Duchess For A Day

The carriage moved slowly down traffic-choked, elm-shaded Broadway. Hank Cassidy, seated comfortably in the leather-cushioned back seat, nodded to the laughing, well-dressed people in horse-drawn vehicles parading down the avenue.

It was an afternoon ritual in Saratoga enjoyed by the summer set. They relished showing off their fine equipages. Surreys with fringe around the tops. Basket phaetons with high-stepping, bob-tailed hackneys. Heavy victorias with glittering silver monogrammed harnesses, two men in scarlet livery on their boxes, ladies behind with lacy parasols, sitting in richly upholstered seats.

Ah, it was great to be back in Saratoga.

Hank turned his attention to the pedestrians strolling along the sidewalks in front of the hotels. He paid little attention to the gentlemen in their tailored summer finery. His gaze naturally focused on the ladies in hats with parasols to match their dresses. Colorful dresses with all manner of feminine frills; pleats and ruffles and lace and ribbons and swelling puffed sleeves.

Hank was smiling with pleasure when suddenly he blinked and sat up straighter. A slender young woman stepped out of P. Durkee and Sons Stationers and Books and into the sunlight. Her pale hair blazed like spun gold and her face was as white and flawless as fine porcelain.

It was her!

The woman from the train depot—and she was every bit as breathtakingly beautiful as he’d thought when first he’d spotted her.

“Stop the carriage!” Hank called to the driver and didn’t wait for the man to obey.

He leaped down into the street and narrowly missed being hit by an oncoming four-in-hand. Cursing under his breath, looking anxiously for an opening in the traffic, Hank found himself wedged between the four-in-hand and a big landau filled with laughing people calling out to him.

By the time he managed to get around the landau to the safety of the sidewalk, the golden-haired goddess was gone. Disappointed, Hank looked up the street and down, then dashed into the stationers.

To the clerk behind the counter, he said, “A woman with gold hair was just in here. Do you know where she went? Who she was?”

The clerk shook his head. “She looked at the books, but purchased nothing and—”

“Any idea who she is?”

“No, sir, I’m sorry.”

“So am I.” Hank exhaled with frustration. “Which books? Were there any special ones that she—?”

“Why, yes, as a matter of fact, there was a book that seemed to catch her fancy,” said the clerk, heading for a shelf near the back. He took down a handsome, leather-bound book, held it up, and announced, “This is it. The Prisoner of Zenda by Anthony Hope. It was published just last year and has sold quite well. The lady picked this book up, thumbed slowly though it, then placed it back on the shelf.”

“I’ll take it,” said Hank. “Gift wrap it.”

“Right away, sir,” said the clerk. “I hope you find her.”

“I will.”

The wrapped book under his arm, Hank exited the store. He stood outside for a long moment, carefully scanning both sides of the street.

But she was gone.

He returned to the carriage, jumped inside and settled in for the short ride to his hotel.

The carriage soon reached the five-story United States Hotel with its soaring pillars and Victorian scrollwork and wide, sweeping veranda. On that veranda stood a thousand white wicker rocking chairs, more than half of them filled with hotel guests watching the parade of people on Broadway on this sunny July afternoon.

Hank didn’t disembark in front of the hotel. His carriage drove on and once past the hotel, immediately turned into a side street. It then pulled over to the curb just outside the hotel’s private cottages. The cottages were suites of coveted rooms at the back where the giant hotel was U-shaped. Private verandas looked out on landscaped gardens and big trees and well-tended flower beds.

Such accommodation suited his desire for privacy. Unlike the hotel proper where it was necessary to go through the guest-filled lobby and then into an elevator to reach a room, he could enter the cottage through the outside entrance at any hour of the day or night and be seen by no one.

Hank bounded out of the carriage, stopped and stood for a minute speaking to the driver. He turned and hurried up the steps, unlocked the cottage door, and went inside. The scent of fresh-cut flowers greeted him as he stepped into the marble-floored foyer. He smiled when he saw the many vellum envelopes resting in a silver bowl on a small walnut table. He dropped the book he’d bought onto the table and scooped up the envelopes. He turned and walked into the parlor with its black walnut furniture, lush carpets and thick Brussels lace curtains over the tall windows.

On an end table by a big easy chair, a bottle of fine champagne was cooling in an ice-filled silver bucket along with a note of welcome from the hotel staff. Two sparkling crystal flutes stood beside the bucket. While the driver and a hotel porter unloaded his luggage, carrying the many valises into the master suite, Hank popped the champagne’s cork.

