“My reputation is in ribbons. Hetty has shredded it into tiny little pieces.” Araminta rested her head on top of her whitened knuckles and let out another little sob. “Only marriage to Lord Debenham can salvage it, but he is not...in a marrying frame of mind. I don’t know why I came here. I don’t know you. I wish you didn’t exist, in fact. But I am friendless.”
To Lissa’s concern, Araminta began to cry even harder. Whatever would Miss Maria think? Lord, but her half-sister really was in a bad way.
“I didn’t mean what I said before. Marriage to Lord Debenham would not be a good idea,” Lissa murmured, shivering at what she’d overheard the previous night.
“And what would you know about Lord Debenham?” Araminta raised her head to glare at her, prompting Lissa to say defensively, “His man of business tells me Lord Debenham is mixed up in some very havey-cavey business. I’d caution you, Araminta—”
“Lord Debenham’s man of business? You know him?” Araminta cut in, her eyes widening.
“Yes, and he’s told me a great deal about Lord Debenham that—”
“Why, that’s capital! Just the sort of information I need you to find out.” Araminta rubbed her hands together. “So, if you’re friendly with his secretary, he’d tell you all about Lord Debenham and his...weaknesses. Oh, Larissa, you need to tell me what they are. You need to think of any little thing that will aid my cause.”
Lissa felt trapped. “I am...friendly...with Mr. Tunley but a lowly governess does not get many opportunities to leave her place of employment.” Lissa really didn’t think aiding Araminta’s cause was a good idea. However, perhaps there could be mutual benefits to such an arrangement. She was desperate to speak to Ralph who might be able to advise her with regard to Mrs. Crossing.
“Well, you must find a way for I’m relying on you to tell me everything there is to know.” Araminta clapped her hands, her face shining.
“Yes, but how, Araminta? Despite what we talked about before, I still have no respectable clothes and the Lamonts keep me all but under lock and key.”
“Fiddlesticks! Why do you need respectable clothes if you’re only going to an office to see a man who works for Lord Debenham?” Araminta looked truly perplexed. “It’s not as if you need a ball gown for a day visit. You will go now, won’t you?”
“All right, not a ball gown or an evening gown, but I do need an afternoon gown, since our father has not seen fit to provide me with a wardrobe beyond what a lowly governess would wear and if I appear at Mr. Tunley’s office wearing this, I’ll be turned away.” The fact that her father had not provided Lissa and Kitty with a decent wardrobe had always rankled with Lissa. She did not mention that in a fit of resentment towards her nobly born half-sisters, she’d refused to take the several fine gowns with which her father had presented her before her London trip, as she’d known they were Araminta’s castoffs from two seasons ago.
She’d since regretted such stubborn pride. “Give me two of your last season’s gowns, including a ball gown. That can be your return on the information I provide. I can make them over. I’m good with a needle.”
As she walked back up to the house, she saw Maria’s nose still pressed against the window, and when she let herself back into the schoolroom, her eldest charge rushed forward with a look of imperious anger. “You’d better tell me what you were discussing with that young lady or I shall tell Mama,” she threatened.
But Lissa had a plan. She might not be devious and totally self-absorbed like Araminta, but she had a strong streak of self-preserving cunning, so she knew exactly what she had to say.
“Only if you promise that what I tell you is strictly secret between you and me,” she said in a tone to convey great gravitas once she’d settled the girls.
Miss Maria eagerly took the bait, and when Lissa had drawn her to the two seats across from the unlit fire at the far end of the room, she said in a low voice, “The young lady is a viscount’s daughter—I shall not tell you who—but if you had observed her more closely, you’d have seen the resemblance between us, which has been remarked upon in public circles. She has sought me out as she wishes me to help her secure a most desirable match since, as you know, I have connections with Lord Debenham and his man of business. Both these men are friendly with ...er...another gentleman, whose friendship the young lady wishes to build upon.”
She was, naturally, not about to reveal that Lord Debenham was the focus of Araminta’s interest.
Miss Maria’s mouth dropped open. “But how can you help? You’re just a governess.” She said the word with such derision that even Lissa felt her hopes plummet.
Regaining her enthusiasm, she responded robustly, “But a governess with good connections, and a face and figure that already have people wondering if this viscount’s daughter and I are cousins. Her maid will bring around several gowns for me to make over so I can aid her in her enterprise.”
“But you’re employed here.” Miss Maria was looking increasingly stricken.
“Yes, and that’s where I’ll need your help, Miss Maria.” Lissa hoped the excited suggestiveness of her tone would bolster Miss Maria’s enthusiasm, for it seemed she was too unimaginative to wonder at the benefits for all of them. “You want to make a good match, and surely you would be looking higher than a clerk. With your pretty face and figure, you could really rise in the world. If my good offices have been elicited by a viscount’s daughter whose fine gowns will enable me to attend certain society events, surely I can in turn help you to meet a...better class of potential husband.”
With it put so simplistically and so compellingly, Miss Maria was like clay in her hands. “Oh yes,” she whispered, shifting excitedly in her seat. “Mama says I’m pretty enough to snare an earl...if I could only be introduced to one.”
“Well, I shall introduce you to lots of titled gentlemen.” Ironically, Lissa could indeed see the plump and pretty, dark-haired Miss Maria being introduced with some success into such lofty echelons, but the only person she herself was interested in was Ralph.
Ralph was her next quest. A quest that needed Miss Maria’s assistance.
She pondered her alternatives as she rose. A small lie was needed to achieve success. “I know how much you would love to attend Lady Smythe’s ball on Thursday, Miss Maria. I can arrange that, but only if I can get away to visit Lord Debenham’s man of business this afternoon. I’ll need you to look after your sisters and you must promise not to tell anyone that I’ve gone out. Or where I’ve gone—and especially don’t tell your brother. I can’t tell you the reason but I can promise that there will be no invitation to the ball on Thursday if you cannot agree to this.”
Not surprisingly, Miss Maria eagerly gave her assent, and without wasting a moment, Lissa changed into her Sunday best and departed the household to visit Ralph.
He was astonished to see her, and hurried round from behind his desk to take her hands and kiss them, for they were alone in the small office where he worked not far from the Inns of Court.
“My angel! Miss Hazlett, what brings you here?” He grinned then added jokingly, “I’m afraid we
can’t elope yet. I’ve still not made enough to keep us both. But if you can remain patient—”