Page 15 of Lady Beast's Bridegroom
“I packed your best visiting gown,” said Miss Pettigrew to Vivienne, and then both of them looked at Rosalind. “I don’tfit into my visiting gown,” Vivienne objected, “and Rose doesn’t have one.
Miss Pettigrew’s brows drew together. “I am afraid I was able to bring very little with us, and the girls have, in any case, grown out of everything they own.” Indeed, the dresses they wore and the pinafores that covered those garments had been repeatedly mended, and were too tight and too short, more so on Rosalind than Vivienne, though Vivienne was the taller and sturdier of the two.
“You must have new gowns, of course,” Arial agreed. “Clara, where might we find something suitable ready-made or near finished?”
Clara had no idea, but Miss Pettigrew had worked in London before being employed to teach the Ransome sisters. “We might try Smith’s Emporium,” she suggested.
“Then I propose an expedition,” Arial said. She smiled at her soon-to-be sisters. “We shall see you outfitted for the wedding now, and then order you each a whole new wardrobe.”
So, Clara and Miss Pettigrew rode away in the carriage with two very excited girls, leaving Arial to contemplate Vivienne’s parting words. “What shall you wear for your wedding, Lady Arial?”
Chapter Six
Richards had donea sterling job of preparing the ground. When he and Peter arrived at Doctors Commons, they had no more than an hour’s wait before they arrived in front of a cleric who questioned them narrowly, then scurried off with the papers. Another wait, but this time of only ten minutes before the man returned. “Your request is granted,” they were told. “Your license is being prepared and will go up for the archbishop’s seal during the afternoon. Return in the morning to collect it. The fee will be five pounds.”
Richards counted out the notes while Peter asked, “If it will be ready, may we not return to collect it today?”
The man managed to both snort and sneer but agreed they could receive the license today if they returned no earlier than four but before five.
“You will need a vicar to wed you,” Richards pointed out, as they exited the warren of offices to find that the weather had turned cold and blustery. “Let’s take a cab back to my chambers. The vicar of the church on that street will oblige if he is available this evening.”
The afternoon quickly disappeared. They paid the vicar’s fee and arranged to collect him at five o’clock, sent a message to Arial to let her know that they had organized both license and minister, and then stopped at a coffee shop for a bite to eatbefore repairing to Richards’s chambers so that Peter could sign the marriage settlements.
Richards suggested that their next stop should be a tailor to see if he had something part-made that might be suitable for the wedding, but watching the solicitor handing out Arial’s money to one person after another on his behalf had set Peter’s teeth on edge.
“I have suitable formal wear in my baggage at Lady Arial’s,” he informed the solicitor. “But that reminds me. The Ransome jewelry I sent for you to sell? You said you still had some of the pieces. Are there any rings suitable to give my lady?”
“I believe so,” Richards said. “A good notion. Let us see.”
The safe disgorged a small case containing a good two thirds of the items Peter had sent to the solicitor. “I have thus far sold the less well-known pieces,” Richards explained.
“So as not to panic the creditors,” Peter acknowledged.
“Also, in order to retain their value. If the jewelers know we are seeking purchasers for a large quantity of jewelry, they will assume the seller is in dire straits, and will offer a lower price.”
Peter was sorting through the various bags, boxes, and cases. “I shall show these to Lady Arial, and she can decide what she wants to use and what can go back in the safe. Would you keep them, Richards, until I have arranged new accommodation for my father’s widow?” He had sorted out several rings, and found a box to put them in. This, he slipped into his pocket.
“My mother’s pearls.” He held up the long string and set it to one side. “There should be a brooch that turns it into a choker. Ah, yes.” The brooch joined the necklace. Peter looked through several more containers, to retrieve matching earrings, a bracelet, and a delicate tiara. “Perhaps Lady Arial might wish to wear these today. My father had them reset with diamonds for my mother, but the pearls themselves belonged to my great-grandmother.” He grimaced. “I suppose they should be cleaned, and the clasps checked.”
“I can organize that for you, my lord,” Richards offered.
Peter began putting the jewelry back into the case. “Shall I leave you to it then, Richards? I am sure you have better things to do than keeping me company. I will go and see if I can find my friend, Captain Forsythe. I mean to ask him to witness my wedding. Shall I collect the license and meet you and the vicar across the road at the vicarage at five o’clock?”
That agreed, they parted. Peter called at John’s lodgings and found his friend was out again. John’s man Thorne had been his soldier-servant for years and knew Peter well from his time in the army. Perhaps that was why he was freer with his tongue than most servants. “I told him you called, my lord, and he went to your hotel. They said you had left and had not given them a direction.”
Thorne was clearly in John’s confidence. “When he gets back, tell him I was not sure where I would be staying or for how long, but I now have a fixed address for as long as I am in Town. Tell him—”No, better still.“Actually, don’t tell him. I will write him a note with my direction. You may congratulate me, Thorne. I am getting married this evening, and I would like Captain Forsythe to stand up with me.”
Thorne said all the right things while fetching what Peter needed to write a note. He had blotted it dry and handed it to Thorne when he heard a key in the outer door, and it opened.
“Peter!” John saw Peter and strode forward with his hand out. “Belinda told me about your sister. I am so sorry I was out yesterday evening. How did you manage? Did you find someone to take her? I went to your hotel, and they said you had left.”
“I found a place for all of us to stay,” Peter said. “Me and both sisters. In fact, it connects to the reason that I am here. I’mgetting married this evening, and I wanted to ask you to stand up with me.”
“I thought… I did not realize you were betrothed.” As if the news had only just seeped into his consciousness, his eyes lit, and he began to smile. “Yes, of course, Peter. I would be proud to stand up with you. Where are you getting married? Do I know the bride? How long have you been courting?”
Peter hesitated. It wasn’t John. He knew his friend would have his back whatever the circumstances. Beyond a doubt, though, anything Peter told John would be repeated to Miss Weatherall. “That is why I came to town,” he explained. “To meet with my betrothed and her man of business. Lady Arial Bledisloe has done me the honor of accepting my offer. Her father, the Earl of Stancroft, was a close friend of my father’s, and we knew one another when we were children.”
“Congratulations. If this is what you want, I could not be more pleased. I am merely surprised you have never mentioned her.” He barked a short laugh. “I suppose I was so full of my own news I did not let you get a word in edgewise. But what of your sisters? You will hardly want them with you if you are to be wed. I suppose you will be sending them back to their mother?” He flushed and added, “Lady Ransome’s daughter, in any case. I suppose you might have to make other arrangements for the… um… your other sister.”
