Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 116547 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 583(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116547 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 583(@200wpm)___ 466(@250wpm)___ 388(@300wpm)
“Mrs. Loquac acts as though she is a renowned countess,” I said to Hathor.
“Only in her dreams, as her mother married quite low—a dressmaker, of all people. Can you imagine the uproar it caused? Her father disinherited her. She was all but exiled from the ton, and her husband soon lost all his clients and became destitute.”
“How then did she come to live with such finery now? Is she truly so great a modiste?”
“Mama said that before his death, the earl found it in his heart to leave his poor daughter a small sum of two thousand, two hundred pounds, and it was from that they re-erected their shop. It does help that she truly is a good modiste. But had her mother chosen correctly, I doubt she’d ever have been subjected to such work at all.”
“How is it that you always know so much of the lives of others?”
“I listen,” Hathor said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Just as she comes to speak of others, others come to speak of her. Either way, Mama says she is a lesson on why we must take care to plan our lives, not that we would ever be so foolish as her mother.”
I watched the cabriolet leave, and her assistants were forced to walk together in the rain, as there was no space for them within it.
I could not help but wonder—how deeply her mother must have loved her father that she cared not what any would say or what she would lose.
“Mama, who is it you are expecting for dinner?” Hathor asked when the marchioness returned.
“Your father has invited some members of his club, and, I believe, Dr. Darrington.”
A chill went through me as I ripped my gaze from the window to her, not sure what I was feeling but suddenly aware that I could no longer think.
Theodore
“I must ask if you secretly despise me for some untold reason?” I asked the smirking man across from me in the carriage.
“On the contrary, Theodore. I think of you as a brother.”
“Then tell me, brother, why do you drag me from bed this evening, knowing the events of late, the storm, and my request?”
“First, this is hardly a storm, merely a drizzle. If we were all to stay home due to rain, we’d never leave our houses in this country. Besides you enjoy the rain,” Henry replied, his smile spreading across his face from ear to ear. “Secondly, I am ignoring your request because of recent events. I cannot allow you to squander this moment.”
“What is this moment?”
“Theodore, you have become an overnight sensation with how you saved that young lady. The talk of the ton. Now is not the time to sleep. You must capitalize on this and expand your enterprise—”
“I am a physician, not a bank, Henry. You do realize that capitalizing on this moment, as you say, will require more sick patients, and that is not my goal.”
“Well, the sick will be sick either way, and you shall be their first choice, provided you present yourself as amiable. So, do keep the scowl off your face. It is not as if I am dragging you to a ball.”
“Where are you dragging me to exactly?”
I truly would rather have been sleeping. The sun was high in the sky by the time I’d felt as though Lady Clementina did not require my further assistance and I left the Rowley home. I had closed my eyes for only an hour when I began to receive requests from other notable persons throughout town. I felt like I had been walking from one lavish house to another every waking moment since. Not even an hour ago, I’d returned home only to find Henry at my door, demanding I change and follow him with no clear reason as to why. However, my answer soon came as we entered a familiar row of grand townhouses.
“Henry, where are we going?”
“Do not worry. You are not being called for a patient,” he replied.
“What other reason would I be here for?”
“Dinner.”
“I beg your pardon? Dinner? With whom?”
“The Marquess of Monthermer.”
I stared back at him dumbstruck while, in my mind, the vision of her flashed like lightning.
“Before you accuse me of merely dragging you along to deflect from my father’s scheme to acquaint me with the Lady Hathor, do know the marquess especially requested an invitation be extended to you. I was worried your pride would compel you to ignore it, so I brought you without your input.”
I inhaled to calm my rapidly increasing heartbeat, forcing myself to stare out into the street, fearful he would somehow notice.
“So, your father is set to engage you with the Lady Hathor? Does that mean she will be in attendance?” If she were, then surely Lady Verity would be, as well.