Lady Susan Plays the Game Read Free

made some flattering remarks on Mr Vernon, which Lady Susan thought out of place from an inferior. Then he also adverted to the sudden death.
    â€˜And yet he was not a high-living gentleman,’ he remarked. ‘It was a sad way to go. Something worried him, I think. The mind can have such effects …’ He trailed off.
    Hearing her father mentioned, Frederica surprised Lady Susan by impetuously standing up and walking over to them. The lawyer’s last words seemed to bring her to life. Once again she tripped slightly over some loose threads in the carpet.
Surely
, thought Lady Susan,
she must have got used to the unkempt floor coverings by now
.
    â€˜Oh yes,’ she blurted out in her shy childish voice, ‘Papa would look at me and sigh and when I asked him to tell me what was amiss he wouldn’t. And sometimes he was visited by a man from Norwich and I always noticed he was even sadder when he left. Oh Mama,’ she cried as she twisted free of the arm Lady Susan had placed on hers, ‘could he have had some secret grief he kept even from me?’
    â€˜Goodness child, I should have known if he had.’
    Lady Susan was conscious that Mr Burnett’s mouth twitched. The rebuke set Frederica weeping again.
    â€˜Do run along, my dear. Mrs Baines will be waiting for you. Lawyer Burnett and I have business to discuss.’
    Burnett nodded to the girl, then followed her with his eyes as she left the room. She lacked the elegance of Lady Susan but had a pleasing, rounded shape. He liked plump young girls.
    â€˜Indeed, madam,’ he said once the door was closed.
    Lady Susan glanced at him. He was actually rubbing his hands, just like a wheedling stage lawyer.
How absurd everyone in the country is
, she thought,
quite as if they studied for the chorus of rustics in a play.
Even Sir Philip Valmain had something vulgar about him despite his money and possessions. Lady Susan couldn’t imagine him in town.
    â€˜Shall we go into Mr Vernon’s study?’ she proposed. ‘More suitable I think for business.’
    Burnett assented. He liked this protracting. He stood back as her ladyship swept out before him and down the stairs.
    Soon she was seated in the study, in the dark old Queen Anne chair her husband had brought from Vernon Castle. She had entered the room only a few times before. She didn’t think highly of men or their abilities and assumed they had to have special rooms for different functions, quite unlike women. A dressing room was enough space for a lady to do everything she needed to do, dress, read, sew, write letters, gossip, plan, scheme and make up accounts if needs be. She glanced at the engravings of Vernon Castle beside the window, then turned her attention to the lawyer.
    Mr Burnett stood before her. He had declined a seat.
    He drew out a sealed paper from an inside folder in his waistcoat, making much of the action. Then he put on the spectacles, which he took from a silver case, placed their arms carefully round his prominent ears, first one then the other, all the time holding the paper tightly in his free hand.
Why doesn’t he put it down?
thought Lady Susan.
The desk is near enough
.
    â€˜I have taken the liberty, your ladyship, to ask two witnesses to be present.’
    Lady Susan gestured assent.
    He went to the door, opened it, and Mr Vernon’s manservant John entered. He stepped forward awkwardly, then stood fiddling with his buttons.
    â€˜Yes, your honour,’ he said in a thick voice.
Grief or catarrh
, wondered Lady Susan.
In this damp country they all seem to be drowning in phlegm
.
    She expected Miss Davidson, the asthmatic housekeeper, but instead Mrs Baines entered. ‘Get on with it, man,’ Lady Susan said irritably. ‘We are all ready and present.’ She lowered her eyes, ‘Frederica needs me at such a time.’
    John turned his head slightly towards her; Mrs Baines sniffed and looked away.
    â€˜Yes of