Wife Errant Read Online Free PDF Page B

said, “Very likely. I noticed the lack of invention in his compliments.”
    “You must have given him a fine opinion of your manners, missing tea without even letting your mother know. That is no way for a young lady to behave.”
    “I daresay he knows you are not so particular as other mothers in where Dulcie and I go, and what we do.”
    “I should think I could trust a lady your age to keep an eye on Dulcie!”she flashed back. “I was married with two children by the time I was your age. How did James come to be in our carriage? He has his own.”
    “He lost a wheel in a race yesterday.”
    “Nothing of the sort. It had four wheels last night.”
    Tess did not have to feign surprise at this, but laughter was difficult to simulate. “The sly rascal. He just said so to get into my carriage.”
    Tess’s behavior was so different from what Mrs. Marchant expected that she hardly knew what to say. “Don’t take it as a compliment to yourself, miss. He only did it to please me.”
    “So you said, Mama. You must remember to thank him, if you happen to see him again.”
    “I'll be seeing him this very evening. He is taking me to a card parlor he knows of, a private club.”
    “A gaming hall, you mean?”Tess demanded in very much her old way.
    “A private club,”Mrs. Marchant repeated.
    “Perhaps you will meet Papa and Esmée there,”Dulcie said.
    “Perhaps we shall.”Mrs. Marchant smiled.
    Dulcie said, “You have not mentioned our new hairstyles, Tess. Are they not charming?”
    “Very nice,”Tess said, with an air of indifference. The coiffures were in the latest jet, more flattering toDulcie than her mother. Perhaps she would have her own hair styled. Goading Mama into propriety would require a few beaux, which meant greater attention to her toilette.
    Tess went to her room to scheme, and to prepare for the evening. Envisaging an outing to the Lower Rooms, she dressed with care in a russet silk gown with green ribbons. She confided her secret meeting with Lady Revel to Dulcie. “I believe Lord James is only coming tonight to make his apologies to Mama and leave,”she explained. “He will not continue courting her. Lord Revel promised to take care of it, so perhaps Mama will take us to the assembly.”
    “You found Lord Revel obliging then?”Dulcie asked.
    “Actually it was Lady Revel who spoke to him.”
    “Why are you blushing, Tess?”Dulcie asked, grinning.
    “I am not blushing.”
    “He’s very handsome.”
    “Yes, he is good-looking. It is the eyes especially—” Tess drew herself back to attention. “Of course the man is a rake.”
    “Yes, that is certainly part of his charm,”Dulcie said. “Do you think Mama will take us to the Assembly Rooms?”
    “She hates to stay at home. There will be some vulgar gossip, but her appearing without Papa will not look so bad when she is not with Lord James. Many ladies chaperone their daughters without their husbands tagging along,”
    “I am glad I had my hair done,”Dulcie said, and ran along to her room to prepare her toilette. When Mrs. Marchant was going out, Henshaw had no time to spare for youngsters.
    The ladies deceitfully wished their mama a pleasant evening when she took her leave of them after dinner, then waited in expectation of her stormy return. They were sorely disappointed. When they rushed belowstairs at the sound of the closing door, they were told by Crimshaw that the mistress had gone out.
    “With Lord James?”Tess demanded.
    “Yes, Miss Marchant. She told me not to wait up for her—she had her key-—but I am to leave a light burning downstairs.”
    “The deceiver!”Tess exclaimed, and strode into the saloon.
    Dulcie was in a fit of the sulks. She asked Crimshaw to send a pot of cocoa to her room. “I shall be in bed, reading The Castle of Otranto,” she announced dolefully, as if she were going to the stake.
    Tess poured herself a glass of sherry and stared at the Bath stove, where a weak blaze flickered