Regency Season
9 total works
'I am Miss Lamberton. Miss Constance Lamberton. I hoped that you would employ me as your companion.'
So it was that quiet, reserved Constance came to the household of the haughty but beautiful Lady Amelia. She would serve as the lady's chaperone throughout the Season's many festivities, finding herself an unwitting accomplice in Lady Amelia's scheme to trap the very eligible Lord Philip into marriage.
But it was not Lady Amelia who won Lord Philip's heart. It was the pale, golden-eyed Constance herself. And very soon, Constance became Lady Philip Cautry. It was not a marriage made in heaven, but surely in time.
And then Constance disappeared. Lord Philip didn't know how or why. Nor did he care. All that mattered to him was the safe return of his beloved Constance.
I am going to die, she thought. It is sunny, and the whole of London is happy and joyous because I am going to die.'
The great Marquess herself had come to enjoy the show.
'Speech! Speech!' roared the crowd.
Polly raised her hands and the crowd fell silent.
'My lords, ladies, and gentlemen,' said Polly from the foot of the gallows. 'Why is it that such as I who am poor and have nothing should hang for a petty theft when such as she,' - here Polly paused and pointed straight toward the woman who'd captured her - 'Mrs. Blanchard, that abbess of Covent Garden, can commit murder on the souls of innocent country girls over and over again, and yet go free!'
With those words Polly said her farewells and at last, 'I bid you good day, my friends. We shall meet again. For such as you who enjoy a spectacle such as this will surely roast in hell!
From the top of his flawlessly groomed head to the waxed tips of his fashionable shoes, Lord Andrew Childe was every inch the perfect gentleman. But Andrew's arrogant composure was almost always shattered by the impertinent Penelope Mortimer, an achingly lovely country beauty who had a clear knack for ruffling his lordship's feathers.
Her nose for trouble seem to land Lord Andrew into the most awkward situations and love itself quickly became the most delicate of them all!
The tenth earl of Berham did not know what to do. An attractive 32-year-old bachelor, he had been appointed guardian of the young Freddie Armstrong, the eighteen-year-old grandson of his late father's dear friend. That was bad enough. Then he discovered that this boy was really a girl! It was against all convention and against his personal code to keep a young lady concealed in his own home. He had to find a solution.
The earl's frequent visitor, Lady Clarissa Rennenord, heartily agreed - but for less noble reasons. Lady Clarissa hoped to snare the earl in marriage and she did not want any competition. She recommended that Freddie be sent to a seminary. No one but Lady Rennenord knew what a horrid place it was. No one, including Lady Rennenord, had expected Freddie to escape? Now Freddie was back, and the earl found her presence unsettling in more ways than one.
'I DO NOT THINK I WANT TO BE MARRIED AT ALL. I WANT TO BE RICH. VERY RICH?.'
Miss Henrietta Bascombe's closest of friends chums gasped to hear of such a well-bred lady talk of going into trade, but Henrietta was determined to turn her pittance of an inheritance into a fortune by opening a London sweet shop that would rival the famous Gunther's! Undaunted by a challenge, Henrietta proceeded to hang out the traditional confectioners sign of a golden pineapple and soon earned the custom of the entire haute ton. That is, until the proud Earl of Carrisdowne took exception to his younger brother and his best friend ogling the girls behind Bascombe's counter. It was clear to the earl that Miss Bascombe would have to be put out of business and soon. But the earl looked forward to tangling with the fiery-eyed proprietor much more than he was willing to admit.
It was Christmas and the Davenport sisters found themselves alone, without even a dour-faced maid to supervise them. Instead they were expected to obey strict puritanical devotions. But this year the elder, flame-haired Gillian boldly decided that it was high time the sisters let their hair down a little bit. So with the help of a kindly relation, the two daring misses exchanged their usual somber (and considered proper) attire for more modish gowns and hairstyles that would surely have given their parents apoplexy!
It was to be a memorable year and a Christmas rich in plum pudding, eggnog, carols, and a most breathtaking tree. The Davenport sisters reveled in the rituals of Christmas as well as in the selection of handsome gentlemen who had come to help celebrate the festivities.
So it was that it was this year that Gillian was caught under the mistletoe by Lord Ranger Marden. She then discovered things her mother had never dreamed of telling her.
