Sally James Read Free Page B

children!'
    'Isabella, it was as good as a promise! And Belinda is no child, she has had three offers already. Just think, three!'
    'If you think such an indiscriminate collection demonstrates Belinda's maturity, it merely shows your own lack of it! She has been sought since her grandmother died and left her a fortune, and not so long ago she would have been betrothed before she was out of the cradle!' Isabella said with a slight laugh. 'Come, my dear, you must be tired. Bid your father goodnight and I'll take you up to your bed.'
    'And in the morning you can take her down to Woodings,' Sir Roderick snapped. 'I'll order the chaise for ten. Be sure you are both packed and ready to leave before then!'
    'That is impossible,' Isabella said calmly. 'I still have not executed all the commissions Fanny gave me. I have to visit several shops tomorrow, and there are more clothes to be delivered which she wishes me to take down when we return. I cannot leave tomorrow and probably not the next day either.'
    Sir Roderick fumed impotently, but was forced to concede the point, and had to be satisfied with shouting after his daughter as she finally permitted Isabella to guide her up the stairs that she need not think to be gallivanting about town again, for she would be confined to her room until the time came to depart.
    It was only then, as he turned to stalk into his study, that he became aware of Lord Fordington's continued presence. He looked puzzled for a moment, and then laughed uncertainly.
    'Women!' he exclaimed in disgust. 'I do beg your pardon, my lord. Wouldn't for the world have inflicted that on you if I could have avoided it. I always say Prinny had more trouble with his women than ever he had with Parliament! But let us have that brandy, I could do with it!'
    'Pray do not regard me,' Lord Fordington said soothingly. 'And if I may take a quick look at your maps, Sir Roderick, I will then leave you in peace.'
     

Chapter Two
     
    It was a considerable time later before Lord Fordington was able to excuse himself from the maudlin reminiscences of his host. Sir Roderick, stimulated by the rare occurrence of a new audience, indulged himself in melancholy wallowing, bewailing the fact that the frail health of his wife left him alone to guide his children.
    'You have a son also, I understand?' Lord Fordington commented.
    'Silly young chub! Full of as many nonsensical notions as Georgiana! Expect it in a female! Thought Oxford would have knocked it out of him but he's as nonsensical as ever. Thank goodness he don't inherit his godmother's legacy for another two years or lord knows what follies he'd commit!'
    Lord Fordington thought of the follies committed by his own brother and nodded ruefully.
    'As if he could marry and set up house at twenty-five, with but a few hundred a year! He'll have to take some office, and yet the damned fool won't hear of letting Prinny use his influence! And now Georgiana is kicking over the traces! But she's too pretty to be left unguarded, my lord!'
    'Pretty? She's beautiful!' Lord Fordington enthused, smiling as he recalled the sparkling eyes and flushed cheeks of the angry young girl defying her father.
    'Just like her mother was at her age,' Sir Roderick confided. 'Pretty as a picture, my Fanny. Bowled me over, first time I set eyes on her, and I married her three months later. Practically no fortune, too,' he recalled, and Lord Fordington thought he detected a note of complaint. 'I'd have been more calculating today,' Sir Roderick chuckled suddenly, 'but I've no regrets, none whatsoever. Good family, naturally. And sweet disposition, has Fanny. The gal has too, my lord, despite what you saw tonight. Besides, she'll have a respectable jointure, unlike Fanny. My mother left it in trust for her.'
    Or else you would have gamed it all away, Lord Fordington surmised, and was reminded of the reason for his presence. Sir Roderick was not easily tempted away from the subject of his family, but by calm