Charlotte Boscastle smiled cordially as she served tea in the yellow breakfast room. She wished she knew of a polite way to request that Lady Powlis lower her voice. The subject of their conversation happened to be Harriet Gardner, who, according to some reports, had created a delightful scandal at Saturday night’s dance. Charlotte saw no reason to admonish Harriet. She had not witnessed any impropriety on her young assistant’s part. Still, for the life of her, she could not understand why Lady Powlis had insisted that Harriet be brought to her immediately. To what could this tête-à-tête be leading?
Had Lady Powlis learned of Harriet’s unfortunate upbringing? No one at the academy spoke of it, although one could not bury what could be so easily unearthed.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake.” Lady Powlis set down her cup. “You must be wondering why I have come today.”
“Well, at first I assumed you came about Lady Edlyn,” Charlotte said cautiously. “But then-”
“Yes, of course,” Primrose said, a trifle testily. “Edlyn is always my primary concern.”
“And she is the reason you asked me to summon Harriet from class?”
“No.” Lady Powlis frowned. “It has come to my attention that Harriet debuted as an actress at an early age. Is this true?”
Charlotte fidgeted. “Well, yes, but she was very young, an orange girl, and she got her first part-”
“-when the leading lady broke her nose.”
Charlotte sighed. “She was very young.”
“And very busy afterward, from what I’ve heard. Miss Gardner has lived quite the eventful life.”
Charlotte put down her tea. “Are you afraid she will have a bad influence on Edlyn?”
“Good grief, no. Edlyn is the one who taints the well water. Trust me.”
“Then what in the world do you want with Miss Gardner?”
“I want to employ her as my abigail.”
Charlotte’s blue eyes widened in astonishment. “You want to what?”
“Do I not speak loudly enough, dear?”
“Quite loudly,” Charlotte said with a frown.
“Then what is confusing about the nature of my request?”
“Well, I-that is, the academy needs her.”
Lady Powlis balanced her cane between her knees, her voice creaking like a rusty hinge. “More than one lonely old woman?”
Oh. Charlotte knew she had backed herself into a corner. Harriet and Primrose. What an impossible association. She had always assumed she would be having this conversation with a gentleman who sought to be Harriet’s protector. But how did one refuse an aging relative who had spent an entire life exerting her will? “I shall have to speak with Emma about this, and she and the duke have not arrived in London yet.”
“My nephew is a duke,” Primrose said craftily.
“No one is likely to forget that.”
“Well, do you own Miss Gardner?”
“Excuse me?”
“Stop pretending to be such a corkbrain, Charlotte. Did Miss Gardner sign a contract with you or not?”
Charlotte blinked. A corkbrain, Griffin’s sweet-looking aunt had called her. Who was the one who needed instruction in manners? “I don’t know that she and Emma actually made-”
“I’ll buy it off Emma. The price is of no consequence. Are we agreed, then?”
Charlotte shook her head. “I am not empowered to pass Miss Gardner off like a pawn. Harriet has a say in this, too. And, oh, you have really pushed me into revealing what I promised to keep private.” She hesitated. “Harriet’s past is-”
“-interesting?” Primrose flipped her cane against her chair. “I gathered that. Why else do you think I want to employ her? Do you imagine I want to spend my final days being dusted like a museum piece? I have hopes for my dotage. Your young instructress gave me a giggle the night before last, and I am a lady in sore need of upliftment. One of these days I intend to travel, and I am not dragging along a dull, stodgy companion who spoils my fun.”
“Interesting is one thing,” Charlotte sputtered. “But let me be clear when I say that Miss Gardner has spent more of her life in the rookeries than teaching the rules of deportment.”
“Yes, yes. One can hardly help noting her flaws. However, I shall soon be alone to contemplate my own deficits. Griffin will marry. By the grace of God, Edlyn shall, too. I would rather pass my final years in laughter than mourning the child and husband I have lost.”
Charlotte felt rather as if she were being trampled by a runaway cart horse. Not that one could compare Lady Powlis to-Perhaps she was worrying for nothing. Harriet felt at home in the academy. She and Charlotte had become close friends. It was Charlotte who had introduced Harriet to literature. It was Harriet who stayed up with her late at night, listening to the stories Charlotte wrote. Why would Harriet want to give up her safe shelter to work for a woman who would-treat her like the daughter she had lost?
Charlotte didn’t want to lose Harriet, either. Without Harriet, the academy would revert to the boring, disciplined institute it was meant to be.
But in the end, the choice would come to Harriet, and Charlotte could only be glad she was staring down into a teacup instead of a crystal ball.
Harriet could not believe what she had been asked. She stood in a daze, until Lady Powlis insisted she take a chair. Then she plopped down so ungracefully that Charlotte closed her eyes in mortification. “Sorry,” Harriet whispered, but what could one expect? It was a good thing she wasn’t a swooning sort of girl.
“It is a flattering offer, Lady Powlis,” she said when she regained her composure. “But there will be plenty of people who’ll think you’re off your head for taking me as your companion.”
Lady Powlis beamed as if she had just been afforded the highest compliment.
Charlotte’s lips thinned. A lady didn’t “go off her head.” Her “faculties abandoned her,” or some other such nonsense.
“We shall start with a period of trial employment to see if we suit,” Lady Powlis said, clearly having missed her calling as a lawyer. “A pity my nephew cannot do the same with the lady he must marry.”
And at that precise moment, the duke sauntered into the room, lithe, lean, and-startled when he realized he was not alone. He straightened his neckcloth, glancing around with a tight smile that hinted he knew something was in the air and that he might not want to be part of it. “I’m sorry. I must not-”
“Then you accept, dear,” Lady Powlis said, lifting her hand to indicate that the duke remain silent until Harriet gave her reply.
Charlotte came to her feet. “You should sleep on it, Harriet. This is a grave decision.”
“I require an answer now,” Lady Powlis said ruthlessly. “Or I shall take my offer elsewhere.”
The duke cast Harriet a half-pitying look. “I have no idea what she has offered you, but my instincts strongly suggest that you should refuse.”
Charlotte slipped around him to the door. “Your aunt wants to take Miss Gardner on as her companion. You will excuse me a moment, won’t you? If the girls have spotted your coach again, I shall never settle them down.”
Harriet stared across the room. She couldn’t bring herself to look at the duke after Charlotte’s announcement. At the least he hadn’t dropped in a shocked faint on the carpet. The very idea. Living under his roof. Bumping into each other on the stairs. Breathing the same air.
At length he sat down opposite his aunt. “Why don’t you give Miss Gardner time alone to make up her mind?” he suggested in a neutral voice.
“I believe that she and I were on the verge of sealing our arrangement when you interrupted,” she said crisply. “Weren’t we, Harriet?”
“You can refuse,” the duke said under his breath.
Harriet shook her head. “I can’t just walk out of here without saying good-bye to everyone-”
“We’ll be back and forth all the time to visit Edlyn,” Lady Powlis said airily.