Summerset Abbey (31 page)

He jerked from his self-castigating reverie at a knock at the door. His servant stuck his head around the door. “Gennelman to see you, sir. Lord Beaufort.”

“Show him in, Ned.” Charles rose from his chair as his visitor was shown into the parlor. Whatever hope he’d cherished that Imogen would rethink her determination once she had cooled off was now gone. There could be only one reason for the viscount’s visit. However, his expression as he greeted his visitor gave nothing away. “Duncan, how delightful. May I offer you sherry . . . or Madeira if you prefer?”

Duncan shook his head, stiffening his shoulders. “No . . . nothing, thank you, Mr. Riverdale.”

“Oh, dear,” Charles murmured. “Such formality. Your errand is an unpleasant one, obviously.” He turned to the sideboard and poured whiskey into two cut-glass tumblers. “I suspect we need something a little stronger than claret.” He handed his guest a glass. “So, your sister is adamant. The engagement is broken?”

Duncan took the glass with a grateful nod and an immediate gulp. “ ’Fraid so. I don’t know what megrim she has in her head, but she won’t be budged. I tried, believe me, I tried.”

“I’m sure you did, Duncan.” Charles took his own tumbler to the long window looking down on the street. He sipped slowly, as the cold reality of the truth seeped into his mind. There really was nothing more he could do to change the situation. Pleading was never his strong suit, but if he thought it would change Imogen’s mind he would swallow his pride. But it wouldn’t.

“Very well. I’ll send the notice for the morning’s papers. You’ll do the same?”

“Yes.” Duncan downed his whiskey in one last draught. “Gen says I must. I’m so sorry. If there was anything I could have done—”

Charles shook his head. “I know your sister probably better than you, Duncan. I’m sure there was nothing you could do.” He took another sip from his glass. “You’d better leave now, and take care of your own side of this fiasco.” He sounded harsher than he intended as he set down his tumbler with a snap.

Duncan paled, his fingers trembling as he put down his own glass. “I hope . . . I trust—”

“Oh, for God’s sake, boy, what kind of a man do you take me for? Of course your secret is safe with me. This has nothing whatsoever to do with however you conduct your own private life.” Charles regarded the younger man with a degree of annoyance. Duncan’s personal issues were trivial compared to the present debacle. “Go and do what you have to do.” He went to the door and opened it. “I’ll deal with my end of it.”

Duncan half bowed as he scurried down the stairs to street level, his face scarlet with embarrassment. He had always been intimidated by his prospective brother-in-law, and intimidation had become real terror of the man when Riverdale had walked in upon him that ghastly September afternoon in the conservatory at Beaufort Hall. Charles had taken in the scene in one swift glance and then simply turned and walked away. Duncan had tried once to bring up the subject, but the other man had cut him off with a dismissive gesture. Since then they had exchanged not a word on the subject and Duncan had started to relax in the belief that now that Riverdale was almost a member of the family, his secret was safe.

But now, with the engagement broken, and in such a scandalous fashion, there was nothing to keep Charles from spreading the story far and wide. Could his promise of secrecy be trusted?

Imogen was dressing for dinner when Esther knocked once and came into her bedroom without waiting for a response. “I’m sorry, Gen, but I couldn’t stop them.” She untied the ribbons of her plumed felt hat as she spoke. The shoulders of her fur-trimmed pelisse were damp and her brown hair, always curly, had corkscrewed.

“Couldn’t stop whom?” Imogen turned on her dresser stool. “Leave us for a few minutes, would you, Daisy?”

Her maid bobbed a curtsy and removed the hairpins from her mouth, where she was keeping them as she did Imogen’s coiffure. “Yes, ma’am.”

“I’ll ring when I’m ready.” Imogen regarded her sister as the maid departed. “You look drained, Essie.”

“I am.” Esther tossed her hat and pelisse onto a tapestry bench against the wall. “And the long and the short of it is that the
family
are coming en masse to persuade you to change your mind. The scandal,” she said in a fair imitation of Aunt Martha, “will be more than the family can possibly countenance.”

“Oh, sweet heaven.” Imogen rested her head in her palms. “They’re coming
tonight
?”

Esther nodded. “I did what I could, darling, but they’re incensed . . . every single one of them.”

“It’s unfair of me to have asked you to break the news.” Imogen rose from her stool and went to her sister, putting her arms around her. “Are they coming before dinner?”

“Yes, any minute, although Uncle George said it would upset his digestion and ruin his own dinner.” Esther offered a weak smile. “Perhaps we should ask Mrs. Windsor to have some calf’s-foot jelly on hand.”

“I’ll tell Sharpton to put dinner back an hour.” Imogen sighed. “I wish we could just disappear to Beaufort Hall tonight, avoid the lot of them. If we weren’t here, there’d be nothing for the scandalmongers to get their teeth into.”

“We can’t go tonight, Gen.” Esther turned wearily to the door. “I’d better go and dress . . . and warn Duncan. A family altercation is not going to improve his shining hour either.” She paused, her hand on the door. “How did it go with Charles. Has Duncan said?”

