Patricia Veryan - [Sanguinet Saga 07] - Married Past Redemption Read Free

whatever he has
done, he is very much the gentleman and he never did address your
father in the matter, so I suppose— Had he not been recalled to active
duty for that wretched Waterloo— Still, there are plenty more eligible
bachelors in town, and you are an uncommonly fine-looking girl, you
know."
    Deeply grateful for so rare a display of affection, Lisette
stammered out her thanks. "I cannot tell you, Mama, how—how sorry I am
to have brought you such disappointment. D-does Papa hope—I mean—is it
vital
that I marry well?"
    Mrs. Van Lindsay did not immediately answer. After her fashion
she was fond of both her husband and her daughter and, despite a rather
vexed feeling they both had failed her, had no wish to hurt either. "I
am persuaded you must be aware, child," she said slowly, "that our
finest families are not necessarily those blessed with great wealth."
    "Oh, Mama! Are we
quite
in the basket?"
    Shocked, her mother cried, "There is scarce the need for such
crude expressions! If you mean to suggest that our financial situation
is—er—not good"—she sighed, her shoulders drooped suddenly, and she
muttered in distracted tones—"you would be quite correct. Our situation
is near desperate—I'll not dissemble. Never in my youth did I dream
that a Bayes-Copeland could come to such straits. How much longer we
can continue to keep up this house and pay the servants, I dare not
guess. Norman
must
go to University. And Timothy
should have bought his promotion long ago…"
    Horrified by this display, Lisette was emboldened to clasp her
mother's clawlike hand. "Oh, poor Mama! How dreadful for you. I do not
wish to marry, but if anyone acceptable should offer, I hope I know my
duty to my family."
    "Good girl." Mrs. Van Lindsay squeezed her daughter's fingers
briefly, pulled back her shoulders, and stood. "But we must not allow
ourselves to be maudlin over the matter. We shall come about, I am
assured. As a matter of fact, there is someone—" She closed her lips
over the rest of that rather premature remark and turned to the door.
"No more darning, child." With her hand on the doorknob she added, "If
you feel you must sew, however, the flounce on my magenta silk evening
gown is quite sadly torn, and—" She had opened the door and now
stopped, one hand flung aloft, her head tilted, birdlike, as she
listened intently. "Your papa is at his pacing again! He must have
finished his speech and will be practicing it on Powers. Oh! My poor
carpets!" and with a flash of skirts she was gone.
    Lisette smiled faintly as she envisioned the scene in the
drawing room when her volatile Papa was caught at his depredations once
more. Her smile soon faded, however. "As a matter of fact, there is
someone—" Whatever had Mama been about to say?
    Lisette awoke to the sounds of strife.
She pushed back the faded bedcurtains and was blinded by early morning
sunlight. She thought, A nice day, thank goodness, and stepped into her
furred slippers. Another rageful shriek, followed by shouts of boyish
laughter, rent the air. Judith and Norman. Again! Lisette hurried into
the hall casting a fearful glance towards the front of the house, but
as yet the doors to the front bedchambers remained tightly closed.
    His cherubic face alight with mirth and mischief, Norman shot
past her and began to pound down the stairs. Lisette leaned over the
railing and hissed, "What have you done?" then jumped aside, a shoe
barely missing her as it hurtled after her brother's retreating form.
    Judith, armed with another shoe and a slipper, launched them
one after the other, while screaming animadversions upon her brother's
character. Her zeal and indignation were dimmed only by the arrival on
the scene of Mrs. Van Lindsay, clad in cap and wrapper, whose demands
for an explanation of "this disgraceful behaviour" were echoed by her
life's companion, who hove into view wearing a bright red dressing gown
and with his thinning brown hair all on end—as Judith later giggled