Penelope (20 page)

It was a good
position from where she could discreetly watch all the new
arrivals. Her eyes blazed in interest when Lady Snowly made a
dramatic entrance wearing a sea green silk dress and a sapphire
hued silk turban. Lady Snowly pinned her eyes on the duke and made
her way towards him. A slight touch on Penelope’s arm distracted
her from the sight.

“Lord Poyning
is coming this way,” Anne whispered urgently.

“As is Lord
Rivers,” Penelope replied, nervously watching the pair.

“Don’t worry, I
won’t give you a chance to speak,” Anne said, patting her hair.

A moment later
Lord Poyning and Lord Rivers arrived. Anne immediately engaged Lord
Poyning in conversation.

Lord Rivers and
Penelope were more than happy to let the two ramble on.

“What a
wonderful coat,” Anne gushed.

Poyning
preened.

Penelope sipped
her wine and inwardly grimaced. The coat in question was velvet
puce and it was positioned directly in front of her eyes. She
looked away from the revolting garment and searched the room. She
found who she was looking for— the duke. His superbly cut grey
coat, she noted, was excellent and not at all offensive. He was
absorbed in a conversation with a grey haired man.

She stared at
him for some time until someone roughly shoved her from behind. She
gasped, lurching on her feet. She quickly turned around, an
automatic apology on her lips. But the woman who had pushed her was
already making a speedy exit from the scene. All Penelope could see
was the woman’s departing back.

Frowning
thoughtfully, Penelope turned back around to find Lady Radclyff
glaring at her. Bewildered, she glanced at Lord Poyning
questioningly. Lord Poyning avoided her eyes, his hands busy
scrubbing at a dark patch on his coat.

“You lurched
and spilled wine on his beloved coat,” Lord Rivers remarked.

Penelope eyed
her empty glass in horror. “I am so sorry, Lord Poyning. I will buy
you a new coat. I am sure Madame Bellafraunde will assist me.
Truly, I didn’t mean to …”

“Miss
Fairweather, you have no need to apologise. I must find the
hostess. She should have something for the stain,” Lord Poyning
said, his eyes busy inspecting his coat.

“I think I
spotted Lady Abbey near the gambling room. She was conversing with
Miss Berkley,” Anne said. She then turned to Penelope and sent her
a loaded look.

Penelope
understood and meekly followed Anne towards the red satin
curtains.

“How could
you?” Anne asked furiously.

“But it wasn’t
my fault. Not this time,” Penelope tried to explain.

“It is never
your fault, is it, Miss Fairweather? No,” she said holding her hand
up, “I don’t want to hear a single thing anymore. Please fetch my
brother. I would like to go home. ”

“But …”

“We are
leaving,” Anne said coldly.

The ride back
home was conducted in silence with Anne inwardly raging and
Penelope trying to come with the right words to explain. The moment
they entered the Blackthorne Mansion, Penelope barred Anne’s
way.

“Lady Radclyff,
I beg you, please listen to me,”

Anne tried to
dodge Penelope by walking from the right to left and then back
again. After pussyfooting for few minutes and finding that Penelope
was too quick for her, she finally gave up and said, “What do you
have to tell me?”

Penelope eyed
the duke standing next to them.

“So you have
nothing to say in your defence? I thought as much,” Anne snapped,
shaking off Penelope’s restraining arm.

Penelope ran
after her and followed her into her bedroom.

“Lady Radclyff,
I couldn’t tell you. Not in front of the duke. Lady Snowly pushed
me and made me spill the wine.”

“Did she?”

“Yes, and she
did it on purpose. My back was to the pillar and she came from
behind and pushed me. It couldn’t have been an accident. It was a
small gathering with plenty of room to walk without bumping into
one another. I don’t understand why she did it, but she did. I am
not lying ....”

“Do you swear
it?”

“I do, I swear.
Why would I do such a thing? Granted, I am clumsy, but this time
it’s not my fault.”

Anne sat on the
bed and moaned.

“Do you believe
me?” Penelope asked worriedly.

