Mr. Darcy's Dream Read Free Page A

anguish. He handed Mrs. Vereker into the open carriage, and as it drew away, she blew him a kiss. He watched the carriage out of sight, and then went back up the steps and into the house. The door closed behind him.
    Phoebe sank back into the scruffy seat, and Miniver, alarmed, banged on the roof, calling to the man to take them back directly to Aubrey Square.
    â€œAnd that’ll cost you a second shilling,” he muttered as he backed his horse to turn round. “Counts as two journeys, and why bother, that’s what I want to know?”
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    Phoebe’s mother reached London two days later, and Sir Giles lost no time in telling her what had happened. “She’s taken it badly, won’t say a word to me, treats me as though I were an ogre, won’t go out. It’s to be hoped you can talk some sense into her. She’s pining, I dare say, as young ladies will when they fancy themselves in love. It’s good for a girl to have an unhappy time in love now and again. It satisfies the romantic side of their nature. You’ll be able to deal with her, you’ll know just what to say.”
    Lady Hawkins forbore from telling her husband that he was a fool. She saw that her daughter had been deeply hurt by what had happened, and also, sadly, that the relationship between Phoebe and her father had changed, perhaps for good. Phoebe, in the very short time that she had been apart from her mother, had shed the last of her girlhood and seemed older and more reserved. Certainly the zest had gone out of her life, and it was Lady Hawkins’s opinion that she would not get over Mr. Stanhope as quickly and easily as her father predicted.
    Phoebe would not discuss it with her mother. No, she didn’t care anything for Mr. Stanhope, her father was quite right, she could not be happy married to a rake. No, she didn’t want to go out, thank you, not shopping, not to any party, Mama would make her excuses, she could say she had a slight cold and was staying indoors. And when Lady Hawkins tried to make her change her mind, Phoebe turned on her with whatwas almost savagery, begging to be left alone, and saying that she wasn’t at present fit for any human company.
    What was to be done? In her own mind there was no question of Phoebe launching into the busy social life of the season, not if she were to be in this state. Sir Giles said that as soon as the balls and parties and picnics and routs started, she would forget about this whole affair, and enjoy herself just as she had done the previous year; Lady Hawkins thought otherwise. Apart from anything else, Phoebe was far from in her best looks, and with that and a listlessness that was not natural to her, she was unlikely to have a successful or enjoyable time. The London season was ruthless, and the mothers of her fellow debutantes would be quick to notice that something was amiss, rumours would spread, and Phoebe would become even more unhappy.
    Lady Hawkins, wiser in the ways of the world than her husband, also had a suspicion that the attachment between her daughter and Mr. Stanhope might have been noticed. She held to the old adage that love cannot be hid, and she suspected that Phoebe had made no secret of her liking for Mr. Stanhope. There would be gossip, and to a girl with Phoebe’s pride, it would wound. She was coming to the conclusion that it would be better for Phoebe to leave town. If she were not there, new gossip and new scandal would quickly take the place of any stories about her and Mr. Stanhope.
    Lady Hawkins did not know the Stanhopes as well as her husband did, but she took his word for it that the match was a wholly unsuitable one, and indeed the last thing she wanted was to see Phoebe married to a rake or a philanderer. And since Phoebe apparently felt the same, they would have to let time do its work and heal her daughter’s hurt.
    In the end, with some trepidation, she broached the matter with Phoebe, whose response