“She is very well,” said Rose as she began to pour the tea. “She and her husband are on the Continent just now, andThaddeus has joined them while they are in Paris, as he has always wanted to see it.” She extended a cup to each of the girls.
“Nell married an innkeeper, did she not? I wish her all the best,” Clarice said wistfully, as if full of doubt, then sipped at her Darjeeling. “Is she increasing yet?”
“Clarice!” Anne laughed, smiling fiendishly over the rim of her teacup. “What a thing to ask!”
“It is only us four women here.” Clarice’s eyebrows dropped down heavily as she looked at each of them in turn. “And we are all family, are we not? Even Beatrice—"
“Belinda,” Mrs Caspar corrected.
“Oh, I do apologize, but as I was saying, I only ask what everyone must be wondering as Nell is married now. So, is she?”
Rose made no answer as the sisters fixed their stares upon her.
Unsure if her aunt was either too vexed or flustered to speak, Belinda extended the plate of currant-studded queen cakes to their guests, and said, “Not that we are aware of, no.”
Lifting her hand as if to make her selection, Anne lingered so long that Lindy’s shoulder began to ache.
Come now, Miss Chaffee, are you counting every currant?
“And yet shemaybe with child. You oughtn’t presume Nell tells you everything.” Anne chose a cake at last, and Belinda congratulated herself for not dumping the entire plateful in her lap.
“Well, if she is not,” Clarice glossed over her sister’s comment. “I suppose that shouldn’t be a surprise as I recall Mamma saying thatyouhad difficulty with that matter, AuntRose.” She tilted her head with saccharine sympathy. “Like mother, like daughter, perhaps?”
“Only time will tell,” Anne philosophized airily, between nibbles.
Rousing herself, Rose asked, “Tell me, where do you girls intend to go while you are in town?”
Enlivened, Clarice reeled off a number of places and events, then named the families they would visit, padding her answer with trifling details about everything and everyone she mentioned.
Anne sat stiffly by as the skein of gossip unfurled. At its end, a few quiet moments passed and no more tea was offered to either of the sisters.
“Well, I suppose we must be going.” Anne sighed, rising from her seat, prompting Clarice to do the same. “We’ve so many friends to see. But we will soon look in again to see our uncle. Mamma is out of her head with worry!”
Rose stood and nodded at the two young women, though no pleasantries exited her mouth as they made their way out of the room.
Counting the pit-a-pats of their footsteps, Belinda breathed with relief at the click of the front door shutting. Still, the parlour felt as if it ought to be thoroughly aired out.
Dropping back down into her chair, Rose stared into the hearth, tapping her teacup lightly with her fingernails.
“I suppose I ought to be thankful that Imogene only sent her hatchlings, and did not come herself. But just the thought of them elbowing their way in to see George! They’d probablystart asking him for money the moment they passed through the bedroom door!”
Belinda shrank a little within the lavender day dress that had just been purchased for her, but Rose did not notice as she fumed further.
“I only asked where they intended to go so that we could avoid those places ourselves. I simply cannot fathom how they learned of George’s illness!” She shook her head, her brow deeply creased. “And now that they know where we are, I will not always be able to turn them away. That would seem a connivance on my part – and certainly everyone at Hollyfield would hear the particulars of it, true or otherwise!”
Sitting silently, Belinda regretted answering Imogene Chaffee’s letter more than anything in the history of her life.
Suddenly the sound of her uncle calling out from upstairs filtered down through the ceiling.
“Rose! Where is…my Rose?”
“Oh, thank heavens he didn’t awaken just a moment earlier!” Mrs Caspar said with a shaky laugh as she hurried out of the parlour door to answer him.
Belinda was left alone to agonize over how she was at fault for everything her aunt had just endured, and whatever else she might soon suffer.
A Stripling's Advisement
THE NEXT day, Alwyn was back at Hertford Street, and was pleased to see that Mr Caspar needed only a little assistance as he ambulated around the townhouse. The man’s ability to ascend and descend the staircase remained a point of concern, but overall, he was remarkably improved.