“I do. I can
believe that of Lydia Snowly,” Anne said. At Penelope’s look, she
further explained. “I am ashamed to admit that Lydia and I were
friends once. I know her well and it is the sort of petty thing she
would do. She enjoys embarrassing people she dislikes, either by
word or deed. She doesn’t like you because my mother and I support
you. And a beautiful young unmarried woman living under the same
roof as her fiancé is bound to make her nervous. She will do her
best to scare you away. So yes, I do believe you.”

“Thank you,”
Penelope said in relief.

 Anne’s
head shot up and she cried, “Why couldn’t you spill the wine on
Lord Rivers? He was standing right next to Lord Poyning. This is
the second time I have looked a fool in front of him and all
because of you.”

“I am sorry.
Don’t be angry, Lady Radclyff. Please give me a chance to make
things alright.”

“And how will
you do that?” came the sarcastic response.

“You like Lord
Poyning, don’t you?” Penelope asked carefully.

Anne blushed
and said, “We have been friends for two years.”

“Only friends?
You were not so distraught when I tore Lady Virginia’s gown and
that was a lot worse.”

Anne turned a
darker shade of pink. She finally said, “Fine, I do like him, but I
am not sure about his feelings.”

“Then leave it
to me. I will make sure that Lord Edward Poyning falls madly in
love with you.”

Anne eyed her
sceptically.

“I have many
faults, Lady Radclyff, but I am also creative. My schemes were the
best in Finnshire. They always worked. I will have you married to
him within three months.”

Anne thawed and
she asked hopefully, “Truly?”

“I give you my
word,” Penelope replied confidently.

Anne frowned
mulling it over. “You will first inform me of your schemes?”

“Of course.
Since you have to carry them out, you will have to know.”

“Hmm, I suppose
I can always check any of your outlandish ideas. Two years of
waiting and nothing. It is time for some desperate measures and
you, Miss Fairweather, are a perfect accomplice. Since your arrival
Mother has shown her hand more and more, refusing to let Charles
have his way. She may allow us to go to Hyde Park and entertain
suitors at home. Charles is too distracted with you around to
notice what I am up to. You really annoy him, and I mean really,
really annoy him. This may just work.”

“Now that we
are agreed, I have a condition.”

“What?”

“You will call
me Penelope.”

“Done, and you
shall call me Anne.”

The two girls
smiled at each other.

A sheet of
paper was procured and the girls got to work. Anne wrote in large
beautiful handwriting:

How to entice
Lord Poyning

After a moment
of thought, Anne added a few hearts and flowers around Lord
Poyning’s name.

Penelope nodded
approvingly, “That sort of thing is important.”

“So what is the
first step?” Anne asked, chewing the end of the quill.

Penelope pulled
the sheet towards herself, and after wiping off the saliva from the
back of the quill, wrote:

To entice the
man, befriend the friend.

Anne looked at
Penelope and grinned.

“Lord Rivers,”
the girls chanted.

***

Anne stormed
into Penelope’s room.

“Penelope, you
cannot make any mistakes today. We have offended a number of hosts
and I don’t think the duke’s protection will help us much longer.
It is only a matter of time before you are going to be cut by
society,” Anne admonished.

“I never do
anything on purpose,” Penelope said mournfully.

“I know that,”
Anne said. “It is not entirely your fault, but a little bit of it
is. You tend to start daydreaming or become nervous and babble.
Please, you have to start taking control of that tongue of yours …
and your hands and your legs.”

Penelope
nodded.

“Take today for
instance. You knew we were already late for Miss Rosy’s dinner. Yet
you had to go and tear your dress.”

“I didn’t tear
it. Mary didn’t know the brooch was pinned on and she pulled at it
and the dress tore.”

“You could have
warned her. I suppose you were busy dreaming of green fields and
cows.”

Penelope was
hurt.

Anne sighed, “I
am sorry, I am just worried. This is what I suggest. Miss Rosy
loves animals. She has just procured a gift from an Indian prince,
a beautiful cat that she wants to show off to the ton. She has
thrown this party in the animal’s honour. When she speaks to you,
tell her all about your goat. She will be enchanted and thereafter
you would have won over one of the most important hostesses of
London society.”

“Thank you, but
wouldn’t she be offended when we are late? It is a dinner party, is
it not?”

