Kitty

‘What is all this about a dashed duck?’ demanded Claud, at last signing to his groom and instructing his horses to start.

Too agitated to be other than forthright, Kitty explained. ‘She is the lady who is in charge of the Seminary. Mrs Duxford, only we call her the Duck. Not to her face, for she would be excessively displeased. Not that it matters, for I don’t know how I am to explain this. I dare say she will turn me from the door if she hears that I ran off to London with you!’

‘Must she hear of it?’ asked Claud, turning the horses out of the Haymarket and heading west. ‘Can’t you make up some tale that will satisfy her?’

‘When I have been absent for hours and hours? What should I say? And what if someone had seen you drag me off like that? They would be bound to tell her.’

‘Then you will have to tell her the truth.’

‘She would never believe it. What is more, I could not blame her. Whoever heard such a rigmarole as you have landed me in?’

Relieved that Kitty no longer showed any disposition to weep, Claud yet had no solution to offer. ‘Well, I admit it’s a thought fantastic, but I’m sure you will come up with a likely explanation.’

‘It’s well for you to say so,’ declared Kitty, incensed. ‘Do you suggest I tell her that you forcibly abducted me?’

‘You know very well it wasn’t an abduction,’ argued Claud, aggrieved.

‘Well, whatever it was, you promised you would compensate me.’

‘I intend to.’

‘How? The least you can do is help me think up an excuse. You ought to be glad that I am nothing more than a governess, or you would be obliged to make reparation by marrying me.’

‘What?’

The horses suddenly shot forward, and Kitty was almost thrown from the curricle. She clutched the seat as the groom behind issued a warning.

‘Take care, guv’nor, or you’ll have us over!’

But Claud was already bringing his cattle under control. Cursing, he turned wrathful eyes upon Kitty. ‘What the deuce made you say a thing like that? Made me jump nearly out of my skin!’

A giggle escaped Kitty. ‘I didn’t mean that you should marry me. But I cannot say I am sorry you got a horrid shock, for it serves you right for what you have put me through today.’

Claud was in no mood for this sort of thing. ‘If you think I did what I did for the pleasure of it, you’re mistaken. Last thing on my mind was to spend the day ferrying my cousin back and forth to no purpose.’

‘But I am not your cousin,’ objected Kitty.

‘As things stand, it looks deuced likely that you might be!’

This untimely reminder served to throw Kitty back into gloom. ‘I wish you will not talk about it. It serves no purpose to recall it to my mind, for it is clear that the scandal is too dreadful to be talked of, and there is nothing to be done about it.’

‘Oh, isn’t there?’ Claud swept round Hyde Park corner and turned north. ‘I’m hanged if I let it lie, if it’s going to annoy my mother.’

Kitty gazed at him in the liveliest apprehension. ‘What do you mean to do?’

‘I don’t know yet.’

‘Why should you wish to annoy your mother?’

‘Ha! You don’t know her, or you wouldn’t ask!’

‘Is she horrid?’

‘Loathsome!’ declared Claud, not mincing his words. ‘If you’d to choose between my Lady Blakemere and this Duck you speak of, you’d run to your Duck and hide behind her skirts.’

Kitty eyed the jutting chin in a species of wonder. For all his vehemence, he did not look as if he was in the least afraid of his mother. As for the Duck, Kitty knew her for a just and well-intentioned woman. And she had her moments of kindness. This Lady Blakemere sounded perfectly dreadful. Kitty was glad she would never be called upon to meet her.

It occurred to her that the curricle was travelling so rapidly, despite the press of carriages and people, that in a short space of time she would be leaving the metropolis forever. And with nothing to show for her visit but a headful of unkind memories. It was most unfair! She recalled Claud’s promise to compensate her. Did he mean to give her money?

A riffle of excitement bubbled up, followed immediately by a depressing thought. What was the use of his giving her money when she had no means of supplying herself with the things she craved? There was no shop in Paddington where she could purchase the sort of gown she wanted. Nor would the local dressmaker be persuaded to make it up for her—even could she furnish herself with the material.

The daring idea surfaced, and Kitty turned quickly to Claud. ‘There is one thing you might do for me.’

His head snapped round, frowning suspicion in his eyes. ‘Oh, is there? As long as it has nothing to do with matrimony—’

‘Of course it has not.’ Kitty drew a deep breath and plunged in. ‘Only will you buy me silk stockings and a spangled gown?’

The blue eyes popped. ‘Silk stockings and a spangled gown! Have you run mad?’ He noted a burgeoning sparkle in the velvety eyes. ‘Gad, you mean it! But you are going for a governess. What in Hades are you going to do with a spangled gown?’

‘It is just that I have longed to possess such a gown,’ said Kitty, breathless with hope. ‘Only I had never the means to pay for it.’

‘But when are you going to wear it? Besides that it ain’t the thing for a governess.’

‘I don’t care if I never wear it!’ Kitty declared. ‘If only I might have it, I could be happy for the future.’ She brightened. ‘I have just had a famous notion! It will give me all the excuse I need for Mrs Duxford. I will tell her that I came to London expressly to purchase it.’

Claud thought this over and found a flaw. ‘But you said you couldn’t afford it. Don’t she know that?’

Kitty summarily dismissed this. ‘I shall say that I have been saving my money for the purpose. Oh, and I can say that I have hopes of being invited by one of my two friends, for they are both married—at least, one is already, and the other will be shortly. It is not unlikely that either Prue or Nell will ask me to stay.’

‘Not if you’ve gone as a governess,’ objected Claud.

‘I wish you will not keep making difficulties!’ declared Kitty, annoyed. ‘I thought you wanted to make me reparation.’

‘So I do, but we’re going in the wrong direction.’

‘You may turn around then!’

‘Yes, but it’s already past noon and I’ve got to drive you all the way to Paddington. Besides, I’ve an engagement this evening.’

Kitty’s bosom swelled. ‘How abominably selfish! It is your fault I am in this mess, and you even suggested I may be your cousin after all, and it is not as if I am asking for the moon.’

‘No, but—’

Kitty swept over him. ‘If you refuse me, it will be the horridest thing imaginable, for it is only a spangled gown and a pair of silk stockings. Unless you have not enough money either to pay for such things?’

Claud slowed the carriage. ‘I can stand the nonsense, never fear. It ain’t that at all. Only I don’t see how I’m to do it without the confounded mantua-maker thinking you’re my che`re amie. A man don’t otherwise take a female to buy gowns unless he’s betrothed to her, or they are at least related.’

Kitty digested this in silence for a moment. The curricle had drawn in to the side of the road, which at least indicated willingness. If she let this opportunity slip, there might never be another. Desperately she searched her mind, and found a solution. She turned eagerly to Claud.