“I understand that. And we are very grateful, believe me. But surely you are not duty-bound to provide for us in so grand a way. I think that we must give this back.”
The earl regarded her for a moment. “My dear cousin, I have a certain reputation to uphold. If my cousins were to go about the city penniless and dressed in rags, I would be subject to public ridicule. I should be labeled miserly, mean—or worse, they would say I could not afford to dress you properly, that I was run off my legs. Surely you do not wish to be the cause of my public humiliation?”#p#分页标题#e#
“No, of course not. But—”
“No, no.” He held up his hands. “There are no ‘buts.’ I know London. I would be pilloried by the gossips.”
“Because you did not give us pin money?” Mary asked with some skepticism.
He shrugged. “A title carries a great deal of responsibility.”
Mary had the distinct impression that she was being manipulated by the earl, but she realized that it was rather ludicrous to continue to argue, especially when he obviously considered the amount of money negligible. “If that is what you wish, of course. Thank you. It is very kind of you.”
“As for earning your keep, I believe you will find it sufficient work learning all you need to know to make your debuts next Season,” he went on. “However, if you wish for something more to do, it occurs to me you might want to look through your mother’s things while you are at Willowmere.”
“Really?” Mary glanced at her sisters, then back at the earl. “There are still some of her things there?”
“I imagine so. Such items are usually packed up and stored in the attic. There are items up there from generations ago. Grandfather was hurt and angry, but I do not think he would have gone so far as to toss out all her possessions.”
“Thank you.” Mary beamed at him. “Thank you so much.”
The earl had done a great deal for them, more than she would have ever guessed he would. But this, she thought, this opportunity to get a glimpse of her mother’s early life, was more valuable to her than any amount of clothes or money.
* * *
Not long after breakfast the following day, Cousin Charlotte returned to Stewkesbury House, trailed by a slight middle-aged woman carrying a small bag.
“Hello, cousins,” she called gaily as the butler showed her into the morning room. “I have brought Miss Ransom, the wonderful seamstress I was telling you about. Lady Vivian is going to meet us here, so I thought I would have Miss Ransom measure you while we wait. Then we can go buy the cloth for her to sew up into your new frocks.”
The sisters trooped up to Mary and Rose’s bedroom, where, to their surprise, Miss Ransom made them all strip down to their chemises. Pulling a tape measure, a pad, and a stub of a pencil from her bag, she proceeded to measure them from top to toe, all the while jotting down notes. It was the better part of an hour before she declared that she had ample information and Charlotte sent her on her way.
“Now we shall wait for Vivian,” Charlotte said as they settled again in the morning room downstairs. “With luck, she won’t be terribly late.”
“Is she usually late?” Lily asked.
Charlotte shrugged. “Vivian is never ‘usually’ anything. But she does follow her own sense of time.”
Fitz strolled into the morning room, and after a few minutes the earl joined them, Pirate trotting at his heels. The dog made a grand tour, greeting everyone with a great deal of wriggling and jumping. Then he returned to the earl and plopped down beside him. As seemed to be his habit when he was not tearing about, he stretched out on his side and fell instantly and soundly asleep.
Charlotte, who had eyed Pirate’s entrance and progress about the room with some astonishment, said at last, “Stewkesbury … don’t tell me you have acquired a dog.”
“Not my dog,” he informed her.
“We found him on the street yesterday,” Camellia offered. “So we brought him home with us.”
“Indeed. But how—”
The earl shook his head. “I suspect it’s better not to know. That way when the constable comes knocking on my door, I shan’t have to lie.”#p#分页标题#e#
Lily’s protest that there had been nothing illegal about their acquisition of Pirate was interrupted by the butler, who entered and said with great dignity, “Lady Vivian Carlyle, my lord.”
“Vivian!” Charlotte exclaimed with delight, rising to her feet.
“Lord help us,” the earl muttered with a good deal less enthusiasm, also rising.