Misfit Maid

‘It is excessively tolerant in you, sir,’ gushed Adela. ‘But it will not do. I know, none better, how little Mary has been taught of the conventions governing the conduct of young females of her class, and I cannot but feel myself put to the blush by the way she has behaved.’

‘It does you credit, my dear Lady Shurland,’ put in Hester, bringing Delagarde’s frowning gaze to bear on her mischievous features.

He noted the telltale twinkle in her eye, and raised questioning brows. What was she about now? She could not seriously be taking the part of a female whom he was himself rapidly taking in dislike?

‘Few ladies would be so unselfish,’ pursued Lady Hester in a kind voice, ‘as to offer to sponsor a female so lost to all sense of what is fitting. I would not blame you if you chose to give up the notion of bringing Maidie out.’

So that was it! Delagarde was shaken by an inward laugh. Still, from what he had seen of Adela Shurland, Aunt Hes was wasting her time. It would not work.

‘Whatever my feelings might be, I conceive it to be my duty,’ said Adela virtuously, and not much to Delagarde’s surprise. ‘I must hope to prevail upon her to conduct herself with more circumspection.’ She added waspishly, ‘Of course, it is no surprise to me that Miss Wormley was unable to prevent you from behaving in this inconsiderate way, Mary.’

‘She has no control over the girl whatsoever,’ said her spouse. ‘From what I have been privileged to see, I should not think she ever has had. But perhaps she will care to explain why, if she did not approve of Lady Mary’s antics, she did not see fit to inform me of what was in the wind.’

‘Oh, I could not!’ broke from the tearful duenna involuntarily. ‘I mean, it would not be—’

‘Of course you could not,’ said Maidie reassuringly. ‘Really, Firmin, how can you be so stupid? As though Worm would do anything so shabby as to betray me to you.’

‘Naturally not,’ returned Adela sarcastically. ‘It is too much to expect that she might remember who is her employer.’ She then turned on her husband. ‘I told you to send her packing. I warned you how it would be. But no, you never listen to me. I might as well have spared my breath.’

‘Adela, be silent!’ snapped her lord, reddening. He turned to his hosts with an air of apology. ‘My wife is in great distress. I trust you will make allowances.’

‘For my part,’ said Lady Hester, turning to cast a conspiratorial wink at Maidie before addressing the Earl, ‘I am willing to make every allowance. Indeed, Shurland, I do most strongly advise you to leave the child with me. It is clear that she is in pressing need of guidance, and a woman of my years, who has been about the world, is far less prone to be distressed. I do sincerely sympathise with Lady Shurland, and shall be happy to take this irksome charge off her hands.’

Maidie listened to this speech with mixed feelings. She had known Lady Hester rather less than a day, but it did not need that quick little wink to tell her what her new friend was about. But Lady Hester did not know Adela. Maidie did. She was determined, and there was no hope of her voluntarily giving up the notion. There! She was arguing already. And Firmin was on her side. Not that she cared what either of them thought. There was only one thing that could induce her to leave. She had not thought that she cared for his opinion either, but if Delagarde chose to encourage the Shurlands to take her away—!

She looked across at him and found him watching her. Their eyes met. Maidie, unaccountably breathless all at once, could tell nothing from his expression. Indeed, she forgot even to try to read it, making instead the interesting discovery that his eyes were as dark as his hair. She was vaguely surprised that she had not noticed it before. It occurred to her to wonder why in the world he was still unwed. She could only conclude that those females whose interest had been aroused—not a few, she was persuaded!—had discovered too quickly how disobliging and cross was his nature.

Then, as though to give her the lie, Delagarde abruptly smiled at her. Maidie blinked, stared at him in foolish disbelief, and was annoyed to feel herself flushing. He must have seen it, for his smile grew, and he lifted an expressive eyebrow in mute question. To Maidie’s intense relief, he then turned away, stepping into the continuing discussion.

‘Nothing could be further from my mind,’ Adela was saying, ‘than to allow Maidie to burden you, dear ma’am. Come, Shurland,’ she said, turning purposefully to her husband, ‘Maidie has trespassed enough. Make her come home with us, and let us have an end to this nonsense.’

‘Trespass? Dear me, no,’ said Lady Hester gently. ‘She is here by my invitation.’

‘That may be,’ said Shurland heavily, ‘but I am certain that Delagarde cannot wish for such a charge.’

‘On the contrary,’ said Delagarde, energetically entering the lists, ‘you must know that my mother commended Lady Mary to my care many years ago, and I have been remiss in not honouring the promise.’

‘Commended Lady Mary to your care?’ echoed Shurland, gazing at him blankly. ‘Why should she have done so?’

‘My dear sir, nothing could have been more natural. When a young female relative is orphaned—’

‘Relative? What nonsense is this, pray?’

