Elizabeth Mansfield (32 page)

Lady Glendenning sighed. Millicent’s hopes for Letty had made her, Letty’s own adoring mother, uneasy from the first. Lord Denham was past thirty and had never succumbed to matrimony. All Millicent’s assurances that Roger Denham would come up to scratch failed to ease her mind. Lovely as her daughter was, Lady Glendenning knew that there were others more beautiful, more well connected, or more lively, and that Lord Denham had ignored them all. Letty, quiet and self-effacing, was not likely to catch quite so big a fish. Couldn’t Millicent be content with a lesser prize?

But Millicent had been adamant. Her connection with the Dowager Lady Denham was very close, and she knew that she, Roger’s mother, was quite taken with Letty. And, just as she had predicted, Lord Denham had taken an interest in Letty and had
offered
! Millicent and Lady Denham, between them, had done the trick. It was Letty herself who had ruined everything! What maggot had found its way into her devoted and very dutiful daughter’s head to cause her to do such a terrible thing?

Lady Glendenning lay back on the pillows with a groan. “I don’t understand you at all,” she said tearfully. “If you don’t hold his appearance in aversion, what
is
it that made you refuse him?”

Aunt Millicent snorted. “The answer is obvious. There’s nothing about Lord Denham to revolt a girl. Why, there’s not another girl in all of England who would refuse him. Your daughter has her eye on someone else. It’s the only possible explanation.”

Lady Glendenning shook her head. “No, Millicent. Letty wouldn’t lie to us. She has always been the most devoted, the most obedient, the best behaved of all my children. She’s never lied to me or given me the slightest trouble. She would not ruin her family by refusing a fortune—not for such a reason as that. You are not in love with some penniless fellow, are you, my darling?”

“No, Mama,” Letty said quietly. “I swear I’m not. I’ll marry anyone else you say.
Anyone.
” Her eyes filled with tears again. “But not Lord Denham.”

“Then at least tell us
why
!” her aunt demanded impatiently.

She shook her head. “Please don’t ask me to explain. I . . . can’t explain it to you. I c-can’t!” she answered in a choked voice.

“Don’t you realize, you silly peagoose, that there’s not much chance of finding someone else now?” Millicent asked in disgust. “No one will believe that you turned Denham down. They will all say that he found
you
unsatisfactory and did not come up to scratch.”

“Oh, my God!” wailed Lady Glendenning from the sofa. “I’d never thought of that . . .”

“Neither had your daughter, apparently,” Millicent muttered angrily. “Perhaps if she had, she would not have been so quick to refuse him.”

“It would have made no difference. I would have refused him in any case,” Letty said in a flat, dead voice that her mother barely recognized.

“Stop badgering the girl, Millicent,” Lady Glendenning said helplessly. “I can’t bear to see her so unhappy.”

“What about
your
unhappiness? And the rest of the family’s?” Millicent demanded. “Why didn’t she think of
that
?”

There was no answer. Lady Glendenning covered her eyes with trembling hands, and Letty stared in miserable silence at the carpet. Finally, Millicent sighed in defeat. “Well, go up to your room, Miss. I want to talk to your mother in private.”

Letty rose quickly and hurried out, almost colliding with her brother who had not moved quickly enough from the door. “Ned!” she gasped.

“Quiet!” he hissed nervously, carefully shutting the door behind her. “Do you want Aunt Millicent to know I’ve been eavesdropping?”

“Then you heard—?”

“Most of it. Whatever made you do it, Letty? Do you really dislike him so much?”

“Oh, Neddie, don’t
you
start on me, too!” Letty cried, and she burst into long-suppressed tears and fell against his shoulder.

Ned looked down at his sister’s bonnet in perplexity. “There, now, don’t cry,” he said, patting her shoulder awkwardly. “You know I can’t abide waterworks. Besides, there’s no need for tears
now.
It’s all over and done with.”

“D-done with?” Letty raised her head from his shoulder. “W-what do you m-mean?”

“You’ve turned him down, haven’t you? It’s done with. However much they may scold, they can’t make you marry him now.”

This brought out a fresh flood of tears. “You d-don’t understand,” she sobbed against his shoulder. “You d-don’t unders-stand at all!”

“What is there to understand? Lord Denham asked you to marry him. You didn’t want to marry him, so you refused him. Let Aunt Millicent carry on all she likes. It’s too late for her to force you to marry him now, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” his sister nodded, still sobbing.

“Then I’m dashed if I can see what you’re crying about. Stop it, will you? You’re soaking my riding coat. Here.” He lifted her head and handed her his handkerchief. “Dry those eyes, you silly puss. Everything is going to be fine.”

Letty took a deep breath and tried to control her tears. Sniffing bravely into his handkerchief, she muttered, “Everything is going to be dreadful.”

“Nonsense,” her brother said decidedly. “You’ve only to weather a little scolding. They’re bound to give up sooner or later. And when the noise is all over, you’ll no longer have to marry a man you dislike.”

“That’s just it,” Letty said, gulping back her tears and thrusting his wet handkerchief into his hand. “I
don’t
dislike him. In fact, if you want to know the truth, there’s no man in the world I’d
rather
marry than Roger Denham!” And she fled up the stairs, leaving her brother staring after her in openmouthed bewilderment.

Elizabeth Mansfield (a pseudonym) published more than two dozen Regency romances. Before beginning a career as a full-time writer, she was a teacher of Drama and English in junior high school, high school and college. She died in 2003. More information can be found on
www.elizabethmansfield.com

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