Page 28 of Lady Mariel’s Scandalous Love

“My Lord, I have heard… whispers… which confuse me a little. They speak of Lord Longwood having some secret. Some collection of… something… which he brought back from the continent. I do not understand why a collection would be something to whisper about, as if it was scandalous. Surely, many people collect things, from insects, to porcelain pieces – so why is nothing said in company about Lord Longwood’s collection?”

There, hopefully that sounded disingenuous enough that he would not suspect her of eavesdropping. She watched his face, maintaining the innocent look on her own. He frowned, and looked into the distance for a moment, as if uncomfortable, then turned to her, patting her hand gently where it lay upon his arm.

“My dear, it is nothing to trouble yourself over. I believe that Lord Longwood collects… certain items which gentlemen find of interest, but ladies do not. Items which are, perhaps, not at all suitable for a lady to pay any attention to.”

He was prevaricating. Lady Phyllida maintained her smile, but the annoyance within her grew. Men kept so many secrets! She would need to push a little harder.

“But my Lord, what type of items might they be? For I confess, I cannot imagine something collectible, which would be completely unsuitable for a lady to be aware of.”

“My dear, I would not wish to shock you…”

“Oh, but what might do that – I am not so very fragile, my Lord?”

He sighed, and she knew that she had won, that he would tell her at least a little. He was so very easy to encourage.

“I am not sure that I should say this, but as you insist, my Lady… I believe that Lord Longwood collects items which might be best described as relating to what goes on, between a man and a woman, in the bedchamber. Items which might, by their very existence, lead to rather improprietous thoughts.”

Delight filled her – it was as potentially scandalous as she had thought – and no wonder, when the man was a friend of Alex – Alex, who she had been promised to for so many years, and who had betrayed her, with that hussy! Well, perhaps this was a chance for her to ensure that his scandal was not forgotten, that he, and that dreadful wife of his, continued to suffer society’s disapprobation for what they had done to her, and to dear Hockingmoor. And if Lady Mariel suffered too, by association, Lady Phyllida could not say that she would be distressed by that circumstance. As for Lord Longwood, she had no care – she barely knew the man, and if he had been fool enough to collect such scandalous things… well then… he deserved whatever happened.

She pushed aside her own curiosity about what such items might possibly be, or look like, and chose to forget that Hockingmoor had asked Longwood if he might see them.

The potential for a degree of revenge for her shame this past Christmas was too great to ignore.

“Oh my! I can see why that would cause whispers! But… why on earth would a gentleman collect such… dreadful things?”

Hockingmoor looked at her, and sighed, as if disappointed, then shook his head.

“Only God can answer for the reasons that any one man finds a thing interesting, my dear. It is best to simply ignore such things.”

She nodded, and allowed him to lead her back to the house, but her mind was churning with ideas. This afternoon, she had some letters to write, letters which would begin a chain of events to see her previous shame avenged.