Miss Fellingham's Rebellion Read Free Page B

rested her daughter’s blond curls on her bosom. “I don’t know, dear child, I simply do not know.”
    Catherine turned away from the scene and caught Freddy’s eye. They both started laughing at the affecting nonsense.
    “I don’t see what is so funny,” Evelyn said. “Your mother is going to Newgate and I”—here her voice broke—“I will never be able to go to a ball ever again. Surely this is the darkest hour ever.”
    “Don’t throw your dancing slippers away yet, brat,” Freddy said, trying to control his laughter. “I’m sure everything will be all right.”
    Catherine’s amusement soon abated as well, although her eyes continued to sparkle. “Right, let’s all sit down and talk about this reasonably.”
    Evelyn led her mother to the settee and gently sat down next to her, keeping her hands tightly clasped in hers.
    “All right then, Mama, tell me how this was done,” Catherine ordered.
    “How what was done, dear?”
    Closing her eyes for a moment, Catherine prayed for patience. “How did you and Lady Courtland succeed in meddling with the lists?”
    “Oh. Lady Courtland is very clever, and she came up with the scheme. It was quite simple, my dear. Surely you know how all those dear boys—mostly second sons, of course—want to be majors in the foot guards. But there are so few openings, especially now in peacetime, and some of those dear boys have to wait for years on those horrid lists. Arabella’s scheme allowed them to bypass the queue, in exchange for a small fee.” Having confessed all, she leaned her head back against the cushions and sighed.
    Her eldest daughter looked on in wonder. “You took bribes.”
    Lady Fellingham lifted her head. “Bribes?” She considered it for several seconds before saying, “No, I don’t think they were bribes. Bribe is such a harsh word, and Arabella and I were only providing a public-spirited service.”
    Catherine didn’t have the wherewithal to debate the issue. “And?”
    Blue eyes stared out blankly. “And what, dear?”
    “What happened after you received your compensation for your public-spirited service?”
    “I brought the money home and paid the servants’ wages.”
    Catherine told herself to remain patient. “No, I mean what happened with the names?”
    Lady Fellingham giggled nervously. “Oh, that. Arabella got hold of her husband’s lists of pending commissions and added a few names before he submitted them to the Duke of York for his signature.”
    “Devil it,” exclaimed Freddy, who had been listening intently, “you mean Lord Courtland knew nothing of this? What sort of bufflehead is he?”
    “Freddy, you will not talk like that in my drawing room,” his mother said. “Save that vulgar cant for your club.”
    To Catherine’s amusement, Freddy both blushed and scowled. “Really, Mama, my brother makes a good point. How could Lord Courtland not know of this scheme?”
    “I would never be so unbred as to presume what Lord Courtland does or doesn’t know,” she said without a hint of irony. “He didn’t interfere, and I respected him for that.”
    “Very well,” Catherine said. She knew that answer was the best she would get. “Who else knows about this?”
    “Only the men who paid our mother for their commissions,” Freddy answered.
    “How many are we talking about?”
    “Oh, dear, how do I know?” quivered her mother. “It all happened so quickly, and dear Arabella kept track of the minor details.”
    “How many, Mama?”
    Lady Fellingham removed her fingers from Evelyn’s grasp and ran a pale hand over her brow. “Oh, maybe ten, fifteen on the outside. We’ve only just hit upon the scheme.” Then she added with a spark of rebellion in her. “And, really, I don’t see why it shouldn’t have continued to work. It is a very good idea.”
    Several rejoinders flew through Catherine’s mind, but it was beginning to dawn on her that nothing she could say would convince her mother of how greatly she’d