Clarissa stared at the attractive woman while she took in this unexpected information. “How do you do?” She sank into a well-practiced curtsy. “You had better come in, my lady,” Clarissa said, opening the door wide. “Shall I make tea?”
“Thank you, but no. I’m only here to invite Francis to dinner at my home tonight. Both of you must come. You’ll meet Francis’s other sisters and my husband.”
“I’m sure Francis will be delighted. As am I. Are you sure you don’t have time for tea?”
“Perhaps I do.” Her new relative stepped across the threshold into the room, leaving the footman outside. “Now that we’re sisters, I feel I should know your name,” Lady Dalton said.
“I am Clarissa, Lady Dalton.” She closed the door.
Lady Dalton smiled, and it appeared genuine. “You must call me Jane. My brother mentioned you, but I had no idea he was courting you. I’m curious to know more.”
While they sat either side of the warm hearth, teacups in hand, Jane interviewed Clarissa on the where, why and how of her marriage to Francis. The experience was intense, although not wholly unpleasant, as Jane accepted her answers without any appearance of judgement. A short time later, Clarissa’s exulted visitor swept out of Francis’s lodgings on her way, she said, to the Welfare League Home for Unmarried Mothers in Wapping.
Her sister-in-law’s friendliness had surprised and charmed Clarissa and made her hopeful that she would be accepted by all Francis’s family. However, doubts still niggled in her mind about how his family would react to his marrying an actress. She could not be their first choice for their clergyman brother, who needed someone who behaved with propriety and set a good example for his parishioners.
***
Soon after the church bells of London rang to signal noon, Francis arrived home in time to lunch with Clarissa. Her heart did its usual flip-flop when he entered. Truly, she had no regrets about her marriage.
He seemed distracted but pulled her into his arms for a bone-crushing hug. “Are you all right?” she whispered in his ear, as she tightened her arms around hm.
“I am now,” he answered on an exhaled breath.
She eased herself from his arms to look at him. Despite his words, he still seemed lost in thought. “Your sister Jane has invited us to a family dinner at Dalton House tonight.” She blurted out the news to bring his attention back to her.
“Jane was here?” Francis blinked at the news, then gave a decisive tip of his chin. “Good. I can introduce you to my sisters all at once.”
Clarissa nodded.
Francis smiled. “Excellent, we can dine there after your performance.”
“What are your sisters like?” Clarissa asked, as she twisted the woolen skirt of her dress with her fingers.
“You’ll like them, and they’ll love you. Except for Katherine, who is a pupil teacher at present, they are the directors and teachers of the Brody School for Young Ladies, which you have already visited.”
“Won’t they look down on me when they’re told I’m an actress?”
“Don’t give that a thought. My family is well-known for its liberal social views.”
They must be a very unusual family indeed, if they would welcome an actress into their midst. She hadn’t thought about the family she was joining! Why hadn’t she considered this before their marriage?Because it was be only a marriage of convenience.
Clarissa couldn’t help suspecting that Francis was gilding the lily about his family. Her stomach clenched at the thought of meeting them, but she would do it. She swallowed her fear and began to ready herself for the ordeal, both mentally and physically, by wearing her best silk dress.
***
Clarissa arrived with Francis for dinner at Dalton House in Grosvenor Square after her performance. Jane and her husband, the Marquis of Dalton, greeted them. Francis introduced her to his younger sisters.
Charlotte, clearly the elder of the sisters whom Clarissa hadn’t met, had athin faceand a worried look.Why?The nextsister wasAnna. Herface was calm and cheerful, with a smile that warmed her voiceas she greeted Clarissa. Katherine’s dark hair hung down her back in a long plait, revealing that she was not yet old enough to be out in society.
These were the young women who ran a school for young ladies. She admired their youthful enterprise. And their determination to teach girls the classics and mathematics, subjects usually reserved for boys, amazed her. That didn’t happen at The Duke Street Orphanage. She marveled at Katherine teaching advanced mathematics, despite her youth.
Would she have enjoyed such an education if the orphanage had offered it? Perhaps not, as acting was her passion. But she liked the idea of there being choices for girls, rather than educating them for the narrow domestic sphere to which they were generally confined.
As an actress, she felt liberated from those confines and wouldn’t enjoy being pushed back into them.
Francis’s family was welcoming, quietly curious, and surprisingly supportive of her acting career. Clearly, Jane had disseminated the family gossip to all of them, as they didn’t press Francis or her for further details about their hasty marriage. Instead, they offered their congratulations and showed only quiet disappointment in missing the event. Francis had maintained they were liberal-minded, and that seemed to be the case for all the Brody family present tonight.
The Marquis of Dalton was aCorinthian, from his short brown hair swept upon his brow and his tall athletic body clad in the best of men’s fashion, to his shiny black shoes.Although welcoming, he was quieter than his family-in-law.
