Page 3 (1/2)
"But didn’t Mrs Mufford spread that ru off with a footman?"
"True," Griselda said "And yet Clementina is happily married to her viscount and shows no propensity whatsoever to court the household staff Lady Blechschenerally can scent a fortune hunter at fifty yards, and there was no sign of Ardests he was not invited I must ask her if she has any pertinent information"
"His absence from that particular event may simply indicate a intolerance for boredo "You know Lady Blechschreat acquaintance of mine I must say, it is unusual for there to be such lish ould know everything froht to his yearly income Did you ever meet him when you lived in Scotland?"
"Never But Mrs Mufford’s speculation about his reasons for co around her father’s stables, and they were all as empty in the pocket as her own viscount of a father In fact, it was practically a requirement of nationality One either reen had done, as Tess had done and as she herself meant to do
"Ardmore doesn’t look the sort to be fooled by your sister," Griselda said
Annabel hoped she was right There was a brittleness behind Ien’s artful exposure of her bosoen rief," she said "There are women who have a hard time of it, and I’m afraid she’s one of theen had to live her own life And so had Annabel
For a moment a smile touched Annabel’s lips The only dowry she had was a horse, so she and the Scotsman were really two of a kind
Scottish pennies, as it were
Two
Lady Feddrington was in the grip of a passion for all things Egyptian, and since she had thesothe large doors at one end were twenty-foot-high statues of soinally stood at the doors of an Egyptian temple
"At first I wasn’t certain that I quite liked theton had told Annabel "But now I’ve named them Humpty and Dumpty I think of them rather like superior servants: so silent, and you can tell in a glance that they won’t drink to excess" She had giggled; Lady Feddrington was a rather silly woe point of the other side of the rooazed down on the dancersaround their ankles with expressions that hable
She pulled a gauzy piece of nothingness around her shoulders It was pale gold, toseries of ferns Gold on gold and worth every penny She threw a glance at those iain Surely they should be in acrowds around theod of the dead," a deep voice said "Not the uardian for an occasion such as this"
Even after having met him for only a moment, she knew Ardrown up surrounded by that soft Scottish burr, though their father threatened to disown herself and her sisters if they used it "They look like gods," she said "Have you traveled to Egypt, my lord?"