“Not much. He just mumbled that the notices would be in the
Times
in the morning and disappeared upstairs to dress.”

Esther nodded. “We’ll just get through this evening, and then we can get out of town and leave the gossips to their own devices.”

Imogen nodded and rang for Daisy. “I’ll go down to the drawing room as soon as I’m ready. Don’t hurry down, Essie, this is my mess—there’s no reason you should be subjected to the bullying on my account. . . . Oh, Daisy . . .” She addressed the maid as she came back into the room. “I think I’ll wear the dove-gray crepe this evening. Suitably somber and penitential, don’t you think, Essie?”

Esther’s grimace was answer enough as she went off to her own room to change.

Five minutes later, Imogen was in the drawing room, sipping a glass of sherry and trying to calm her nerves. The dove-gray crepe, with its dark gray velvet puff sleeves and matching velvet edging the relatively modest neckline and outlining the flowing hemline, could almost pass as mourning, she reflected, looking at herself in the mirror above the long, marble-topped console table, making a small adjustment to a loosening hairpin. Whether the demure costume would mollify the irate family elders remained to be seen.

The doorbell sounded and she stiffened her shoulders, drained her sherry glass, and set it down on the console table as she turned to the door.

“Lord and Lady Marsham, Miss Carstairs,” Sharpton announced. Lady Marsham had been a Carstairs before her marriage to Viscount Marsham and considered herself the matriarch of the family and arbiter in all matters concerning it.

“Imogen, what is this disgraceful business about?” she demanded, sailing into the drawing room, casting a sweeping glance around through her lorgnette as if to ensure that every piece of furniture was present and correct, before bending her gaze upon her errant niece. “You cannot possibly be intending such a scandalous thing. I could scarcely believe my ears when Esther told me what you were intending to do.”

“It’s already done, ma’am,” Imogen said. “The notices have been sent to the
Times
for the morning edition. I’ll write to everyone myself, of course.”

“But my dear,” the viscount protested as his wife’s bosom seemed to balloon with swelling outrage, “only think of the scandal.”

“Uncle George, I have done,” she said with as much composure as she could muster. “I do assure you this is not some lightly considered whim. I cannot and will not marry Charles Riverdale.”

The ringing of the doorbell put paid to an immediate response and Sharpton announced the next visitors even as it rang again. Imogen endured the barrage of disbelief and indignation by simply reiterating her position and offering refreshment. When Esther at last entered the drawing room, it was to find that the various family members were all exclaiming among themselves, discussing the situation as if Imogen had no part in it at all.

“They seem to have forgotten all about you,” she murmured before moving to greet the little knots of irate elders.

Imogen’s head ached fiercely as the voices rose and fell around her. Everything had happened so quickly, she thought, she still didn’t quite believe it herself. There would be no walk up the aisle of St. George’s, Hanover Square, the day after tomorrow, no rapturous wedding night, no honeymoon trip to Paris and Rome. No settling into the new house . . . no receiving guests as Mrs. Charles Riverdale. And above all, no Charles. How could she live without him? He was her best friend, her sparring partner, her
lover
. She could already sense the emptiness that lay ahead, see the dark, endless plain of lonely boredom stretching in front of her.

How was she to bear it? Charles was an essential part of her.

“Well, there’s nothing more to be said,” Lady Marsham announced suddenly, her voice silencing the chatter. “If you persist in this foolishness, Imogen, you must leave London first thing tomorrow. I doubt your reputation will ever be salvageable, but we must hope that ‘out of sight, out of mind’ has some effect. And I suggest, while you’re in the country, you reflect on the disgrace and inconvenience you have inflicted on the family. We shall all have to retreat from society at the height of the Season.”

“Indeed, it will be as bad as going into mourning,” Lady Cynthia announced, waiving a lavender-soaked handkerchief under her nose. “We won’t be able to hold our heads up in public.”

“I don’t believe that for a moment,” Imogen muttered, glancing at Esther, who gave her a complicit wink. The day the Carstairs family removed itself en bloc from society without a death in the family had yet to be seen. However, she offered a wan and meek smile of agreement even as she wished them all to the devil.

Finally the door closed on the last of them and Sharpton inquired, “Shall I announce dinner, Miss Carstairs? His lordship is in the library.”

The last thing Imogen felt like was food, but she owed it to Esther and Duncan to show a brave face. She couldn’t blame Duncan for avoiding the family scene: He hadn’t caused it, and he was probably ravenous. “Yes, thank you, Sharpton.”

READERS GROUP GUIDE

Summerset Abbey

T. J. Brown

Though her mother worked as a governess in the London home of Sir Philip, second son of the Earl of Summerset, Prudence Tate was raised as a sister to Sir Philip’s own daughters, Rowena and Victoria. The three girls believe their bond to be stronger than any blood ties, but when Sir Philip dies, their relationship changes forever.

