“I thank you for your kindness, Miss Martha,” the Duke replied. “It has been the cause of great grief indeed. I know I have been very fortunate to have had such a loving and contended family life. Many are not so lucky, and that is cause for sadness also.” He held Charlotte’s gaze as he spoke, and she felt the true meaning of his words. He recognized the troubles that she and her sister faced with their stepmother, and he understood their ongoing grief at the loss of their own mother. It really was remarkable how he managed to communicate so much with so few words.
Lord Miller bristled a little next to him. “Come now, Seton, that’s rather somber talk for a ballroom, do not you think?”
The Duke nodded. “You are right. We should be of good cheer. We are here to celebrate and enjoy ourselves, after all.” He turned to Charlotte. “And on that note, Miss Hervey, I would be honored to share at least one more dance with you this evening. Shall we go to the floor?”
He offered her his hand, and she took it, glancing back for a moment at Martha.
Lord Miller stepped towards Martha. “And Miss Martha, perhaps you may afford me the same pleasure?”
Charlotte watched with great happiness as her sister flushed prettily and accepted the marquess’s hand, and the four of them crossed the room to where the next dance was about to begin.
“See them all stare at us!” the Duke whispered to her, just as the music was starting up. “Imagine their faces when we make our announcement. I must confess, I can scarcely wait!”
CHAPTERTEN
“The Duke has told you that he will come today, then?”
Charlotte and Martha were sitting together in Charlotte’s chamber, preparing themselves for the possibility of calls from visitors after luncheon. It was three days since the Thomas’s ball, and Charlotte had not heard directly from the Duke since. Neither had she received any more letters from Lord Harry.
Charlotte eyed herself critically in the mirror. Sally had done her hair for her nicely that morning, pinning most of it up but leaving a few auburn curls framing her face. She did not consider herself a beauty – far from it – but she had to admit that today she looked her very best.
“He told me today would be the day,” Charlotte replied to her sister. “But he may, of course, have changed his mind about the whole thing.”
“I’m sure he would have written to let you know if that were the case.” Martha replied. She was concentrating hard on fixing a broach to her shawl, but she could not seem to get the clasp fastened without fumbling.
Charlotte stepped towards her. “Here, let me help you with that,” she said, leaning forward and pinning the broach in place. “It suits you very well,” she added with a smile.
“It should be yours, by rights, you know,” Martha said, a sad look on her face. “As the eldest, Mother’s jewelry should belong to you now.”
“Not at all,” Charlotte responded. “I cannot wear it all at once, can I? I am sure she would have wished us to share it, whatever the custom is for these things.”
“Thank you,” Martha said, then turned to check her own reflection in the glass. “The Duke has not written to you, then, since the ball?”
“No, and how could he? If we were publicly seen exchanging letters, then it would be assumed that we are engaged, and I am sure he does not want people to think that. I cannot believe that he would allow our ruse to go quite so far.”
“I think that you may end up being surprised by the Duke,” Martha said, with that gentle glint in her eye that Charlotte knew so well. “And how kind it was of him to persuade his friend to dance with me!”
“Martha! I am sure it took no persuasion at all for Lord Miller to ask you to dance. Despite our frightful frocks, you were by far the prettiest young lady in the ballroom that evening.”
“You flatter me, sister, and I will not try to stop you,” Martha said, looking wistfully at her reflection as she carefully pinned a blonde ringlet back into place. “It was very fine indeed, though, to be able to dance for once.”
The sisters were quiet for a few moments while they made the finishing touches to their toilettes, then Charlotte finally spoke aloud the thoughts plaguing her all morning. “What if it all goes wrong, Martha?” She felt a flutter in her heart at the thought of the Duke appearing at their home any minute now, and all the things that might come of it.
“What do you mean?” Martha asked. “What could possibly go wrong?”
Charlotte sighed. It was typical of her sister to see the positive in everything, when her own mind turned more naturally to all the problems that could arise from any given situation. “I mean, what if the Duke does not turn up, or what if our father will not agree for him to pay court to me?”
“I cannot imagine why Father would refuse him,” Martha said calmly. “There is no earthly reason why he would reject the attentions of a duke for his daughter.”
“But what if he cannot believe that he is in earnest? That would not surprise me in the least.”
“But the Duke of Seton is known to be honorable. No one would imagine that he would be capable of any sort of duplicity.”
Charlotte laughed, then, but it was a rather hollow laugh. “But duplicitous is exactly what he is being!” she insisted. “Pretending to be infatuated with me so that Lord Harry finally makes his feelings known. But that could all go wrong too, Martha, don’t you see? Lord Harry may do nothing in response to this pretended attention from the Duke, and then what will I do?”
Martha sat back in her chair at the dressing table and rested her hands on her lap. “You cannot possibly predict how it will all turn out,” she said. “And just maybe it will all go to plan. Lord Harry will see the ills of his ways and come to his senses, break off his engagement to Miss Thomas, and propose to you, and you will live happily ever after.”
A sense of doubt gnawed at Charlotte, despite the happy ending of the story that her sister had just told being the very one she had been hoping for, nay, longing for, for months now. She swallowed. “But there would be such a scandal, Martha, if he were to break off his engagement to her, especially when it was so publicly announced.”
