The Yuletide Countess: Harriet's Traditional Regency Romance Read Free Page B

contented
sighs.
    “You must tell
me a bit about yourself, Miss Dalburn, I know nothing but that you are in Lord
Glencairn’s employ as a governess.”
    “Well, with a
last name such as Dalburn, I suppose you can guess that I am of Scottish
origin,” she replied. “But beyond that, the tale will not surprise you much,
since the story of every governess is much the same; how fate led her to
genteel poverty and a position in another family, rather than a marriage to a
gentleman and a home of her own.”
    “So true, dear
Miss Dalburn,” replied Harriet. “As a paid companion, however greatly cherished
by my cousin, Miss Paley, my history will be a change rung on the same theme.
Nonetheless, do share your story.”
    “My father was
Sir Roderick Dalburn, and I have two sisters and a brother. He owned an estate
in Aberdeenshire, and had a comfortable, though not large, fortune most of my
life, and our family was a happy one. When my mother died however, he was
overcome with grief. At first, he closeted himself in his library, or went for
long, solitary walks, and spoke almost not at all. We all feared he might do
himself harm, but knew not how to help him.”
     
    “Oh, how very
painful for all of you this must have been,” Harriet sympathized.
    “Indeed it
was,” Catherine concurred. “And yet, as I look back, were it not that his soul
would have been damned for all time, I could almost wish he had done that which
we feared. For after some months of this behavior, it was as though a mania
seized him, and he became a man none of his children or his neighbors even
recognized.”
    Catherine
paused, and clasped her hands together, as Harriet murmured soothingly. “In any
event, he became a drunk and a gamester, and engaged in every form of
licentious behavior. He left Dalburn Park for the south, and we heard from him
not at all, except for demands on the estate for money. We never saw him alive
again, for after some months we received a letter telling us that he had died
in an accident, having stumbled into the street when drunk, and fallen under
the wheels of a carriage.”
    Harriet
reached over to her and patted her shoulder. “I suppose that he had run through
his entire fortune by then,” she said.
    “Oh yes,” Miss
Dalburn said bitterly. “He had not had time to sell off the estate, but there
were mortgages for my brother to repay. My mother’s small fortune was safe, as
it was left for dowries, but it was not enough to provide large portions for
three girls. My sisters favor her, and are short and bonny with curly hair;
only I look like my father and brother, with their long frames, straight hair
and darker coloring. They were able to marry gentlemen, but I am not pretty
enough for a lack of fortune to be ignored. So, I chose to be a paid governess
in another’s home rather than an unpaid one in the house of one of my siblings.
My little inheritance is in the percents, so when I am old, I will at least
have an income.”
    “Oh my dear,”
sighed Harriet, reaching out for her hand. “‘Tis a tale one hears all too
often. You will not be surprised to learn that mine is not so different,
although I am luckier than you have been in Isobel, Miss Paley that is, being
my relation, and so very generous to me.” She paused and refilled the tea cups,
taking a sip before continuing.
    “The Walcotts
and the Paleys are both large and prosperous families, widely spread across
England. My father was a younger son in a more junior branch, and went into the
church. Because of the family’s excellent connections he rose in the church to
an archdeaconry, as well as being the holder of two very good livings. When I
reached twenty, I had the chance of a Season in London thanks to the generosity
of those same connections, with Lady Walcott bringing me out along with her
daughter, a girl far lovelier than I and with the most pleasing manners. I
didn’t take particularly, and had no fortune, so I returned home unwed.