The Abandoned Bride Read Free Page B

lonely in the great house her seafaring husband had taken her to after their wedding. She had seized upon Julia’s company like a drowning man onto a drifting timber.
    For months she had delighted in prattling to her new companion, detailing her humdrum past as though it were the stuff of epic saga. In fact, Julia came to hear the tale of her employer’s greatest triumph so often that at times she felt almost as if she herself had been at the great ball where the dashing Captain Bryce had first been smitten by his lady.
    But there was nothing to dislike in her new employer, and a great deal to be thankful for. As the lady’s husband was a gallant captain in His Majesty’s Royal Navy and as the family was well-to-do, the Bryces lived graciously. But also, since they were only well-connected and not of the nobility, they did not attempt to live in great state. Julia remembered only too clearly how uncomfortable she had been during her very brief stay as c o mpanion to Lady Wycliffe’s daughter in London. That great lady’s airs and graces had been, however correct, eventually quite tiresome. Julia had been almost glad when Lord Wycliffe had made certain advances toward her, for then she had an excuse to leave that noble household and could do so without a backward look.
    Best of all, being so wrapped in herself, Mrs. B r yce never listened too closely to anyone else’s conversation. Pleased with having been answered promptly each time she spoke, she seldom remembered that her companion never gave specific answers to her endless questions. She knew that Miss Hastings had been disappointed in love, and found that rather thrilling and romantic, where a more thoughtful and thorough gossip might not be content with only that crumb of information. But though she was thoughtless, she was never unkind. Julia had a pleasant room, she dined with her mistress, and she had a great deal of personal freedom, since her employer rose late and napped immediately after every meal.
    It was because of that unoccupied time that Julia had come to know Master Toby so well. As soon as he had overcome the drunken seaman’s walk of a toddler, he had begun to run wild. Julia reasoned that he must take after his absent father whom she had never met, for as he grew older he exhibited a strong free spirit that quite exhausted his old nurse and startled his mama. Mrs. Bryce had evidently always pictured herself the mother of an infant who would sit placidly at her side, complementing her gown with all the decorative advantage of a lap dog, and was at a loss for what to do with the restless, pugnacious little man-child she had begotten.
    So just as she had given her babe immediately to a wet - nurse’s breast and from thence quickly handed him to Nurse, she was now delighted to assign him to her youthful companion, who would hopefully tire him out so completely that he might rest easy upon her lap for the hour a day allotted him. She did not begrudge him her companion’s time, for in truth, after four months she could find little new to relate to Miss Hastings, and was glad to find some useful occupation for the young woman she was paying so handsomely.
    Her new duties suited Julia, for she found Master Toby far more lively and intelligent a companion than his mama. And his merry ways eased some of her homesickness for her own younger brothers and sisters. It might have gone on thus, a peaceful existence for Julia: long days interspersed with the laughter of a child, long evenings sitting listening to her employer reminisce, with occasional treats such as conversing with the villagers and assisting when the neighbor ladies came to tea. But young Master Toby had inherited his father’s eye for a comely young woman, as well as his venturesome spirit.
    The die had been cast the day Master Toby had struggled out of his mama’s arms to seek Julia’s embrace. The afternoon he had fallen in the morning room and pushed his mama away to run to her