Izzy explained.
“That’s outrageous!” Clarissa said, shocked. “I can’t believe he would offer you money to abandon me.”
Izzy linked her arm with her sister’s. “He has no idea who he’s dealing with. Don’t worry, love, I won’t abandon you.”
“I know that, silly. But what makes him think he can separate us?”
“Ignorance,” Izzy said. “And arrogance. He’ll learn.”
“Perhaps,” Clarissa said darkly. “As for this nonsense about you not making a come-out with me—”
Izzy wrinkled her nose. “I suspect he might be right about that.”
Clarissa turned her head sharply. “He isnotright. He’s a hypocritical bully and unreasonably prejudiced.”
Izzy shook her head. She’d given it some thought. “He’s definitely arrogant, but I think he thinks he’s protecting you, ’Riss.”
“Protecting me? From whom?”
“From me.”
“Oh, that’s ridiculous.”
“It’s not. It’s one thing for most of the servants at Studley Park to accept me eventually, but society, particularly the ton, is a whole other thing. The ton prides itself on itsexclusivity, and the kind of people they work to exclude is bastards like me.”
Clarissa snorted. “That’s so hypocritical. What about all those people—well-respected members of society at that—who are illegitimate in fact, if not law?”
“I know, but perhaps because they’re only respectable by the skin of their teeth, it makes them more determined to keep out people like me who are illegitimate in factandin law.”
“Well, it’s wrong.”
Izzy shrugged. “It’s life. But truly, I don’t care about balls and routs and things. I’d be quite happy to miss all that fuss.”
Clarissa gave her a skeptical look. “Hah! Don’t expect me to swallow such nonsense—you would love all those parties and things. I’m the one who finds them nerve-racking, and I need you with me, Izzy. Without you I won’t be able to stand it.”
“You could, if only you tried. It might be hard at first but—”
“Hard? You know I have no conversation—I never know what to say to people. I especially never know what to say to men. And I can’t flirt to save my life!”
“It’s just a matter of practice I’m sure, like everything else,” Izzy said hopefully.
“Besides, I need you to help me judge whether a man is sincere, or more interested in my inheritance than in me. My biggest dread is to fall for a man who is pretending to be nice but will turn out to be just like Papa. You are so good at seeing who people really are behind their false smiles.”
There was some truth in that, Izzy acknowledged. When you were baseborn and penniless, you developed a sensitivity to people’s true natures. Over the years she’d become quite good at detecting the attitudes beneath the surface,picking up the little telltale signs that the sentiments people expressed weren’t those they truly felt. People often didn’t consider her worth hiding their baser selves from.
She wondered about Lord Salcott’s true nature. On the surface he seemed hard and even a bit ruthless, but then there was the way he’d treated that little dog. And he seemed very patient with the eccentricities of his aunt.
***
Jeremiah returned, and they collected the dogs and made their way back to Lady Scattergood’s, walking in silence as if, like the dogs, they had expended their excess energy in the park.
The truth was, Izzy reflected, that while Clarissa had courage, she badly lacked confidence. A lifetime of being belittled and derided by her father had done untold damage. And her mother hadn’t helped, either.
Izzy’s own mother had loved her and had encouraged her to face the world with courage. Even though the world had been so harsh toward her.
But Clarissa’s mother seemed to have accepted her husband’s contemptuous attitude toward both her and her daughter. From everything Izzy had heard, Clarissa’s mother made excuses for his behavior, implying that she and Clarissa didn’t deserve any better, that they were plain and not of the aristocracy, and really, it was only the fortune that Great-Grandpapa Iverley had settled on them that had made them acceptable to Sir Bartleby. And they should be grateful for that.
Izzy didn’t think much of Clarissa’s mother. Giving in to bullies just encouraged them. Bullies needed to be stood up to.
