Page 15 of A Lady's Wicked Revenge
“Diana, my dear, it is so wonderful to see you.” Seemingly held upright by her stiff, high-necked, old-fashioned blue dress, Missus Arnold looked Diana up and down, her eyes brimming with tears. “I was so very sorry to hear about your poor mother and father. What a horrible end for two such lovely people.”
Diana took the hand offered by Missus Arnold and squeezed it in gratitude. “Thank you, Missus Arnold. Mister Arnold,” she squeaked, feeling the flood of tears rise as if to overwhelm her.
“Mister Arnold and I have been thinking of you so often. I’m sorry we haven’t been able to come by and see you before this, but our letters to Sir James have gone un—”
“But we thought best to wait until we had been invited,” Jerome Arnold finished for his wife. Diana watched a brief, wordless argument transpire in a glance between the two.
“It doesn’t matter,” Diana said, drawing in a deep breath and drinking in the sight of these two familiar faces. “It’s just so good to see you both!”
“Oh, yes, yes,” said Missus Arnold airily. “Well, as well as one can be under such conditions, I suppose!” She and Diana shared a dark, cynical laugh at this pronouncement.
Heedless of the other dinner party guests, who continued their mingling and idle chatter elsewhere in the room, Jerome led the trio to a far corner of the massive salon, far enough that Diana could barely make out any words spoken by the other guests. When they reached the hearth by the southern wall, he stopped and fixed Diana with an inscrutable look.
“But really, what is there to say of two dull old people like us? What we want to hear about isyou, Diana. You must tell us absolutely everything since the … accident. Have you been feeling well? I trust Sir James has made sure your every need is met?”
His bleary eye only roved away from Diana toward James Leeson for an instant, but it was enough to fill Diana with anxiety once more.He’s a good man, you idiot girl, you can trust him! Tell him how beastly Uncle James has been, and perhaps you can persuade him to petition the court to have him removed as your guardian!
The idea seemed sensible enough that Diana felt her blood run warm with excitement—her salvation might finally be at hand! But before she could open her mouth to explain all she had gone through, a horrible series of thoughts sprang into her mind, fully-formed.
It’s not as though I’ve been put out on the street or beaten each night—not really. Though Uncle James’ guardianship chafes me terribly, what sort of ungrateful child would I be to complain about being kept in such relative safety and luxury? And if Mister Arnold is powerless to do anything, as Uncle James has implied many a time … all whingeing would accomplish is to sadden him and dear Missus Arnold.
There seemed to be nothing for it. She closed her mouth and put on a brave look of contentment, trying to silence the crying out of her soul as she closed this door to deliverance and latched it behind her.
“Oh, it has been such … such a relief to be here, Mister Arnold,” Diana said in a loud, lively voice. “Uncle James has been taking such wonderful care of me these last days. I have been very … just soveryfortunate to have him as my guardian.” With these words, she summoned up every ounce of strength in her body to give Mister and Missus Arnold a reassuring smile.
But there was no deceiving Jerome Arnold, whose eye, rheumy though it might be, was as keen as ever. Even in the momentary silence during which Diana looked away from the friendly pair in shame, she could feel him effortlessly peel away the strong façade she had hastily assembled around herself—though not with cruelty.Stupid girl,she thought, fighting to keep breathing.Why did you try to deceive him when you know he can see right through you? It’s demeaning to him and you in equal measure.
She felt herself wince as, out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement approach her … but of course, it was only a fatherly pat on the shoulder from dear Mister Arnold. She met his gaze, feeling herself colour with embarrassment, yet he spoke not a word of acknowledgement of what they both knew he had discerned.
“Your dear mother and father would be so terribly proud of you, Diana,” said Mister Arnold in his creaky voice, a sideways smile on thin face. “You have dealt with a most horrendous turn of fortune with grace and aplomb. That is something to be admired.”
Images of hurled invectives and thrown dishes flashed through Diana’s mind, and she felt a perverse impulse to laugh.If you could only see how I comport myself in this house, dear Mister Arnold, you might not be so free with your praise,she thought. But she could not give voice to such a thing, even in jest; Mister Arnold’s esteem was far too valuable to endanger. So she only smiled and clasped his wrinkled hand delicately in her own.
“If only you could have been named my guardian, Mister Arnold,” Diana heard come from her lips in a low voice. She felt she should clap her hands over her mouth, to deny having said such a thing, to insist it was only a joke … but though this admission escaped her mouth by happenstance, she knew she could not gainsay the truth of the words.
Mister Arnold slowly patted the back of her hand and looked at her with a sad smile. “That would have been a most gratifying thing. But the Lord has other things in mind for all of us, it seems.”
Diana could not resist glancing over at Uncle James. Though he was on the far side of the room from her, still holding court over his toadies, she could see the intensity of his gaze in her direction. Their eyes met, and a grim, humourless spirit fell over James Leeson’s gaze.
If only He were the only one with designs for my future …
Chapter 8
A Most Thrilling Duel
The dinner was served not in the private dining room that had become her familiar battleground but instead in a grand hall Diana had scarcely ever seen since arriving in the Leeson house. Where the family dining room was ostentatious, this hall was royally opulent, with a table that stretched fifty yards from one end to the other and countless candles winking down on them from three massive crystal chandeliers.
The floor of Italian marble was polished to a fine sheen, and the table set with fifty identical place settings for all the guests to dine at simultaneously, even if it was far enough from one end of the thing to the other and the ceiling was so high and prone to echoes that Diana could scarcely guess how any kind of meaningful conversation could be had in the enormous room.
The pomp and braggadocio turned Diana’s stomach. She glanced about, certain she would spot Gerard Dunn or some other repulsive would-be suitor lying in wait in a sconce or behind a column. Even the thought of having to play at politeness with such a creature put a shiver down Diana’s body—coupled with the churning of her belly, she found herself in a most uncomfortable state.
Somewhat dizzy and fearing she might faint, Diana hastened to her assigned seat and slumped into it without waiting for any servant or well-meaning visitor to pull out her chair for her. Ignoring all she had been taught of etiquette, she leaned forward with her head propped haphazardly in her hands, her elbows keeping her from collapsing fully onto the table.
Her eyes flitted from one guest to another. Some were faces she dimly recalled having seen at society affairs before her parents’ death, but all were strangers to her. Each figure seemed to register that she was examining them and shot her a scouring glance out of the corner of their eye. Diana sniffed, filled with resentment.
Here I am, an abused wretch who is being held prisoner and robbed by my own guardian,she thought despairingly.It does not matter a whit to any of these beasts; they are concerned only with their own comfort, with what Uncle James can do for their bellies or purses. I could be tied to the rack in the corner of the room, and they would not even notice … save perhaps to comment snidely on my posture or my manner of dress, I suppose.
So consumed was she by these thoughts of doom that she barely registered even the familiar sound of her name, dismissing it as an unimportant echo within her mind. It was only on the third repetition from someone standing nearly next to her that Diana thought to look up from her table setting.