‘Surely you are aware that the Burloynes are connected to the Otterburns?’ said Delagarde, in a voice of pained surprise which caused Lady Hester to choke off a smothered laugh. ‘Indeed, it was my mother who sent Miss Wormley—our cousin, you must know—to look after Lady Mary when she was left without a female protector at so tender an age.’

Adela’s eyes were popping, and it was evident that all this was as new to her as it was to her husband.

‘How comes it about that I never heard a word of this?’ Shurland demanded, casting an irritated glance at Maidie.

‘Did you not? It was before your time, of course,’ Delagarde said in an excusing tone. ‘But perhaps the late Lord Shurland did not have an opportunity to inform you of it.’

‘Reginald Hope,’ said the present Earl, in a voice that very imperfectly concealed his chagrin, ‘saw fit to inform me of nothing at all concerning my inheritance. If he had a thought to spare for anything other than his infernal hobby, I was not privileged to know of it.’

‘How dare you sneer at Great-uncle Reginald?’ demanded Maidie, suddenly firing up.

At the back of her mind, as she came rapidly towards the group, she took in the startled glance of Lady Hester, and the odd expression that leapt into Delagarde’s features. But the spurt of anger would not be contained.

‘You are not half the man he was, Firmin,’ she told her cousin in a voice that shook. ‘Great-uncle Reginald was the best of men, and the kindest of guardians, and as much a father to me as Worm was a mother. I will not have either of them abused. As for his preoccupation, it was a great deal more than a hobby, and of far greater worth than anything you might waste your thoughts upon.’

‘Of importance to others of equal eccentricity, no doubt,’ retorted Lord Shurland.

Delagarde saw Maidie’s eyes flash, and was not much surprised to find that the Earl backed down. He was rather amused than otherwise by the discovery that the unshakable Lady Mary had a temper.

Shurland shifted a little, avoiding his cousin’s eye, and adopted a blustering tone. ‘Very well, very well. Enough said. In any event, this is no time to be arguing over what is past and cannot be mended. Go and pack your things, Maidie, for you are coming home with us.’

Maidie moved away from him, saying in a calmer tone, ‘I thank you, no, Firmin. If Lord Delagarde is indeed willing to sponsor me—’

‘Certainly,’ broke in Delagarde. ‘Not only that. I am going to figure as her trustee.’

Shurland’s chest swelled alarmingly, and his cheeks reddened. ‘You will figure as nothing of the kind, sir! I am perfectly aware of all the circumstances of her fortune. You have no rights in the matter at all.’

‘Neither have you,’ Delagarde pointed out. ‘Lady Mary is of age and may do as she pleases, and I do not believe that either myself or you, Shurland, have the means to prevent her. If she chooses to come and live with my aunt and myself, there is no barrier that I can see.’

‘Except,’ put in Adela bitterly, ‘that it makes us look like fools.’

‘That cannot be helped,’ said Delagarde.

‘Oh! I did not look for such usage from you, my lord! It is plain that Mary has blinded you with some horrid tale against me.’ She glared at Maidie, and seemed for the first time to notice her appearance, for she added in a waspish tone, ‘How you suppose you might catch a husband in a get-up like that, I am at a loss to understand. You look thirty if you look a day! And if you have not sense enough to conceal that perfectly appalling hair—’

‘Appalling?’ echoed Delagarde, interrupting her without ceremony. ‘My dear ma’am, I cannot agree with you. Lady Mary’s hair is her most attractive attribute, and the gown is excessively becoming. Indeed, I was just expressing my admiration when you were announced.’

Maidie gasped at this blatant untruth, and noted that Lady Hester was struggling against a fit of laughter.

‘However that may be, my lord,’ said Adela sulkily, ‘you will at least admit that it is hardly raiment suitable to a debutante.’

‘Well, if you dislike it so much, Adela,’ Maidie said before Delagarde could answer this, ‘you should be happy that it is not you who will have to appear in society with me.’

‘This is absurd!’ Lord Shurland burst out angrily. ‘I am far from accepting this faradiddle about your mother, Delagarde, but I take leave to inform you that there will be but one construction to be put upon the matter, if you take it upon yourself to interfere in this way.’

Maidie felt a sudden shift in the atmosphere, as though a chill entered the room. Glancing at Lady Hester, she was startled to find the elder lady’s eyes sparkling with something other than humour. Her attention was drawn to Delagarde, who had stiffened, she thought. His narrowed eyes were turned upon the Earl, and there was a hint of ice in his voice.

‘Indeed? Perhaps you would care to elaborate.’

Shurland glared at him, but blustered it through. ‘Poker up, if you will, sir! You know very well what I mean. I shall not demean myself by explaining it further.’

‘Very prudent,’ returned Delagarde sardonically.

The Earl coloured. ‘If we are to talk of prudence, let me advise you to inquire into the way things are left before you do what you may come to regret. You do not know her, Delagarde. I do!’