Foolishly wishing that the golden-haired angel was here to drink the bubbly with him, he filled both glasses and sank down into an easy chair to begin sifting through the invitations.

Some were for next week and beyond. Some for tomorrow night. Some for tonight. Hank tossed aside all but those requesting his presence for this evening. There were six. Three were for late-night gatherings. Three were for dinner. He considered the dinner invitations, shrugged wide shoulders, closed his eyes and chose one at random.

Horace and Lillian Titus.

Dinner at eight.

Claire was enchanted with Saratoga Springs.

The pristine mountain hamlet was like a fabled fairyland with its grand hotels, quaint shops, beautiful parks and mineral fountains and handsomely dressed visitors.

She strolled leisurely up Broadway passing the Grand Union Hotel, Congress Inn and the Clarendon, each unique and magnificent and unlike anything she had seen back in London. As she approached another impressive building, the huge brick-and-stone United States Hotel, she glanced down the narrow street bordering its side.

And so it was that she was looking directly at a carriage when a tall, lean man bounded out of the back seat. He stood for a second on the sidewalk, smiling and gesturing as he spoke to his driver. Claire’s eyes widened and her lips parted.

Midnight hair glistening in the sunshine, broad shoulders appealingly straining the fine linen of his sky-blue shirt, buff-hued trousers draped just so on his slim hips and long legs, he was, without doubt, the most attractive man she had ever laid eyes on.

Unable to tear her gaze from the handsome stranger, Claire stood across the street and stared until he turned away, sprang agilely up a set of steps, unlocked a door and disappeared inside. Even then she continued to stay where she was, her rapt attention fixed on that door.

She wondered who he was and where he was from and if she would ever see him again. Her heart began to race. Of course she would see him again! He, like she, had come to Saratoga for the season. He was obviously a guest at the United States Hotel and she would very likely run into him there. All she had to do was go inside.

Beginning to smile with anticipation, Claire eagerly crossed the narrow street and hurried down the sidewalk until she reached the front of the hotel. She climbed the steps to the wide veranda where people were gathered to talk and laugh and enjoy refreshments served by uniformed waiters.

Claire crossed the veranda and went inside the vast, high-ceilinged lobby. Attempting to appear casual, she sauntered unhurriedly about, glancing at the milling guests, searching for the one who was sure to stand out from the crowd.

Nodding and smiling to people she’d never met, Claire would have, on any other occasion, noticed how incredibly friendly everyone seemed. But she was preoccupied. She was looking for the handsome, dark-haired man in the blue linen shirt.

After several fruitless minutes, Claire gave up the hunt. She was too late. He wouldn’t be coming to the lobby. He had obviously already checked in at the desk moments earlier and collected his key. No need to stay longer.

She made her unhurried way through the crowded lobby and out the tall doors onto the veranda. She was descending the front steps when a middle-aged, well-dressed woman came hurrying up the steps toward her.

Reaching her, the woman smiled and said, “Oh, Your Grace, we heard you were coming to Saratoga this summer. How thrilling to have the Duchess of Beaumont here for the season!” When Claire gave the woman a questioning look, she said, “Don’t you remember me? Lillian. Mrs. Lillian Titus. How wonderful to see you after all these years! My, my, you are lovelier than ever.”

Taken aback, Claire, when she was finally able to get a word in, said, “No, no. I’m afraid you…you’ve made a…you see, I’m not…I…” Claire stopped speaking. She paused for only a second, then said, “Why, yes, it has been quite a long time.”

“It must be at least seven or eight years,” declared Lillian. “Now Horace and I are giving a dinner party this very evening. You simply must come. Everyone will be there. Our cottage at eight sharp. Say you’ll join us, please, Your Grace.”

Claire smiled. “I’d be honored.”

Seven

Then and there the usually level-headed, rarely-take-a-chance Claire Orwell decided that for once in her life she would toss caution to the wind. Until just before Charmaine Beaumont arrived in Saratoga, she would be the Duchess of Beaumont! For a few golden days and nights, she would live the life of a wealthy, daring duchess amidst the Gilded Age glamour of Saratoga Springs.

Claire wasn’t worried that she’d be out of her element. She knew how the wealthy lived, how they behaved. Her dear deceased mother, before she was married, had for a short time been lady-in-waiting to the Queen, her title Woman of the Bedchamber. Her mother had treasured the invaluable experience and had shared many fond recollections.