Page 59 of Miss Whittier Makes a List
“You’re leaving me to face a houseful of guests tonight that I do not even know?”
“You’ll do fine,”he said carelessly.“Come,Mr.Futtrell. There’s not a moment to lose.”
She began to cry, the tears sliding down her cheeks.“I did not think thee was so heartless,”she gasped through her tears.
He took her arm then and pulled her close until they were chest to chest.“It’s war, my dear.”He kissed her hair.“Forgive me if I sound sentimental, butEnglandsorely needs what I do best. The sooner I am back on the blockade, the sooner some other poor captain can put into port before he goes crazy with the strain.”He ruffled her hair.“But I’m only going now to get the revictualing started. I’ll be back before you know it.”He kissed herone more time and climbed into the carriage, closing the door behind him. The coachman snapped his whip and they were off down the lane.
She was still standing barefoot on the gravel drive when the sun rose andMrs. Paige, her eyes filled with tears of her own, came out to help her inside.
Chapter Sixteen
Men are beasts, and my son is no exception,”was one of Lady Sharp’s few repeatable comments when Hannah threw herself into herbefore the sun was muchhigher and told her the bad news, choking back her tears.“Daniel only comes to go away. I would not wish him on a dog,”she said as she accepted a cup of tea from Mrs. Paige and indicated that the housekeeper should join them in a council of war.
“Well, Hannah, do we cancel?”she asked, her voice crisp with decision, when the tea was drunk down to the leaves.
Hannah took her gaze from her own bare toes to regard Lady Spark with something approaching affection. There was nothing of defeat in the dowager’s voice. If anything, her chin was raised higher than usual, and her lips pursed in a firmer line. It began to dawn on her that this was a woman for a crisis.
When Hannah said nothing, Lady Spark threw back the covers and hunted about for her slippers.“My dear girl, if you wish to break off your engagement to this supremely selfish man, I would not be surprised, but after all, we have prepared a wondrous amount of food, and I really can’t think anyother manwill ever treat you better, the male sex being what it is. Savages. I wonder why we submit so willingly to them. Well. Hannah? Are you a jellyfish or a woman?”
It was curious commentary, and Hannah smiled in spite of her misery.
“Come, come, dear girl, do you love that worthless Jack Tar or not?”Lady Spark demanded, sounding surprisingly like her absent son.
“Oh,I love him,”she said, and believed it with all her heart.
Lady Spark clapped her hands and nodded in triumph to Mrs. Paige.“Excellent! To celebrate that absurdity, I say we place an additional order for more of the most expensive smuggler’s champagne and make Daniel pay through the nose for his perfidy.”
Hannah laughed.“He can pay dearly for more cut flowers, too! I think I actually saw a few bare spaces in the dining room.”
Lady Spark embraced her for thefirsttime.“Now you are thinking like a woman! HannahWhittier, I believe you will be a credit to the Spark family name. Living extravagantly at the expense of men is always the best revenge! It really should be the motto on our family crest.”
Hannah let herself be swept along that day by Lady Spark’s curious energy. She hurried from task to task at the dowager’s command, and realized late in the afternoon as she dragged herself upstairs for a quick soak in the tin tub that Lady Spark had been making sure that she had not a spare second to repine. She twisted her hair high on her head and sank into the lemon-scented tub gratefully. I will be too tired when this evening is over to do anything but drop down dead into dreamless slumber, she thought as she scrubbedherself vigorously.“Thank you,my lady,”she said out loud, secure in her heart that she would have no difficulty loving her future mother-in-law, even if her own son did not.
While it was true that butterflies collided against each other in her stomach as she greeted the dinner guests, they soon settled down. No one was even slightly surprised at Daniel Spark’s absence.“We know seafarers, Miss Whittier,”the vicar explained to her as he grasped her hand in welcome.“Isuppose at one time or other, half the females in my parish have been where you are.”He laughed and released her.“It only has come to you sooner than most! Let us blame Napoleon, but not let the beast ofCorsicaspoil our evening.”
As she greeted the guests, she debated whether to use her Quaker“thee,”and decided she would. If we are to be neighbors, they must come to know me as I am, she thought. And if I am quaint, well, what of it? Daniel does not mind, and did he not promise me that he would be my mirror? Dressed in pale gray, her unruly curls subdued with a lace cap,she moved gracefully among her guests, wishing that her own mother could see her. And whenever conversation flagged, Lady Spark slipped adroitly into the gaps and smoothed them over until everyone was full of champagne andgoodfeeling.
With genuine regret, Hannah allowed her company todepartafter tea in the parlor. She shook their hands again, promising to pay return visits, and assuring them of invitations to the wedding. When the last guestdeparted, she sank into a chair in the parlor and looked at Lady Spark, who sat beside her.
“I would say that went off remarkably well, considering that neither of us knew a single guest,”Lady Spark commented as she kicked off her shoes. She glanced sideways at Hannah and they both dissolved into giggles.
“Oh, dear,”Hannah said finally as she wiped her eyes.“Did I drink too much champagne?”
“I fervently hope so!”Lady Spark said, the militant light back in her eyes.“I don’t know about you, but I could feel the pounds sterling just rolling down my throat, and it felt so good.”Shestarted to laugh again,and Hannah joined in. After another moment of glee, she patted Hannah’s leg.“Well, my dear, do we stay here and wait for that sailor toreturn, or do we go back toLondonand order a half dozen new dresses?”
Hannah smiled at Lady Spark with genuine affection.“I think I will remain here with Mrs. Paige another week or two. If he does not return by then, I will see thee inLondon.”
“I approve, Hannah,”thedowager replied.“At any rate, I will return to this godforsaken wilderness for your wedding.”
“Thankthee!”Hannah rose and stretched her arms high over her head.“And now, please excuse me. Since thee has driven me like a slavemaster all day, I am tired down to my toes.”She leaned forward impulsively and kissed Lady Spark.
Lady Spark returned her kiss,and touched her cheek.“I cannot credit it, but my sonseemsto have done something very smart in the way of wife-hunting.”
“He fished me off a grate in the middle of theAtlantic,”Hannah said.
“My dear, that is merely philanthropy, and not love,”Lady Spark teased,and smiled at Hannah.“Now,go to bed before you drop!”
She woke in the morning with renewed optimism, and a willingness to admit that as long asEnglandwas at war withFrance, she would rate a pale second in Captain Sir Daniel Spark’s life. It was a fact she could live with. I am nearly eighteen, she thought, and this war will not last forever. And when it is over, I will be firstin his heart. I can wait in line behind Napoleon until then. Others are doing it.