“Yes, she is a
stickler for time. Charles suggested that we proceed without you.
We will send the carriage back and you can join us later. She won’t
be so upset if the duke reaches on time.”

Penelope
nodded, “I will be dressed and ready by then, and this time, Anne,
nothing will go wrong.”

“I hope so. We
haven’t even put our plan into action yet.”

“Tonight we
will, Anne. Tonight we will.”

Penelope
changed three times while the clock ticked away the hour.

It was two
hours past the appointed time when Penelope finally arrived at Miss
Rosy’s. Her hair was braided and piled on top of her head. Little
wisps of curls had escaped, delightfully framing her face. Her
dress, an elegant gold Grecian inspiration, floated about her. Her
lashes were darkened and her eyes shimmered in the moonlight. This
time she knew she looked the best she ever had, and she had an
excellent plan. Miss Rosy would take one look at her and what she
had brought along and forgive her for being two hours late. She
walked a tad more confidently.

“Miss
Fairweather,” the intimidating butler announced.

Penelope was
not intimidated. Instead, her heart fluttered in excitement. This
was it, she thought, the moment when plain old Miss Penelope
Winifred Rose Spebbington Fairweather from Finnshire would be
transformed into a proper London lady. She was ready to enchant,
enthral and bewitch the ton. For the first time in her life she
felt pretty, and that feeling was so delicious that it fizzed
inside her like a bottle of champagne. She had made so many
mistakes, but it was time to forget the past and begin anew.
Gingerly she touched her silky skirts. She had a feeling that
tonight things were going to change for the better. Her chin
lifted, her back straightened, and her skirts swirled as she walked
into the room.

A moment later,
Penelope, with her bubbles deflated, her shoulders slumped and back
bowed was seen hurtling out of Miss Rosy’s mansion followed closely
by Anne and the duke. A goat with a green bonnet hanging off one
ear followed running as if its life depended on it. And it did, for
chasing it was the cat that had been gifted to Miss Rosy by an
Indian prince. Not a tabby or a Persian or one of those black and
white spotted varieties. It was a full grown cheetah that chased
them back to the safety of the carriage.

“I am—”
Penelope started.

“Don’t. Just
don’t,” Anne growled.

The Yellow Room
was a sunny room with buttercup tapestries and ethereal white
curtains. For generations the Radclyff family had gathered here for
situations that were deemed catastrophic. The last time that it had
been used was to plan an escape when war was at its peak.

The current
situation was considered dire enough for the family to once again
throw open the rosewood doors of the Yellow Room. The members of
the Radclyff family (with the exception of Sir Henry), along with
Penelope as the guilty party, Madame Bellafraunde as the wise
council, and Lady Bathsheba as the witness, assembled here to
debate the latest calamity to befall the Blackthorne Mansion. The
soothing pale room was meant to have a calming effect and allow the
family to think clearly and calmly.

“We will be
ruined! Ruined, disowned, cut off, snubbed by every member of the
ton. I am not going to have this creature living under my roof a
moment longer,” the duke shouted.

“We are the
Radclyff family. We have honour. We cannot abandon a poor soul just
because she happened to bring her pet along to a dinner party,”
Lady Radclyff screeched.

“Now, now,
children. Calm down,” the dowager said soothingly.

“Calm down? We
had to rush out of Lady Virginia’s ball because she ripped the
hostess’s gown off. Thereafter, she upset you, Anne, by dumping a
glass of wine on that fool Poyning. And then we were chased by a
cheetah because this imbecile brought a goat along. Who told her to
do such an idiotic thing?”

“Let’s talk
about this calmly,” the dowager tried again.

“Charles,” Anne
bellowed over her mother’s voice. “You are a duke. No one can dare
cut you or any of your family members. Since when have you become
such a cowardly nitwit?”

“Nitwit? It
does not affect me but you. You are the nitwit. I am concerned
about your welfare. No one will marry you if you befriend such
a—”

“Hush, Charles,
you cannot call poor Miss Fairweather names,” the dowager
interrupted.

“I don’t care
if no one marries me, I want Penelope to stay,” Anne yelled.

“Silence,”
Madame finally roared. “Please sit down and let us discuss this
like civilised beings.”