Forced to move from London to the sweeping grounds of Summerset Abbey where their aunt and uncle reside, it is suddenly clear to Rowena and Victoria that not everyone welcomes Prudence into the high-society world they now inhabit. Instead of being seen as their equal, Prudence is relegated to the position of their lady’s maid, and as each day passes the divide between them grows larger. Rowena, the elder, cannot deal with the responsibilities now placed on her shoulders, while Victoria struggles to be seen as something more than a sickly child. And Prudence, shocked by her treatment and stung by the attitudes of those around her, realizes that solving the mystery of her past might be the only way to find herself a future beyond the ever-present specter of class expectations that haunts all three girls.

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Though the terms of Sir Philip’s will were perfectly normal for the time period, what did you think about his decision to place the future of his daughters in the hands of the Earl? Were you surprised that he left no allowance for Prudence? Do you think he did this because he expected the situation to turn out differently, that he believed his brother and daughters would look out for her?

2. Throughout the book, Victoria makes certain observations about secrets. For example, she reflects that
“The only secrets [she] enjoyed were her own”
, and that
“The most important thing she’d learned about secrets is that you never knew when one was staring you in the face”
. Do you agree with her observations? Many of the characters including Victoria carry their own secrets, some trivial, some life-altering. Do you think they would’ve been better off sharing those secrets with each other from the beginning? Do you feel secrets push people apart?

3. What did you think of Rowena’s first betrayal, the decision not to tell Prudence of the Earl’s condition for her accompanying them to Summerset? Do you think it was selfish or that, in that moment, she had no other choice? What about by the end? What might you have done in her shoes?

4. Think about how Victoria’s sickness defines her as a character: How does it shape how others see her? How does it shape how she sees herself? Do you agree with Prudence’s assessment at the end that she had
“all of her father’s sweet idealism, but little of his wisdom”
?

5. At Summerset, Prudence finds herself straddling worlds in a way she had never experienced before, unable to truly fit into one place or the other. How does this inform her decisions? Do you think she ever judges anyone unfairly, as unfairly judged as she is? How does she reconcile her duty to Rowena and Victoria with her bewilderment at being relegated to the maids’ quarters?

6. Though much of the story follows Prudence, we also get to see chapters from Rowena and Victoria’s perspective. How did that influence your view of each of the girls and their separate motivations? If you could ask the author to insert a chapter from another character’s point of view, who would it be and why?

7. Though Lady Summerset can be seen as the main antagonist of the novel, her motivations are complicated. Consider a woman’s position at the time, and the choices (or lack thereof) she had regarding her futures. In that sense, do you think she was doing the best she could to protect herself and her own family, even if it meant hurting Prudence?

8. Similarly, at one point, Rowena rages against their circumstances, reflecting that
“she was as trapped as a fox in a hole. Trapped by her responsibilities, trapped by her social status, trapped by being a woman. Her uncle possessed all the power and she possessed none”
. Discuss how this statement applies to all the women, regardless of social stratum. Ultimately, is it the Earl who has all the power?

9. Many of the young men in the book feel equally constrained, albeit in different ways. Consider the varying attitudes and actions of the male characters such as Kit, Sebastian, Andrew, and Jon, and how those attitudes and actions define their relationships with the women around them.

10. The young women of Summerset have their own ideas about what the future should hold for them. What are the differing views held by Prudence, Rowena, Victoria, Elaine, and even characters like Susie and Katie. Were you surprised by their attitude toward women of the previous generation (such as Lady Summerset)?

11. Do you believe Elaine knew the truth about Alice, and Prudence’s birthright? Why or why not?

12. A question that many of the younger characters struggle with (regardless of class) is whether privilege (or lack thereof) that we are born with is privilege we truly deserve; or, put another way, what rights can or should be decreed by birth and what rights should we earn? At one point Rowena wonders whether, by loving Summerset and the way of life there, she and Victoria are perpetuating the problem between classes, as symbolized by Prudence. What do you think?

13. Before Rowena goes up in the plane with Jon, Mr. Dirkes tells her “Adapt or die!” Do you think this is what each girl was doing over the course of the story, in her own way? Is this a motto you would live by?

14. How do you see Rowena’s story turning out? Victoria’s?

15. Were you surprised when Prudence chose Andrew in the end? Who did you think would be better suited for her, him or Sebastian? Do you feel that, by denying her attraction to Sebastian, Prudence took the easy way out, in a manner of speaking? Or do you think she made the only logical choice?

16. At the very end Prudence notes, “She would just have to make her own family. Her own home.” What was your reaction to this ending? Do you think that the families and homes we grow up with aren’t really families of our own making?

ENHANCE YOUR BOOK CLUB

1. Elaine and the rest of the Cunning Coterie fancy American cocktails such as the gin sling. Follow the recipe at
http://cocktails.about.com/od/ginrecipes/r/gin_sling.htm
and treat your club to a cocktail hour.

2. Have a viewing party of the popular PBS series
Downton Abbey
or a similar upstairs/downstairs type film such as
Gosford Park
. If
Summerset Abbey
was made into a movie, who would you cast?

3. Read a nonfiction account of life during this time such as
Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle
by the Countess of Carnarvon or
Below Stairs
by Margaret Powell. Compare these accounts to the novel.

4. Learn more about author T. J. Brown and the women of Summerset by visiting her website,
tjbrownbooks.com