Miss Armistead Makes Her Choice Read Online Free PDF

to be finally provided with Mr. Lloyd-Jones’ marital status. However, she declined to share her thoughts on his character, a silent narrative that was less than kind. A man who squired his betrothed about in public only to so openly admire another lady in private was nothing but a cad.
    “It is not nearly as interesting as what happened the next morning,” Lord Northrup said in conspiratorial tones.
    “Do refrain from sharing the details, Lord Northrup. I am persuaded they can’t be meant for a lady’s ears,” Elizabeth chided gently.
    “How did you know?” he breathed.
    “Whatever can you mean, my lord?”
    “Don’t play coy with me,” he said, straightening to his full height. “Of course you have already heard it elsewhere. What does a woman have to do all day but pay calls and blether on about who has done what?”
    “Why, you . . !” Elizabeth began, then thought better of it. She had no wish to suffer the same public and humiliating fate as Miss Delacourt. Taking a deep breath, she changed tack. “LordNorthrup, as I have already stated, I have no desire to hear your piece of news. Now, might we go on to discuss something more suitable?”
    Lord Northrup accommodated her wish by remaining utterly silent for the remainder of the set. Elizabeth had danced with many young men, some more junior than her current partner, but could not recall when she had been treated with such childishness. It was with a mutual sense of deliverance that they parted ways and she found herself once again under the auspices of her aunt.
    “Now, there, Elizabeth, that was not too painful, was it?” Aunt Augusta twitted her.
    “I may truthfully say, Aunt, that despite his extreme youth and inexperience, he did not tread on my toes even the once,” Elizabeth demurred.
    “Well,” her aunt purred in approval, “he is young, barely out of his books. The waltz has only been fashionable for a season. He must have had lessons. You doubtless gave him some much needed confidence, as well as something to boast about to his little friends.”
    “Little, indeed,” Elizabeth murmured before turning to her mother and asking after Miss Hale.
    “Why, Miss Hale has proven extremely popular. She has danced every set and more than once with at least two young men,” Mrs. Armistead reported, her face beaming.
    “Mama, you can’t be serious. That will never do,” Elizabeth chided.
    “I did so try to warn her,” her aunt said airily before turning her nose into the air.
    “Why, Elizabeth, what is there in that to trouble us? It isn’t as if she is going to form an attachment to either of them; we are off to India again in a month’s time. Any unsavory reputation she might gain in London isn’t likely to follow her there.”
    “I suppose you are correct, as long as she isn’t seen as too fast. Those are the sort of girls who find themselves in difficult circumstances. She will be hard-pressed to find a husband, then, officer or no,” Elizabeth pointed out.
    “That does remind me! Your Aunt Augusta has, just moments ago, shared with me a delectable tidbit about our Mr. Lloyd-Jones!”
    “If you are referring to his betrothal to Miss Ponsonby, whoever she might be, I have heard tell of it.”
    “No! That isn’t it. That is to say, it does have something to say to it, however, the interesting portion has to do with his crying off.”
    “Hortense,” Aunt Augusta chimed in, “I relayed that news in the strictest of confidences!”
    “Yes, I know, dearest Augusta, but I hadn’t thought you meant I shouldn’t share it with my own daughter. With whom shall Elizabeth discuss it, pray tell?”
    Aunt Augusta merely snorted and turned away, waving her fan as if ridding herself of a foul odor.
    “At any rate, Elizabeth, is it not the most outrageous thing? Whoever heard of a man crying off from a betrothal? She mustn’t have been as good as she should have been or he would not have dared.”
    Elizabeth thought of the man she had