Page 3 of The Earl's Error
“Truly,” Lady Rosalyn smiled. “Come with me now and I will introduce you to them all.”
Allowing her friend to lead her, Joceline’s eyes caught on a familiar face though there were two others that she did not recognize. “Miss Sherwood – Eugenia.” She smiled and embraced her friend. “It has been so long since I have seen you!”
“Almost a year!” Miss Sherwood responded, as Lady Rosalyn smiled. “But we are back in company together again now, are we not?”
“And let me introduce you to two new acquaintances so that we shall be a merry little band of bluestockings!” Lady Rosalyn said, with a smile. “Lady Amelia, Lady Isobella, might I introduce you to Lady Joceline, daughter of Viscount Melford.”
Joceline curtsied and then, as she rose, smiled warmly. “I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Lady Isobella, and yours also, Lady Amelia.”
“And we you!” Lady Isobella exclaimed, her eyes alight with clear excitement. “Lady Rosalyn has told us so much about you and we have been eagerly awaiting your arrival here in London.”
Joceline threw a sidelong glance toward her friend. “Just what have you been saying?”
Lady Rosalyn laughed. “I have been telling them that your father is supportive of your desire to learn and to read and the like. That is not something that all of us have been granted, unfortunately, though I know that we areallglad to have some solidarity.”
“Indeed.” Lady Amelia nodded fervently. “It is good to know that there are other young ladies like us, those of us who seek to expand our knowledge and think it a good thing to do.”
“Especially when society thinks it ill,” Lady Isobella added, with a grimace as the light faded from her eyes. “It certainly does make one feel a good deal less isolated.”
Joceline smiled at the small group, feeling her spirits a good deal lifted now. “You are right that I have my father’s support but I certainly do not have my mother’s and it is she who is herewith me in London.” Her smile began to dim. “I have overheard her speaking of my bluestocking ways with a good deal of disparity and that has made things a trifle difficult for me, I confess.”
“I can imagine that must have been very troubling to hear also,” Miss Sherwood said gently, her understanding and sympathy apparent in her expression and in her voice. “I am sorry for that.”
Joceline hesitated, wondering if she ought to speak honestly when in the present company given that she had only just been introduced, but then she considered herself right to do so. “It was painful, yes. I confess to you all that my heart was sore upon hearing all that my mother thought of me but, at the same time, I was also grateful for my father’s support and understanding. Though I do wish that he was in London with us!”
“He is not here?” Lady Rosalyn asked. “I thought he would be.”
Joceline shook her head. “He was called away on business.”
“I am here with my brother,” Lady Rosalyn told her, with a wry smile. “So though he is just as disinclined towards my learning and the like, he is a little… distracted given the very many young ladies present and his own desire for a bride.” This made not only Lady Rosalyn laugh but the others with her and, as they did so, Joceline felt her heart squeeze with a sharp, fierce delight. She had not had any sort of camaraderie like this before! Yes, she had known Lady Rosalyn and Miss Sherwood the previous Season, but for there to befiveof them who all felt the same way was quite different!
“I think we shall all be excellent friends,” she said, making the other young ladies smile. “It will be an excellent Season, I am sure, now that I have you all with me. No amount of constant demands from my mother shall dampen my spirits, not now that I have friends with whom I can share my passion for reading.”She chuckled softly to herself, a lightness in her spirit now. “In fact, even though I am expected to dance and to smile and to converse as my mother expects, I will have a fresh endurance, knowing that I have many a friend sympathizing with me as I endure dull conversations and the like.”
Lady Rosalyn giggled. “Oh, we shall have to put up with many a frustrating conversation, I am sure! Do you know that the last time I tried to speak to a fellow about what I had been reading recently, he turned bodily away from me and showed me no further interest whatsoever?”
Lady Isobella gasped. “Goodness, that was most rude of him!”
“Indeed,” Lady Rosalyn agreed, “though at least I knew that this was someone I am now able to ignore for the rest of the Season!”
This sent smiles around the small group and Joceline drew in a long, steady breath and then let it out again just as slowly. Here, she felt herself at ease – and that in the center of a London ballroom! She had never expected such a thing as this, had thought that it would be a good deal more difficult than this for her first ball and yet now, despite it all, she had not only met her friends from the past Season but also made two more acquaintances! Yes, she determined as she looked at each and every face, this would be a very good Season indeed.
2
Theodore rolled his eyes as his mother stalked into the drawing room, clearly displeased. “Mother, you must attempt to make it a little less obvious whenever you are displeased with me.”
Lady Albury snapped her heels together and drew herself up, even though, given Theodore’s tall frame, she was somewhat diminutive. “This time, my dear son, it is notyouthat I am displeased with.”
Theodore’s eyebrows lifted. “Then I am all the more astonished, for I am usually the one standing far from your good graces.”
His mother sighed heavily. “I think that if you continue in such a way then you shall find yourself just as you have described.”
With a small sigh but with an attempt at a smile, Theodore looked back at her. “Then do you wish to tell me what it is that troubles you? What it is that makes you appear so upset?”
“I shall.” Clearing her throat, his mother made her way to stand at the side of the room, looking out of the window before turning her attention to him. “We are here in London and I havefound myself greatly displeased with the extravagance shown by my acquaintances whilst I myself have nothing to show!”
This did not make any sense to Theodore and though he tried to keep the frown from his face, he did not quite manage, garnering himself a furious look from his mother. Evidently, she thought that he ought to know what it was he spoke of.
“You do know that Lady Marselle has brought with her the most beautiful rubies from France?” she exclaimed, throwing up her hands as her cheeks went red. “And Lady Falkirk has shown off her diamonds which were a gift from her husband!”
