Lizzie shrugged.
“Twelve. I only rarely saw my father, so I wasn’t too affected by his passing,” she said bitterly. “I was, however, indignant at the fact that he left me and my mother only 100 pounds a year to live on.”
Her old, rancid anger had caused the words to unthinkingly rush out of her, and she regretted them immediately. She didn’t want her husband to know how little she’d been worth to her own father. She heard the violent scrape of his chair against the floor as he got up.
Lizzie looked up at his tense, furious face.
“He didwhat?”
“He left us 100 pounds a year to live on. My mother was utterly incapable of surviving without someone else taking care of things, so at first we had Mister Ed selling off the jewellery she’d been gifted over the years, but ultimately we had to move to a much smaller house in a different neighbourhood. Then I started teaching and working at Miss Euphemia’s, and I was seriously saving money for the voyage to America. And then Nicholas found us, and the rest you’re more or less familiar with,” Elizabeth recounted haphazardly, certain that if she stopped talking even for a moment, she’d never get another word out.
“I had no idea,” he said dejectedly as he sat back down.
“Well,” she replied in the same vein, then shook her head slightly. “Anyway, Jane, Mrs. Barlow, Mister Ed, Mary, Robert – they all moved with us to the Mayfair house, and that is the end of that story. Now, tell me about our outing,” she said with false cheer.
Talbot seemed to consider whether to insist on discussing her past further, but ultimately gave up.
“Has your maid truly revealed nothing to you?” he asked, and when she shook her head, he said, “Well, today I shall be the teacher. We’re going horse riding.”
Despite the knot in her stomach, Elizabeth felt genuine excitement at the prospect.
“I’ll get dressed and we can leave immediately,” she said and almost,almost, ran to the door as her husband looked at her back with worry creasing his brow.
Her new riding dress was French grey, braided at the front, with a high waist and a full skirt. It was a bit longer than her usual dresses in order to prevent any immodesty when mounting the horse. Mary prepared a round hat to go with it, as well as soft York tan gloves and leather boots of the same colour.
“She did a good job,” Lizzie remarked. “I like that the skirt and the bodice are joined together.”
“I was also surprised when I saw it,” Mary agreed, “one would think it was made by a London dressmaker. It has pocket slits in the skirt so that you can put your gloves in them when you inevitably take them off.”
“Let’s hope I won’t rip or ruin it falling off the horse,” Elizabeth joked.
“I’d pay a ticket to see that,” Mary replied.
*
Talbot, who had also changed, walked her to the stables, where a young man in shirtsleeves was waiting for them.
“Your Graces,” he bowed to both of them.
“Duchess, this is William Cook, he takes care of our stables,” Talbot introduced him, and Elizabeth immediately knew who he was.
“You’re Susan’s husband,” she said, and the young man smiled.
“Aye, Your Grace.”
“Your wife is a wonderful storyteller, she helped me become more familiar with my new home,” Lizzie said bravely, hoping there was nothing untoward in expressing the sentiment this freely.
“She’s told me she enjoyed your conversations very much,” William replied, his affection for his wife clear on his face.
He then gestured towards a beautiful, kind-looking sorrel mare, “This is Miss Judy.”
Lizzie bit the inside of her cheek to stop the laughter that wanted to bubble out of her throat. She had been around horses in the past, thanks to Mister Ed, but those were carriage-pulling, hard-working horses with names likePartnerorBrimmer.
The serious tone in which William had introduced the mare to her, combined with her name, was threatening to undo her. Was the “Miss” part of the name, or were Talbot's workers required to be polite to the duke’s horses? Was she supposed to curtsy to Miss Judy?
Talbot looked at her askance, most likely wondering why his Duchess looked like she was holding her breath.
“She is lovely,” she managed to say, and the groom nodded approvingly.
