“What…” she felt something twist in her chest. “…What was she like?” The moment those words left her mouth, her stomach dropped. “I realized I may have put you in an impossible position. You do not need to answer that.”
“Her Grace was a beautiful lady, Your Grace, a social butterfly and a Diamond of the First Water when His Grace married her.” Mrs. Tully said. “But…I suspected a very manipulative nature from her.”
She did not say anymore, and Ariadne did not push. Maybe Cedric would tell her more about his late wife…but even that idea felt unreasonable. The man was a block of ice; he would never tell her about the life he had lived before.
Molly returned with the paper, and she took it with a smile. “I’ll send for you in the next half hour. Thank you.”
Instead of paying attention to her food, she took the paper and turned to the gossip pages.
As she expected, she saw her name blazoned on the first headline.
A bride for the beast of Holloway? Never say so!
Who is this Mysterious Miss Ariadne Hargrave, the newest Duchess of Holloway, and is she truly married to the most elusive Duke in London?
For those in attendance at Duke Holloway’s ball a week ago, all were in complete shock when the alleged rakehell Lord Moreland was declared engaged to a country miss when it is known on-dit that he has a long-standing mistress, Lady Delilah Porter. A lady’s life that many revile and others crave to experience.
It is reported that upon the day of the wedding, Lord Moreland left the poor lady at the altar and Duke Holloway himself stepped in to marry her.
Light digging has revealed that the lady’s family, consisting of her mother and three sisters, is a step away from ruin as money left in the coffers by her late father is being spent hand over fist by the new Viscount of Fairbrook, her uncle.
These facts were uncoveredafterdear citizens and onlookers of that ball voluntarily offered their insights.
She is very plain and old, not deserving of such a marriage. My daughter was a better match,sniffed Lady M?—
I sincerely believe she is with his (Lord Moreland) child because of this sudden marriage,laughed Lord St. J?—
Even if it was a quiet romance or not, she has certainly elevated her position and her family,declared Lady C-M.
She had not expected anything good from the public…but this felt so nasty.
Her mind flew to Charity Peterson, her friend, who had said this when they had attended the debut ball for a beautiful young lady.
Upon seeing some other ladies smile through their teeth and glare death upon the undeserving lady, Charity leaned in and said, “Don’t be fooled, almost every lady here will stab her in the middle of her shoulder blades and then go have tea with their pinky lifted.”
God above, she wanted to visit her friends or have them visit her, but she did not know how Cedric would react.
The last comment cut her in two.
Let’s see if she will survive a year. God forbid she bear him a child. Women die around that beast.Lady S?—
Dropping the paper, she felt her stomach turn in horror. She had no heart to eat but could not—would not – waste the food. With a heavy heart, she slathered the toast with preserves and finished with the summer fruit.
Finished, she summoned her maid, who took her to Mrs. Tully, but halfway down the corridor, she saw Cedric vanishing into a room with leather furniture and tall shelves.
His study.
“Your Grace?” Molly asked.
Tearing her attention away from him, she nodded, “I’m sorry. Please, proceed.”
Five days had passed since her wedding, and two days of learning the rhythms of her new home while her husband maintained what could only be described as deliberate avoidance.
Ariadne adjusted her spectacles and smiled at Mrs. Tully, who was finishing her thorough tour of the Holloway Estate domestic arrangements. She had seen the room that had been allotted to her that ill-fated night, and it was a realm away from the luxury of the main rooms.
On the third day, Ariadne had made the mistake of cleaning up after herself as she was used to maintaining her family’s home with very few staff, only a cook, a washerwoman, and a doorman on pay. Everything else, they did themselves.
Her second morning at the Manor, alone and stifled, not seeing hide nor hair of her husband or stepdaughter, she had descended endless stairs and wandered through a maze of corridors until she had ended up in the kitchen.
