Page 59 of Miss Delectable
What manner of intrigue was this? “She mentions them by name from time to time. Theodoric—she calls him Otter—likes buttered turnips. Bertie forgets to wash his hands.” John knew all manner of filthy songs. Louis was their scout. A new boy, Victor, seemed to have Debrett’s off by heart as a result of watching from his street corner and memorizing the crests of passing coaches.
“Would they make passable clerks?”
“Mrs. Dorning, I hardly know. Hannah describes the boys as lively. Colonel Goddard has them attend to various chores and activities in the morning because they can’t sit still for lessons in the afternoon otherwise. They are not scholars by nature, to hear her tell it.”
Mrs. Dorning rose and went to the window, which overlooked the street running between her home and her husband’s place of business.
“I want to lighten my brother’s load, Miss Pearson. Orion would never confide in me, never hint that I might be of use to him, but I hear things.”
Orion Goddard confided in Ann, some. She hoped as time went on, he’d confide in her more, but then what? He had domesticity written all over him, while Ann’s ambition was to run the Coventry’s kitchen some fine day. Passion was lovely for an interlude or an affair, but where did Ann see her dealings with Orion Goddard ending?
“What have you heard, Mrs. Dorning?”
She twitched at the curtain sashes, though the two sides of the drapery hung in perfect symmetry. “I haven’t been Jeanette Goddard for ten years. Ladies new to Town know me only as the Marquess of Tavistock’s widow, recently married to the youngest Dorning brother.”
And thus they did not know of her connection to the colonel. “Somebody cast aspersion on Colonel Goddard within your hearing?”
Mrs. Dorning left off fussing the curtains and faced Ann. “Somebody referred to him as the disgraced colonel, which occasioned knowing glances and a slight shake of the speaker’s head, as if to say, ‘What a pity, about poor Goddard.’ Minerva Dennis has no business spreading talk like that, but everybody else in the group appeared to know what and whom she alluded to.”
“Minerva Dennis has been pretending to know all the latest talk since she first flirted with the drawing master at finishing school. She comes around the Coventry with her brother and claims her papa doesn’t mind in the least.” Jules would say such a woman needed marrying, but from Ann’s perspective, Minerva would have been better served with a cauldron and some otherworldly familiars.
“Miss Pearson, how do you know her?”
“We are to trade confidences, then?”
Mrs. Dorning nodded once.
“I attended two years of finishing school with her. She is a cat, and she likely knows nothing about the colonel save some snippet she overheard her brother repeat. Dexter Dennis was in the military, as were many of his friends.” Dennis came to the Coventry to lose money, in the opinion of the waiters, for he was more skilled at draining the champagne glasses and decimating the buffet than placing his bets.
“You took Hannah to call upon Colonel Goddard’s household last week,” Mrs. Dorning said. “Have you any idea what disgrace Miss Dennis might have referred to?”
The colonel himself did not know, but it wasn’t Ann’s place to reveal that. “You should ask your brother, ma’am. In my experience, he is both honest and honorable.”
Mrs. Dorning returned to the sofa. “He is also my brother and unfailingly careful with me. Rye blames himself for my first marriage, but Rye had nothing to do with it. Papa wanted his darling daughter to have a title, and I wanted to make my papa proud of me. If I’d known my vows would result in my brother spending years at war…”
What was wrong with English fathers that their daughters longed so desperately for paternal approval?
“The colonel was a good soldier, ma’am. I believe he regards his years of service with pride.”
“Then why is somebody implying that he blundered, Miss Pearson? My own in-laws were guilty of spreading unkind talk regarding my brother, but now I find others are doing worse than that. Why is Minerva Dennis, who has nothing better to do than experiment with new coiffures, slandering Orion over her glass of punch?”
“Perhaps you should ask her.” Somebody should. For military men to mutter and murmur among themselves was one thing, but for the talk to spread to female ears was another and an altogether worse development.
“I am tempted to. I am tempted to call upon her with Mr. Dorning at my side. Sycamore has a way of charming and threatening at the same time, and he takes any slight to family seriously.”
Ann had heard Mr. Dorning and his brother Ash going at each other with raised voices on any number of occasions. Ash Dorning was far less in evidence at the Coventry since he’d married, while
Sycamore Dorning’s marriage had resulted in his greater involvement at the club.
“Might you not first call upon the colonel?” Ann asked. “My guess is he’d rather you confront him than resort to stratagems involving Mr. Dorning.”
“Orion is aware of the talk, then?” Mrs. Dorning sprung that trap as she casually topped up Ann’s tea cup.
“You’d have to ask him, ma’am.”
Ann’s hostess set down the teapot and sat back. “He already has your loyalty, doesn’t he? He does that. Rye has the gift of commanding respect, which makes this slight from Minerva Dennis all the more alarming.”
“You really ought to talk to your brother, ma’am.”
