“I was so afraid you would not want to marry me.”
“Idiot. But remember: It is to be our wedding, and only ours.”
“I do not understand.”
“Miss Chubb and Mr. Silver may marry when they please, but not at the same time as us.”
Felicity laughed. “Poor Miss Chubb. Of course she is not going to marry Mr. Silver.”
“I fear you are blind to love,” said Lord Arthur. “Why do you think Mr. Silver was so angry with poor Dolph? Now, do you want that wretch, Palfrey, arrested? After I left you last night, I went to call on Mr. Clough. He told me that Bessie is quite reformed and never wants to leave America.”
“No, I would rather let all the scandal die down.”
“Do you know the name of the bank where the Channing money is lodged?”
“It is Coutts in the Strand, I believe.”
“Then, I had better go there directly or Palfrey will flee the country with all the Channing money.”
He bowed and left, and Felicity went back upstairs to look at Miss Chubb and Mr. Silver with new eyes.
Lord Arthur was too late. He could only be glad that Mr. Palfrey had only drawn out ten thousand pounds. The estates, properly managed, would soon recover the loss.
Chapter Eleven
The Duke of Pentshire's home, Pent House, was a palace in the middle of rich green countryside. Felicity felt she had been hurtled down there out of the chaos of London and then left stranded with a great number of chilly people who did not approve of her one little bit. The duke and duchess, Lord Arthur's parents, were a handsome, formal couple whose exquisite manners barely concealed the wish that their youngest son had chosen someone else for a bride.
The couple were to be married in the private chapel. Felicity had made no suggestions of her own as to preparations for the wedding. There had been so much to do. John Tremayne had been parceled off to Lord Arthur's home to study estate management under the tuition of the steward. Dolph had volunteered to travel to Tregarthan Castle right after the wedding to take charge until such time as Lord Arthur could manage to join him and decide what was necessary to bring the Channing estates into good order.
Felicity's servants had either been pensioned off or found other jobs, according to their wishes. Dolph had taken a fancy to Spinks, who he claimed was an original, and had said he would take the biblical butler with him as a sort of aide when he went to Cornwall. Mr. Silver and Miss Chubb were to be married and were to live at Tregarthan Castle until a home of their own could be found for them.
Contrary to Lord Arthur's hopes, society had not forgotten or forgiven the paper princess, and news of her masquerade had reached the august ears of Lord Arthur's father. Felicity had not been present during the long family arguments in which Lord Arthur's parents had tried to talk their son out of marrying her. But she felt their disapproval keenly.
There could be no reassuring hugs and kisses from Lord Arthur. If he took her out on the grounds for a walk, a footman was always in attendance, as the duke and duchess held strictly to the rules of society, which decreed that no couple should be left alone for a minute until after they were married.
Lord Arthur was beginning to become furious with his parents. He had been left a fortune by a distant relative and was economically independent of them, so they could not forbid the marriage, much as they wanted to. But he could not help feeling they might have put a better face on things.
If he had brought home some actress, they could not have been more shocked.
The arrival of Felicity's sisters and their husbands did more to remove her from him, because she took refuge in her family's company in the guest wing, keeping as far away from his parents’ aloof disapproval as she possibly could.
Felicity was feeling the strain even more than he guessed. In the stern lines of his face she began to read that he had begun to share his parents’ distaste. Miss Barchester had seemed an odd sort of female for him to have ever proposed to. She could only be glad the duke and duchess had never met Miss Barchester. Her cold looks and old-fashioned dress would probably have pleased them. Felicity overheard the duchess saying one day with regret in her voice that it was a pity Arthur's previous engagement had come to nothing, for the Barchesters were a very old family. So were the Channings, the duchess had admitted, but Cornish! One never knew what went on in those castles and mansions down there, but it was well-known the Cornish were strange.
More of Lord Arthur's relatives continued to arrive, and the long formal dinners were an agony for Felicity. Miss Chubb was too wrapped up in her newfound happiness to be of much help. Lord Arthur, never allowed to sit next to her, was looking grimmer each day, and when Felicity retired with her ladies, she and her sisters were isolated in a corner of the drawing room as if they had the plague.
They were to spend their honeymoon in Brighton, Felicity having formed an affection for the place. While still in London, Felicity had looked forward to the honeymoon. Now she wondered if she would find she was tied for life to a man who bitterly regretted having proposed to her. It began to cross her mind that she might do him a great favor by running away. But to do so would spoil not only Miss Chubb and Mr. Silver's future, but John Tremayne's as well, who was so delighted and excited at the prospect of his new and important career. And then there was poor old Spinks. If she ran away, Dolph would have to drop the idea of taking Spinks to Tregarthan Castle, and Spinks had seen in Dolph's adoption of him the gracious hand of a benign God.
There was also all the great machinery of a ducal wedding that had been put into action. All tenants had been invited to a grand party on the grounds. Everyone appeared to have bought new clothes especially for the occasion. And if she ran away, the duke and the duchess would have the satisfaction of telling their youngest son that that was just the sort of disgraceful behavior he might have expected from an adventuress and impostor like Felicity Channing.
So her wedding morn finally arrived. She was dressed in white silk and pearls while the rain fell steadily on the formal gardens outside and ran down the panes of the windows like fat tears.
How she was beginning to hate jewelry-hate the cold feel of pearls and the clumsy weight of diamonds. How she loathed the long corset that for some mad reason she was supposed to wear. It was so long and tight, she could only take tiny little steps. How she hated the cold, slippery feel of her white silk petticoat.
It was a gloomy, depressed couple who finally made their vows to one another in the family chapel. It was a grim silent couple who sat side by side at the wedding breakfast and listened to the interminable speeches. Dolph, elated with wine, and blissfully unaware of the prevailing chilly atmosphere, made a speech about how he had actually believed there was a country called Brasnia, told them about the bears, hiccupped and laughed immoderately, toasted the “happy” bride and groom, and then sat down, heartily pleased with himself, not knowing that everyone who might have begun to forget about Princess Felicity of Brasnia was now remembering the disgraceful masquerade all over again.
Then Felicity was led upstairs to be changed into her carriage clothes. She looked desperately at Miss Chubb, dying to cry out for help, but that lady was smiling all over her large face and saying she was sure Felicity must be the happiest lady in the land.
Felicity's sisters hugged her and begged her to call on them when the honeymoon was over. Her clothes had been chosen for her by the duchess. A fussy carriage dress of brown velvet was put on over that constricting corset. The carriage gown was fussily tucked and gored and flounced. It was topped up by a navy straw bonnet shaped like a coal scuttle.