An Accomplished Woman Read Online Free PDF Page B

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was off the moment she’d made her curtsey, but more of that anon.’
    ‘Auburn hair — the true
red-gold one never sees — very pretty, and slight. I do remember.’
    ‘Pretty, as you say, my
dear, and too pretty for the peace of anyone entrusted with her care, when you
add to her looks her prospective fortune. I could hardly talk of it when she
was by, and presently that singer started her noise, but now we are tête-à-tête
I may give you the history. She came to us before Christmas. I say my ward,
but she is from Henry’s side of the family — her mother was his cousin. The
Raes of Edinburgh. Not at all a fashionable family, but highly respectable and very rich. The father died when she was a girl, and then, an only child, she was
brought up by the mother in a way that was quiet but — dare I say indulgent?
Well, Mrs Rae died last year, and then the poor girl was shuffled about various
relatives until the courts decreed that Henry be appointed her guardian until
her coming of age. Henry was content enough — that is, one supposes so: it is
often difficult to tell what Henry feels, though there are certain physical
manifestations . . . However, I was delighted. Lacking children of our own, I
thought it quite a blessing — oh, I still do, don’t mistake me — and when I
first set eyes on her, I knew I should love her. Now when she came to us, I was
about to set out for town for the season as I always do — and though staying at
Osterby for the winter suits Henry very well, I thought it the dullest prospect
for a girl of scarce twenty — and when I proposed that she come to London with
me, she was all eagerness.’
    Lady Eastmond made a
sort of apologetic pause. Her kindly nature had, like everyone’s, its pockets
of selfishness: one was her refusal to give up her London season for anything.
The pause gave room for recognition of this fact, and for Lydia’s fond
allowance for it.
    ‘I am sure nothing could
have pleased her better,’ Lydia said, ‘especially if her life has been so
retired. You suggested her father was wealthy?’
    ‘Partly, I think, from
being a monstrous nip-cheese,’ Lady Eastmond whispered, ‘but no matter. The
fact is, Phoebe is heiress on her majority to fifty thousand pounds.’
    ‘A sizeable sum,’ Lydia
said, suppressing the urge to whistle. ‘Also, I fancy, a sizeable
responsibility for you.’
    ‘I knew you would
understand, my dear. Not that I don’t shoulder the responsibility gladly — she
is an absolutely charming creature, and it’s well for an idle old rattle like
me to have something to occupy her. And it has been a delight introducing her
to town: will you believe she has never been in London in her life before,
except once as a child? — and then her father kept to their lodgings the
whole time and allowed her to see nothing. She really has lived quite out of
the world and is absolutely artless and unspoiled — and yet there is not the
least awkwardness or timidity. That is why . . .’ Lady Eastmond’s smile was
again apologetic. ‘Well, at first I intended taking her about in society only a very little, but as she relished it so I saw no reason why I should not
bring her out in the proper fashion. And she has acquitted herself more than
tolerably, you know: there has been a good deal of attention.’
    ‘Attention? A charming
young girl with fifty thousand pounds? I only wonder you have not had to put a
guard upon the door.’
    Lady Eastmond’s
spluttering laughter grew suddenly rueful.
    She reached out for
Lydia’s hand. ‘Lord, my dear, how you remind me of your mother sometimes.’
    ‘And other times,
Bonaparte.’
    ‘Go along with you. She, God rest her, had something of Phoebe’s look when she first came out — how
it all struck her, I mean: great eyes drinking everything in. All open like an
ox-eye daisy.’
    Lydia gently disengaged
her hand. ‘That,’ she said carefully, ‘must be a resemblance both tender and
troubling for