a just and well-intentioned woman. And she had her moments of kindness. This Lady Blakemere sounded perfectly dreadful. Kitty was glad she would never be called upon to meet her.
It occurred to her that the curricle was travelling so rapidly, despite the press of carriages and people, that in a short space of time she would be leaving the metropolis forever. And with nothing to show for her visit but a headful of unkind memories. It was most unfair! She recalled Claud’s promise to compensate her. Did he mean to give her money?
A riffle of excitement bubbled up, followed immediately by a depressing thought. What was the use of his giving her money when she had no means of supplying herself with the things she craved? There was no shop in Paddington where she could purchase the sort of gown she wanted. Nor would the local dressmaker be persuaded to make it up for her—even could she furnish herself with the material.
The daring idea surfaced, and Kitty turned quickly to Claud. ‘There is one thing you might do for me.’
His head snapped round, frowning suspicion in his eyes. ‘Oh, is there? As long as it has nothing to do with matrimony—’
‘Of course it has not.’ Kitty drew a deep breath and plunged in. ‘Only will you buy me silk stockings and a spangled gown?’
The blue eyes popped. ‘Silk stockings and a spangled gown! Have you run mad?’ He noted a burgeoning sparkle in the velvety eyes. ‘Gad, you mean it! But you are going for a governess. What in Hades are you going to do with a spangled gown?’
‘It is just that I have longed to possess such a gown,’ said Kitty, breathless with hope. ‘Only I had never the means to pay for it.’
‘But when are you going to wear it? Besides that it ain’t the thing for a governess.’
‘I don’t care if I never wear it!’ Kitty declared. ‘If only I might have it, I could be happy for the future.’ She brightened. ‘I have just had a famous notion! It will give me all the excuse I need for Mrs Duxford. I will tell her that I came to London expressly to purchase it.’
Claud thought this over and found a flaw. ‘But you said you couldn’t afford it. Don’t she know that?’
Kitty summarily dismissed this. ‘I shall say that I have been saving my money for the purpose. Oh, and I can say that I have hopes of being invited by one of my two friends, for they are both married—at least, one is already, and the other will be shortly. It is not unlikely that either Prue or Nell will ask me to stay.’
‘Not if you’ve gone as a governess,’ objected Claud.
‘I wish you will not keep making difficulties!’ declared Kitty, annoyed. ‘I thought you wanted to make me reparation.’
‘So I do, but we’re going in the wrong direction.’
‘You may turn around then!’
‘Yes, but it’s already past noon and I’ve got to drive you all the way to Paddington. Besides, I’ve an engagement this evening.’
Kitty’s bosom swelled. ‘How abominably selfish! It is your fault I am in this mess, and you even suggested I may be your cousin after all, and it is not as if I am asking for the moon.’
‘No, but—’
Kitty swept over him. ‘If you refuse me, it will be the horridest thing imaginable, for it is only a spangled gown and a pair of silk stockings. Unless you have not enough money either to pay for such things?’
Claud slowed the carriage. ‘I can stand the nonsense, never fear. It ain’t that at all. Only I don’t see how I’m to do it without the confounded mantua-maker thinking you’re my che`re amie. A man don’t otherwise take a female to buy gowns unless he’s betrothed to her, or they are at least related.’
Kitty digested this in silence for a moment. The curricle had drawn in to the side of the road, which at least indicated willingness. If she let this opportunity slip, there might never be another. Desperately she searched her mind, and found a solution. She turned eagerly to Claud.
‘I know. You may pretend that I am Kate.’
About to reject this idea on the score that his cousin would scorn to wear the type of gown Kitty had specified, Claud caught the deeply hopeful look in her face and the words died on his tongue. If he thought poorly of her choice, why should he dash the girl’s only hope of pleasure? She had little enough to look forward to. It would make him late for the last ball of the season, but that couldn’t be helped.
‘You win, Miss Merrick! Let us repair to a mantua-maker.’
Concealed from the eyes of the curious in a private parlour at the White Bear inn, Kitty sat in a happy daze as she partook of the luncheon provided for her by her abductor. It was a trifle stuffy in the little first-floor room, and Claud had been obliged to force the casement window open to let in air. Kitty felt the benefit, for the table at which they were seated was fortunately set parallel to the embrasure, and she was able also to enjoy the comings and goings in the busy thoroughfare of Piccadilly below.
Although she much enjoyed the selection of delicacies placed before her, together with sturdier pasties of which Kitty partook only sparingly, this luxurious entertainment was not responsible for her contentment. Rather it was the thought of the made-up gown that was even now being adjusted to fit her full figure.
The establishment to which Claud had taken her had been disappointingly situated not in Bond Street itself, but in a little lane off the main thoroughfare. Its discreet entrance had been indistinguishable from the other doors except for a small plaque upon the wall. A narrow staircase had led them into a little salon, presided over by a female of French origin, who evidently knew the Viscount of old. She had treated Claud to roguish smiles and, upon hearing that she was to gown his cousin, a suspiciously knowing look that had made Kitty uncomfortable. She could only hope the creature’s inevitable reflections had been quieted by Lord Devenick’s glib explanation.
‘My cousin has taken a fancy to a style of gown that her mama refuses to let her wear, Madame, and so I have agreed that she may purchase it so that she may please herself after we are married.’
If Madame wondered why the lady did not make the purchase after the wedding, she said nothing of it, but immediately asked after the style proposed.
‘I wish for a spangled gown,’ had said Kitty breathlessly, fixing hopeful eyes upon the woman. ‘Have you got one?’
‘Bien sûr. We ’ave zis gown, and many uzzers.’
White muslins, sprigged, spotted and spangled, had danced before Kitty’s eyes as Madame’s assistant produced them for her inspection. In her imaginings from the drawing she had once seen, the treasured vision had been scattered with gold. But when she was shown a delicate white gauze, sprinkled over with silver threads and tiny sparkles of glass beading that caught the light, Kitty fell instantly in love.
‘Oh, this one, this one, if you please!’ she had cried, turning ecstatically to the man who had suddenly become her benefactor. ‘Can it be this one, Claud? Pray say I may have it!’
‘Have it, by all means,’ had come the welcome response. ‘Only hadn’t you best try it on first? No sense in buying the thing if it don’t fit you.’
Hardly able to believe in the good fortune that had come out of this disastrous journey, Kitty had allowed herself to be bundled out of the horrid pink gown and into soft folds of muslin that floated about her. To her intense disappointment, the gown had been a trifle tight across the bosom, and a little long at the hem. But her mirror image was so delectable that Kitty would willingly have put up with these inconveniences, had it not been for Madame’s suggestion that an adjustment could easily be made if mademoiselle were prepared to return later for the gown.
‘But I cannot! I must go home immediately, and I doubt I shall ever come here again.’
Kitty’s distress had been acute, but to her relief, the matter had been resolved by the resourcefulness of Lord Devenick, who