“Well, yes, but—after he called on you, I wrote to a friend who has not dropped our friendship despite my current circumstances. She has married very well. Herhusband is the cousin of a viscount. So while she does not move in the highest circles, either, her shoulder brushes against the edges of them at times. She wrote back at some length.”
Nothing but tittle-tattle, in other words. Rumors shared by women in drawing rooms when they paid calls. Nothing this friend had to report could be of any value or worthy of confidence. Padua detested such gossip and refused to participate.
Usually.
“What did she confide?”
“That he is among the most well-respected barristers in England. That for the most part his character is without blemish. That he has an income that is impressive, and considerable charm to go with his handsome face—and he is handsome, isn’t he? I near fainted when I saw his face in our reception hall—that he even has a friendship with the prince regent despite their age difference.”
“He sounds like a paragon.”
“Doesn’t he indeed.” Jennie’s lids lowered. “Except for one flaw, he would be perfect.”
Padua waited for it. Jennie waited, almost bursting. Padua sighed. She was not very good at wheedling gossip out of people.
“What flaw is that?”
Two pink blotches colored Jenny’s cheeks. “It is not the kind of thing I normally talk about.”
“Perhaps you can manage it just this once, so I am properly forewarned. I promise to forget at once thatyou spoke of scandalous things. That is what it is, correct? Something scandalous?”
Jennie nodded.
“Recent scandal?”
“Not recent. Also not a scandal as such. But scandalous.”
“How can one be scandalous without creating a scandal?”
“I suppose if one, in a private conversation, broaches subjects that are not virtuous.”
Padua wondered if the conversation in question had been hypothetical. “Pray, enlighten me.”
“Well.” Jennie licked her lips. “My friend says that when he was younger, and pursuing a lady, upon gaining her favor but not, I think, her favors, he was very frank in explaining his preferences regarding the latter.”
Padua hoped blotches were not now onhercheeks.
“I suppose there is something to be said for finding agreement on the expectations,” she murmured.
“According to my friend, those expectations were not merely the ordinary sort. They involved things ladies do not do. Wicked things.”
“If your friend knows so much, this lady must have told others and not kept her discovery to herself.”
“It would be hard to keep it to oneself, what with the shock.”
Padua pictured that lady enjoying the attention for a whole Season while other ladies cornered her in drawing rooms, wanting the details. Did her descriptionsget specific? Unlikely. This gossip was built on innuendos and euphemisms.
“You say it was some time ago. He was very young then.”
“My friend says most ladies will not allow his pursuit as a result. His reputation precedes him. Although one can’t picture him forgoing all female companionship.”
“I am sure he does not do that.”
Jennie took her hand and gripped it. “He probably pursues others now. Actresses and such. And women who are vulnerable and in need, who can be lured to wickedness due to their poor circumstances.”
Women like you.
Padua stood. “How good of you to warn me, although I am sure that, even with wicked intentions in his heart, he can do better than me. Now, let us investigate this house and ogle its riches. Wait until I show you the dining room. The table can hold fifty guests, I am sure.”
