making a point.”
Sommerset stepped up next to him, appearing to study the lawn where pall-mall would be played. “Looks like pouting.”
He faced his friend. “I do not pout. I make a point in whatever way is necessary.”
“I’m assuming you are not happy with your mother once again since she has been greeting the guests without you by her side.”
“That would be correct.” He didn’t miss the use of the word “again.” It did seem as if he and his mother had been at odds his whole life. No, that was not true. Only since Belinda had passed and she’d started trying to encourage him to choose another Mabry lady to marry.
“I don’t know what caused the argument this time, but she is being very solicitous to Lady Dorothea. So much so that not only did my wife notice it, but so did I, and you know these things usually pass me by with little acknowledgment.”
He harrumphed at that. Sommerset was almost as observant as he was.
“Did the argument perhaps have something to so with Lady Dorothea? As one of her chaperones, I should probably be informed.”
He considered his answer carefully, not wanting to reveal too much. “Suffice it to say, my mother made accusations with no facts, and I scolded her for it.”
Sommerset chuckled. “I gather she thought something was about between you and the lady in question. I would think she would know you better. Lady Dorothea is hardly the right match for you. She is far too warm, innocent, and kind, if a bit of a rambler.”
His friend’s description of the lady sounded so much like Belinda that he took umbrage, but with the last descriptor, he was able to let it pass like a bird heading south. “Yes, she does appear to enjoy talking in squiggly lines.”
Sommerset’s brows rose. “Squiggly lines? Not circles?”
He barely held back his smile. “No, she assures me it’s squiggly lines.”
At Sommerset’s laughter, Felton felt his pique vanish. “Mother is not happy that the lady is here because she’s afraid that Rose will wish to attend the Belinda School for Curious Ladies even more than she already does.”
“I didn’t realize Rose had such high aspirations.”
“You consider the school of high quality, then?”
Sommerset pondered his question for a few moments before answering. “I do. Though to be truthful, at first, I did so simply because my wife lectures there on occasion, and no, she doesn’t teach painting. That’s not one of the classes. But the more we visited, and the more I came to know the Duke and Duchess of Northwick, I came to understand the purpose and quality of the education.”
His friend’s opinion held a lot of sway over him. “Then I must ask you, since you know the school and my sister, do you think Rose would benefit from attending?” Though barely a few seconds elapsed, his stomach knotted, far too anxious for the answer.
“I’m not sure what you mean by ‘benefit.’ Since it’s a school on par with Oxford, though much stricter since it is for ladies of the peerage, by definition, it benefits the minds of those who attend.”
“But would it make Rose more sought after by appropriate men?”
Sommerset’s brows rose. “Is that why she wants to attend, to make herself more popular among the men?”
At his nod, Sommerset’s brows furrowed. “I thought Lady Rose would be having to choose among multiple offers her very first season. I’m stymied why that isn’t the case, so I can’t say if attending the school would benefit her.”
It wasn’t what he’d hoped to learn, but he appreciated his friend’s honesty. “I believe her inability to garner a proposal has to do with her ability to be accepted.”
“I understand. She is like two different people. Do you think if she showed society who she is, she’d have more offers? It’s not as if thetonencourages eccentricities like Lady Dorothea.”
Felton’s immediate reaction was to defend the lady, but his logical side had to agree. In fact, it was that very unusual part of her he was hoping to rectify. “I don’t consider my sister to be that eccentric.”
“Yes, of course. Throwing food and tipping tea trays is really quite the norm.” Though Sommerset kept a serious face, his tawny eyes laughed at him.
“She only acts in that way among those she knows won’t judge her.”
“Exactly.”
Since his path of inquiry had led him to a dead end, he posed the question that he most wanted Sommerset’s opinion on. “Do you think my sister willlessenher chances by going to the school?”
“Now, that is a difficult question to answer. It could since people were beginning to think the women there bluestockings until Lady Elsbeth married Lord Mabry.”
