‘Miss Talbot, Archie tells me you are staying with your aunt,’ Lady Radcliffe said, endeavouring at least to appear polite. ‘Does she live near the park?’
‘Not so very far,’ Miss Talbot said, taking a small bite of delicious fruit. ‘Wimpole Street.’
‘Lovely,’ Lady Radcliffe said, without an ounce of sincerity. Wimpole Street was certainly not what she would consider a fashionable part of town. She turned next to the younger Miss Talbot.
‘And Amelia tells me you attended the Bath Seminary for Young Ladies together,’ she said.
‘Yes, for two years,’ Miss Cecily answered, in a clear high voice.
‘Only two?’ Lady Radcliffe asked. ‘Was your education moved elsewhere?’
‘No, we ran out of money, so I was brought home,’ Miss Cecily told her, helping herself happily to a mouthful of cake.
Miss Kitty Talbot froze with her glass in mid-air. Lady Radcliffe set down her plate with a decisive clink. Good God, it was worse than she could have thought. How terribly déclassé not only to suffer from such a revealing lack of funds, but to speak about it in public – with strangers, too! They must be removed from the house immediately.
‘I have just remembered,’ she declared disingenuously to the room. ‘We are expected to call at the Montagu’s today.’
‘We are?’ Archie said, a slice of cake on the way to his mouth. ‘I had not thought them back in London, yet.’
‘Yes, terribly forgetful of me.’ Lady Radcliffe stood. ‘But we should be considered most rude if we did not go. My most sincere apologies, Miss Talbot, Miss Cecily, but I am afraid we must draw this visit to a premature close.’
Lady Radcliffe, with the aid of the indispensable Pattson, ushered the Talbot sisters from the house in a flurry of forceful politeness – the upper-class equivalent of throwing them out by the scruff of their necks. They landed upon the doorstep only a few moments later, Archie rushing after them and apologising profusely.
‘It is most unlike Mama to forget such a thing,’ Lady Radcliffe heard him say urgently. ‘You must excuse us – terribly unfortunate thing to have happened – awfully rude of us to invite you for so short a visit.’
‘It is quite all right,’ Miss Talbot said warmly. ‘Will we see you in Hyde Park upon the morrow?’
Not if Lady Radcliffe had anything to say in the matter.
‘Yes, yes of course,’ Archie promised, recklessly.
‘Archie!’ Lady Radcliffe’s voice rang out commandingly onto the street and Archie darted back inside with a final apology to his beloved. At Lady Radcliffe’s sharp gesture, Pattson shut the door firmly behind the Talbot sisters.
‘Of course she got rid of you,’ Aunt Dorothy said, exasperation thick in her voice. ‘It is a miracle you were even let in the door. What on earth can you have expected? Really, Kitty, I cannot for the life of me understand why you are so surprised!’
In the wake of their disastrous visit to Lady Radcliffe’s house, Kitty had felt it necessary to confess to their aunt exactly what they had been doing on their daily walks – having previously kept quiet for fear of her aunt’s disapproval. As predicted, Aunt Dorothy had unabashedly dubbed her a fool.
‘I’m not surprised,’ Kitty said crossly, ‘I’m frustrated – if Cecily hadn’t let slip that awful thing about us not having any money—’
‘Even if she hadn’t, Lady Radcliffe would have sniffed you out a second later,’ Aunt Dorothy said tartly. ‘I know her sort – they spend most of their time worrying about fortune-hunters. Mark my words, my dear, you will not be seeing that boy again.’
Contrary to Aunt Dorothy’s predictions, the next day they did indeed see the de Lacys in Hyde Park, Archie looking a little sheepish but pleased to see Kitty nonetheless. As soon as they were in earshot, Lady Amelia burst out gleefully with ‘Mama thinks you’re after our fortune! Are you?’
‘Amelia!’ Mr de Lacy said, scandalised. ‘What a thing to say!’ He gave Kitty an earnest, apologetic look. ‘Terribly sorry, of course we know you aren’t – it’s just that Mama – she is used to thinking—’ He stammered around the issue for a few more moments before finishing feebly, ‘She’s very protective of us.’
This gave Kitty a pretty accurate idea of the kind of accusations that had been levelled at them, after their departure from the Radcliffe house. Kitty repressed a groan of frustration. She was so tired of all these men being utterly hamstrung by other women. It was time for an offensive strike.