Sally James Read Free Page B

them.
    They came up to the drawing room and Charlotte was introduced. When the accident had been explained to them, and Prudence apologised for not being ready to walk out with them, Sarah, taking pity on Charlotte's obvious embarrassment, suggested she joined them if her mama permitted.
    Half an hour later the four ladies were sauntering in the Park, the two younger ones together while the elders waved to some acquaintances and stopped to talk to others.
    'Do you know many people?' Charlotte asked rather timidly.
    'Not very many,' Prudence admitted ruefully. 'It's my first Season, too.'
    'I'm not looking forward to all the parties,' Charlotte confessed, 'but Mama says I have to find a husband this year because she will not be able to afford another Season. Papa left most of his money to my cousin, the new Lord Mottesford, you know.'
    'I suppose the estates were entailed,' Prudence said cheerfully.
    'Oh, no. Just Trelawn Manor and a few farms, which was the original estate. Papa had a great deal more, but Mama said he believed that his heir should have most of his fortune. He left me my portion,' she added with a slight sigh, 'and I have some money from my own mother, but I don't think it is very much.'
    'Don't you know?' Prudence asked, startled at Charlotte's odd mixture of ignorance and sophistication.
    Everyone knew the Season was organised mainly for girls to contract suitable marriages, but most girls did not talk so openly about the necessity of finding a husband. Yet most of them knew exactly how large their portions were, and how much inducement it could be for prospective husbands.
    'Mama says it is not enough to attract a fortune hunter, or anyone important,' she replied now. 'Prudence,' she added hesitantly, 'do you believe love always comes after marriage?'
    'Why should it?' Prudence asked bluntly. 'I can imagine some matches where it does, when perhaps people have not known one another well beforehand, but not always. If you thoroughly disliked someone, for instance, I do not see how marriage to them would alter that. I should think it would increase the dislike.'
    'Yes, that is what I thought, despite what Mama says,' Charlotte said with a slight sigh, and Prudence eyed her with some concern. Already she was beginning to feel a protective sympathy for Charlotte, who seemed so gentle and so unprepared for the rigours of a London Season.
    'Well, you are very pretty and should have no difficulty in attracting a man who will love you,' she said bracingly, and then, when Sarah dropped back to walk with Charlotte, joined Mrs Buxton and spent the time with her commenting on all the latest fashions.
    The following day Prudence and her aunt returned from a visit to their dressmaker to find that Lady Mottesford had left her card.
    'I must be neighbourly,' Lady Frome said with a slight sigh, 'although I cannot feel any enthusiasm yet for visiting or entertaining. Not until poor dear Netta has completely recovered.'
    'Doctor Baron said she was much better and could get up tomorrow,' Prudence reminded her. 'There is no lasting harm.'
    'I must invite them to our small dance next week. I will leave cards tomorrow, and perhaps I can visit during the next few days. Will you send the invitation, my dear?'
    Prudence, accustomed to dealing with her aunt's correspondence, duly sent off the invitations and received Lady Mottesford's acceptance. But when Lady Frome called a couple of days later she was informed that Charlotte's mama was indisposed, and unable to leave her room, and her daughter Emma was unfortunately out.
    'Oh, dear, it is most irregular, not having met her,' she sighed the evening before the dance. 'I wonder if she will come?'
    'Charlotte says she is much better and looking forward to it,' Prudence consoled her.
    She was far too busy supervising all the arrangements, Lady Frome complaining she was really too exhausted to do everything herself, to give much thought to Charlotte and her mama, and was curt even with