Page 16 of It's All About the Duke
“Only because you knew the money helped us. We know that, Marlena.”
“That’s not true it’s the only reason,” she defended, and then added after a prick of conscience, “Maybe at first it was. Yes, I wanted to help you. That is what friends do. Help each other. But there has always been a little of awill-o’-the-wispidea that I couldn’t let go.”
“You’re good at writing the gossip,” Eugenia said with a smile of praise.
“I suppose. I do study over all the bits of gossip I hear and I’m careful with every word I write. I do feel everyone who reads the column enjoys it, and knows we really mean no lasting harm to anyone.”
“Except to the three rakes,” Eugenia injected with all seriousness.
Marlena pursed her lips for a moment as she remembered the handsome, forthright duke. It was really quite astounding that he admitted he hadn’t been curious enough to ask Mr. Olingworth any questions about her. Maybe he’d be just as uninterested in every other aspect of her life, including Miss Truth.
“After meeting the duke this afternoon,” Marlena said, “I do believe he considers the scandal sheet a bee he can’t swish away.”
“That is good news,” Eugenia said with a satisfied huff.
“Mr. Trout says he still receives many good comments. However, you know I couldn’t write it if Veronica didn’t attend some of the social functions she’s invited to and report back to me everything she hears. And Justine, too, of course, though she’d much rather talk about herself most of the time.”
“Veronica does hear an enormous amount of gossip.” Eugenia laughed softly. “I’m sure it’s because she’s so quiet. Most people probably don’t even know she’s nearby and listening to them. I only wish she were happy with Mr. Portington.”
The relationship between the two of them was something neither Marlena nor Eugenia could help with. “We both thought getting a small measure of revenge on the rakes would have helped Veronica with the feelings of despondency that come over her from time to time.”
Veronica had continued to attend some of the parties, refusing to give up her social life completely as her husband had after he lost his membership at White’s. She hadn’t found a way to remedy his obsession with his artifacts and fossils either. And she lay the blame for her hasty, unhappy marriage to the older Mr. Portington squarely at the feet of the Rakes of St. James.
Veronica had been one of the young ladies making her debut the year the rakes sent their secret admirer letters. Society went into a tailspin when they realized twelve young ladies had taken the letter seriously and had slipped away from their parents and chaperones to meet with their secret admirer. Only later to find out it was a trick created by the rakes for their personal wager and enjoyment.
There were no secret admirers for any of the ladies.
Veronica’s bouts of deep melancholy were the reason Marlena had come up with the idea forMiss Honora Truth’s Scandal Sheet. Shortly after she’d moved in next door to the two sisters, she’d become aware that Veronica was hopeless in her marriage, and blamed her situation on the rakes’ letters. With a meager dowry, she’d felt as if the scandal had left her few choices when it came to marriage.
When Marlena heard that because of their titles, none of the rakes were ever held accountable, not even shunned by Society for a short time, she was upset by the unfairness of it, too. She wondered how the rakes would feel if their sisters were the marks of an ill-advised scheme their first Season?
Maybe they should find out, she’d thought. And just maybe doing so would help Veronica feel better about the decision she’d made to marry Mr. Portington.
Eager to help her new friends, Marlena had suggested they start their own scandal sheet to make sure everyone remembered what the rakes had done to the young ladies making their debuts that year. So the chickens had come home to roost for the three rakes who had so easily fooled innocent young ladies into thinking they had a secret admirer.
And thusMiss Honora Truth’s Scandal Sheetwas born.
“Surely you aren’t thinking you can continue to write about the duke while he is your guardian,” Eugenia said, breaking into Marlena’s thoughts of the past.
“I don’t know yet,” Marlena answered truthfully. “That money is what helps you and your sister to continue to live in your house. You would have to move away otherwise. I must think about it.”
“But what if the duke finds out?”
“And what if he doesn’t,” Marlena said, trying to remain optimistic. “There’s no reason to assume he is even trying to find out who is writing the column or who started the rumor that the Duke of Griffin’s sisters might be in danger of mischief their debut Season. Even if he did, you must not worry. I would never implicate you, Veronica, or Mr. Bramwell. I won’t let anything happen to any of you.”
Eugenia laid a comforting hand over Marlena’s. “And we would never let you take all the blame for helping us.”
“I’d want to. I would insist. Besides, what will he do to me, other than insist I marry so I’m no longer his responsibility? And he’s already planning to do that.”
“You marry?”
“Yes. I’ll be twenty at the end of the year. Marriage is something I must start considering, as will you, as soon as the Season starts. The duke doesn’t seem to be a patient man to me. I don’t think he’ll want the responsibility for my welfare for very long.”
“And Veronica wants me to make a match this year, too. And I would if—” Eugenia stopped, sighed, and then continued. “There’s one good thing about this. We’ll be attending the Season together.”
Marlena smiled. “Yes. We will be there for each other as we have been these past years. Now I will need you to help me keep your sister calm when I tell her who my new guardian is.”
“Oh.” Eugenia breathed the word out for a long time. “I guess she will have to know, too.”
