“Indeed?” The young ladies swelled with hope again.
If hemustwork, the least he could do was become staggeringly wealthy, he supposed, to offset the shame of it. The more money one had, the less fussy thetonwas about how they got it.
He studied the young ladies. They put him in mind of two mosquitos, bursting with a surfeit of blood. They were just the sort of women he’d expected Eleanor Sutherland to be, and it would be far easier if she was, for either one of these two detestable females would accept his suit readily enough.
That Lady Eleanor had turned out to be someone else entirely was either a tremendous stroke of luck, or a disaster. He hadn’t yet made up his mind which.
“I beg your pardon, Mr. West.” Lady Catherine darted a glance at Cam. “I think you said yesterday you prefer to be a silent patron—”
The sound of voices in the hallway interrupted Lady Catherine’s apology, and after a moment, Eleanor and Charlotte Sutherland entered the drawing room.
“Ah, my dears,” Lady Catherine said. “Here you are. See who’s come to call. Miss Darlington and Miss Thurston, and Mr. West.”
Cam stood and bowed to the ladies.
Eleanor Sutherland eyed him, her expression resigned. “Ah. Of course. Mr. West.” She dipped into a curtsy. “Miss Darlington, Miss Thurston. Such a pleasure.”
Lady Charlotte wasn’t as circumspect as her sister. She looked at Cam as if she wished she’d thought to bring a pistol into the drawing room, and she didn’t look any better pleased to see Miss Darlington and Miss Thurston.
“Well, Lady Charlotte,” Miss Darlington began when they were all seated. “I hear you were taken mysteriously ill at Lady Foster’s ball the other night. I trust you are recovered?”
Charlotte gave her a thin smile. “As you can see.”
“I confess I’m surprised to see you so looking so well,” Miss Thurston said. “Why, it’s difficult to believe you were soveryill mere days ago.”
Lady Eleanor sipped her tea. “Boar’s milk.”
Miss Thurston gave her a blank look, then glanced at Miss Darlington, who shrugged. “I beg your pardon?”
“Boar’s milk. Haven’t you heard, Miss Thurston? The latest cure. My sister has been drinking it all week, and as you can see, she’s in the pink of health.”
“I—boar’s milk? Well, I had no idea.”
“No. I didn’t suppose you had. It does wonders for the complexion, too. You should try it.”
Boar’s milk? Was there even such a thing as boar’s milk? Cam imagined Miss Thurston scouring every apothecary’s shop in London for boar’s milk, and stifled a laugh.
“Did you hear about Miss Abbott?” asked Miss Darlington, who seemed to think a change of topic was in order.
“I don’t believe I know Miss Abbot,” Charlotte said.
Miss Thurston tittered. “She’s no one special, and not likely to attract the notice of the ton.”
“Well, what of her, then?” Lady Eleanor asked, with barely concealed impatience.
“She and her sponsor, Mrs. Bridewell, have appealed to the patronesses of Almack’s for a voucher.”
Both Miss Thurston and Miss Darlington burst into malicious laugher at this announcement, but none of the three Sutherland ladies seemed to find the information amusing. They sipped their tea, their expressions unreadable.
“Can you imagine?” Miss Thurston continued. “The effrontery of them both, to think Miss Abbott, of all people, should have a voucher.”
“Shocking,” Lady Eleanor said after a moment.
Did she think it was shocking? Cam studied her, but her face revealed little. He thought he saw a faint look of disgust twist her lips, but he couldn’t determine if the look was for Miss Darlington and Miss Thurston, or for Miss Abbott.
It stood to reason it was for Miss Abbott, who’d dared to get so far above herself. Lady Eleanor was clever, even kind, but she waston, too. She might not be quite the despicable snob Miss Thurston and Miss Darlington were, but would she side with the common Miss Abbott?
What were the chances she’d side with Amelia? His sister was bright and funny, but that wouldn’t matter to people like Miss Thurston and Miss Darlington, who would always see her as beneath them.
