sat silently a moment, her expression growing more and more appalled as the implications of Olivia’s changed circumstances registered. ‘No, of course you can no longer contribute. But perhaps all is not lost. Perhaps I could—’
‘No, Sara, we discussed this. The expense of maintaining a separate establishment wouldn’t be possible without an equal contribution from both of us. And even if you could manage the finances without me, I couldn’t let you do that.’
‘Hmmph,’ said the stout dowager, entering the room. ‘You’d do better if you both abandoned that foolish idea and got yourself husbands, like sensible females! As for you, missy,’ she said, turning her gimlet stare upon Olivia, ‘I heard you recently turned down Lord Everston. Silly girl! Don’t you realise how rich he is?’
‘There should be more to life than having a rich husband whose money you can spend,’ Sara objected.
‘You’re going to give me some drivel about mutual respect and intellectual companionship?’ Lady Patterson said. ‘I guarantee you, a handsome income and a steady supply of fashionable gowns and bonnets is far more lasting.’
‘Lord Everston is pushing fifty and only wanted a wife to watch over his household and seven children,’ Olivia retorted. ‘Preferably a plain, older spinster who would be grateful enough for his proposal that she’d overlook his gambling and his mistresses.’
‘As long as the settlements guarantee the wife a good income, she’d probably be happy to leave intimate matters to his mistresses,’ Lady Patterson said.
‘That may do for some, Aunt,’ Sara said in her soft, placating voice. ‘But not for us.’
‘The more fool, you,’ Lady Patterson retorted.
‘I should probably leave you...and go do some hard thinking,’ Olivia said with a sigh.
Sara pressed her hand again. ‘If there is anything I can do...’
Her brows creasing, Lady Patterson looked from Sara to Olivia. ‘What is going on, if I may ask?’
Much as Olivia hated to confess her private tragedy to anyone but Sara, Lady Patterson had been kind to her, and in truth, a much more careful chaperone than her own mother. Nor was she a tale-teller. And in any event, gossips would get hold of the news soon enough anyway. After all her efforts on Olivia’s behalf, Lady Patterson might be offended if she learned of it second-hand, rather than from Olivia herself.
‘To reduce it to the bare essentials, Lady Patterson, Mr Henson informed me today that I am penniless, my inheritance lost by my trustees in a risky investment. He’d known about the bankruptcy for several weeks, but wanted to give me some time to recover from the sudden loss of my mother before he told me. However, as my cousin, Sir Roger, who now owns the Upper Brook Street house, wants to move in with his new bride immediately, I must decide in short order what to do.’
Lady Patterson stared at Olivia thoughtfully for some minutes, then nodded. ‘Then I will waste no words telling you what a tragedy that is or how sorry I am, both of which are obvious. If you want my opinion, I think you should approach Lord Everston. I’m sure he’d renew his offer. Granted, marrying him isn’t the solution you would have wished, but it will guarantee you a handsome income and a respectable position for the rest of your life. Perhaps even an enviable one, since Everston will almost certainly predecease you.’
‘So after avoiding a marriage of convenience these last five years, I should now marry a man I neither like nor respect, hoping he will stick his spoon in the wall soon enough that I will have time left to do what I want with my life? That’s assuming, since I no longer possess even a modest dowry to bring to the union, he would be willing to settle a “handsome sum” on me.’
‘Your solicitor would insist on it and Everston would agree,’ Lady Patterson replied. ‘He’s well enough off, even with all those offspring to fund and he’s Everston. Since he insists on wedding a gently born lady of good family, he doesn’t have many choices.’
‘That’s true,’ Sara observed. ‘Practically every female he considers worthy of bearing his name has already refused him.’
‘At least you’d have a home and money of your own,’ Lady Patterson argued. ‘With your inheritance gone, you’ll have to abandon that Judd Street scheme anyway. Marrying Everston is better than going begging to Sir Roger, leaving you always dependent on his charity. Or canvassing your distant relatives for a home, sinking you to that worst of lowly situations: an indigent, unmarried female, shuttled from household to household to care for sick children or querulous elders.’
‘Couldn’t she stay with us?’ Sara said, looking to her aunt.
‘Please, don’t even ask, Sara,’ Olivia said before Lady Patterson could answer, tears pricking her eyes. ‘You are a darling to want me, but...but I don’t want to become your dependent, any more than I wish to rely on Sir Roger or some other relative.’
‘Then it must be Lord Everston,’ Lady Patterson said. Her voice softening, she continued, ‘I understand you have your pride, dear, and I respect you for it. But you have few alternatives.’
‘If the choice is between tending snivelling brats or drooling centenarians,’ Olivia said, thinking rapidly, ‘I’ll take the brats. And if tending them is to be my lot, I’d rather make use of my elevated education and become a governess. Oh, I know, I’d only earn a pittance—but the money would be mine. Not available for trustees to lose or a husband to spend on his fancy women. And I wouldn’t have to become intimate with Everston to earn it.’
‘Please, don’t do anything hasty!’ Sara said. ‘Couldn’t you reconcile it with your conscience to stay with us, just until Emma and Lord Theo return from Italy? I’m sure, among the three of us, we could work something out. Become a governess in some out-of-the-way manor in the back of beyond and you may be lost to us for ever.’
‘It’s always possible I could find a position here in London.’
‘In London—where you would inevitably run into the friends of your employers, all of them well aware of your humiliating loss of status?’ Lady Patterson said.
Olivia sighed. ‘Not London, then.’ Having her acquaintances looking down on her with scorn and pity would be intolerable.
Her mind whirling, Olivia felt driven to halt the dizzying, out-of-control spin of her life by making a decision here and now.
It wasn’t as if her options would change upon longer reflection.
A lady’s only other alternative was to become some genteel female’s companion. Not being much given to taking orders, it would probably be preferable to earn her pittance as a governess, where she would be giving them.
So, it appeared, a governess she would be.
She’d always longed to be independent, in charge of her own destiny, not forced to depend upon a father or brother or husband. Well, this ironic twist of fate had certainly granted that wish, she thought blackly. Just not at all in the way she’d envisaged.
‘A position as a governess in an out-of-the-way manor might be preferable,’ she said, pulling herself from those reflections to confirm her decision. ‘Lady Patterson, do you know of an agency to which I could apply for such a position? And would you be kind enough to write me a character?’
Lady Patterson sat quietly for a moment. ‘I suppose there isn’t time for me to enquire among my friends and relations to discover someone in need of a governess.’
‘Lady Overton could show up on the doorstep of Upper Brook Street tomorrow.’
‘Surely you could stay with us long enough for my aunt to find you a position with someone she knows,’ Sara pleaded. ‘Somewhere we’d be assured you would be treated with kindness and respect.’
Though touched by her friend’s concern, Olivia said, ‘Sara, I know you mean well. But can you even imagine