The American Bride Read Online Free PDF Page B

is that it was all arranged by his father. I hear she's a proper quiz. Comes from America which is full of rough brutish men and frumpy women."
    Seeing Cara's startled expression, Agnes remembered the new governess was an American and clapped a hand over her mouth, rolling her eyes in embarrassment. Janey clutched her apron like a lifeline, her face mirroring the younger girl's discomfort.
    "I'm ever so s-sorry, Miss," Agnes stuttered.
    "Never mind," Cara replied. "I suspect most of the people in England think the same thing." Then changing the subject she asked about the children.
    "They're better off orphaned, if you don't mind my saying," Janey announced in disapproving tones. "Their mother was a flighty piece of goods, no better than she should be. Some said if the carriage accident hadn't took 'em that their father would have been involved in an awful scandal. All set up for a duel, he was. Over some bit of muslin."
    "It's lucky for the children that they've come to be with Lord Wilton,"
    Agnes enthused. "He'll see to the right of things. A proper gentleman, his lordship is."
    "He's not setting much of an example for the children if he's carrying on with Lady Valencia." Cara could not keep the note of censure out of her voice.
    "Well, gentlemen must have their pleasures, Miss." Agnes, who Cara suspected was no more then fifteen, sounded for all the world like a weary matron. "He's a good man, is Lord Wilton."
    "Got the Devil's own temper," claimed Janey. "Comes from gettin' his own way as a lad. But for all that, he's a fair man. He didn't used to spend much time in the country. He had his opera dancers and such in town. Lately he's been on the estate more and takes an interest in the doings. Fixed up all the tenants' cottages the last time. Better than most, I could mention."
    By this time Cara had learned enough about Wilton to put her decidedly out of sorts. She had enjoyed the chatter of the girls but wanted nothing now except a wash and her dinner. She thanked the girls for their company, explaining that she would be delighted with a tray in the new schoolroom.
    "Then after the children's dinner I would like you to bring them along to the nursery." At the girls' blank expressions she questioned, "Will they be going downstairs to Lord Wilton?"
    "Oh no, Miss," chirped Agnes. "The children won't be seeing his lordship. He only sees them if they need seeing."
    "I understand," Cara said although she really didn't. "Then bring them along and tell Mrs. Clayton I would like a pot of hot chocolate and some cakes if she can manage."
    By the time that Cara had finished her own dinner she wondered just what sort of mysterious situation existed at Weathersfield. Everyone seemed to evade her questions about the children. References were made to them but she sensed a reticence that gave her pause. She already had enough to cope with Wilton but now she foresaw additional problems ahead. Four governesses did not bode well for her own success in the position.
    Cara's head throbbed with an incipient headache. Tiredly she rested against the soft cushions of the sofa waiting for the arrival of the children. It had been an extremely long day. The excitement of her departure from her grandmother's had worn off after the exhausting carriage ride and then her disastrous interview with Wilton. She was unwilling to admit that her dejection had any relationship to some of the things she had heard about her husband. Despite the fact that Cara claimed total antipathy toward Julian, she was surprised at her reaction to his apparent unfaithfulness. His affair must be fairly blatant if it was common gossip among the servants. She had never considered the fact that he had not been eager for the marriage. Perhaps he too had fought against the arrangement. He might be in love with Lady Greeley and had wanted to keep himself free to marry the woman. Then, of course, his father like Cara's had forced him into an unwilling alliance.
    Remembering her