Page 22 of More or Less a Countess
“Who? What carriage ride?” Hyacinth looked puzzled. “Do you mean the carriage ride from London to Bath? She doesn’t fancy it, no, but it can’t be helped. Grandmother is insisting they leave this afternoon rather than tomorrow morning. I gather Lady Atherton’s attack is quite a severe one, and Grandmother doesn’t like to wait.”
Violet gave her sister a blank look. “Lady Atherton?”
“Yes. She’s had another bilious attack, this one worse than the last. Grandmother is accompanying her to Bath to take the waters. I thought Eddesley told you.”
“No. I haven’t seen him.” He hadn’t been stationed in his usual spot at the doors, despite it being calling hours, and now that Violet’s alarm had begun to subside, she began to notice other irregularities.
Maidservants were dashing up the stairs, and two footmen were on their way down, dragging a huge trunk between them. Eddesley, who was as stoic as a statue until his routine was disturbed, was running to and fro from the second floor landing to the entryway, his brow damp with sweat, chasing servants, shouting orders, and adding to the general mayhem.
Relief flooded through Violet, making her knees weak. No one had even noticed Lord Dare. The house was in too much of an uproar. “How awful.” Not for her, of course, but certainly for poor Lady Atherton. “I’ll go to Grandmother at once.”
Violet bounded up the stairs with the energy of a criminal who’d slipped the noose, her heart still pounding at her near miss.
“Oh, Violet, there you are,” Lady Chase said once she’d answered Violet’s knock. “Well, well, it’s dreadful, isn’t it? Poor, dear Lady Atherton. I’m afraid her own family is little comfort to her, so it’s left to her friends, but then I’m not the sort to let a friend suffer, no matter how much her illness might be an inconvenience tome.”
“No, of course not, Grandmother.” Violet made a few soothing noises, though privately she wondered whether this new attack of Lady Atherton’s was more theatrical than medical. The lady did have a tendency to imagine even the mildest stomach pain was the first sign of cholera, so this wasn’t the only time Lady Chase had been obliged to make a sudden trip to Bath.
“How long do you suppose you’ll be gone?” The last time the two old ladies had rushed off to Bath they’d been back within five days when it turned out Lady Atherton wasn’t expiring from consumption after all, but only had a mild cough.
“At least two weeks, I imagine—likely more. It depends entirely on how quickly poor, dear Lady Atherton recovers from her attack.Ifshe recovers,” Lady Chase added darkly.
Violet thought the length of their stay depended far more on whether they found the company in Bath diverting than it did on Lady Atherton’s health, but if her grandmother really should be gone for two weeks…
Well, she was a dreadful, wicked, and ungrateful young lady, because she couldn’t quite prevent a surge of delight at the thought of all that freedom.
Two weeks! Why, she could finish all her sketches in that time. At last, after nearly two years of work, fate was smiling on her literary endeavors! It was nothing less than a triumph for bluestockings and adventuresses!
“Now, Violet, I don’t like to think of you and Hyacinth rambling about alone in the house while I’m away, so you’ll spend the time with Iris and Lord Huntington in Grosvenor Square, but I expect you to keep watch over Hyacinth even so. You must keep her amused so she doesn’t succumb to low spirits, but don’t exhaust her, either.”
“Yes, I promise I will, Grandmother.”
Lady Chase patted her cheek. “Well, Violet, you’re a good girl, for all your foolish notions, and a most devoted sister. I know you’ll keep your promise and take good care of her. Now, do go away, won’t you? You’re distracting me.”
Violet pressed a kiss to Lady Chase’s cheek. “Yes, Grandmother.”
She made her way downstairs, where she found Hyacinth alone in the parlor. “Two weeks, she says.” Violet threw herself into the chair next to her sister’s, nodding when Hyacinth offered to pour her some tea. “Do you think she’ll really be gone so long this time?”
“It’s difficult to say. I suppose it depends on how bad Lady Atherton is.” Hyacinth frowned as she passed Violet a cup. “Poor lady. How awful it must be to be ill as often as she is.”
Violet raised an eyebrow at this. “Or to fancy herself ill as often as she does. Lady Atherton is the healthiest invalid in Bath.”
“You’ll feel awful for saying such a thing should she prove to be truly ill this time,” Hyacinth scolded, even as a reluctant smile curved her lips.
Violet snorted. “It hasn’t happened yet.”
They sat for another half hour, sipping their tea in companionable silence, until Lady Chase at last made her way down the stairs. They crowded into the entryway to bid her goodbye.
“Well, girls. I’ll miss you, but it can’t be helped,” Lady Chase fretted as she folded first Violet and then Hyacinth into her arms. “I’ve never been one to shirk the duties of friendship, as you know. See you behave yourselves. I daresay you can’t get into much trouble in London in November, what with everyone out of town, but nevertheless, Iris and Lord Huntington are expecting you. And mind what I told you, Violet.”
Then with a sweep of her heavy brown traveling cloak, she was gone.
Violet and Hyacinth stood for a moment in the sudden silence, then Hyacinth braced a hand on the newel post with a sigh. “Do you mind if we wait until tomorrow to go to Iris’s, Violet? I don’t like to go out in this dreadful weather, and all the fuss this afternoon has made me weary.”
Violet studied her sister’s pale face and forced a smile. “I don’t see what harm it will do if we wait. Go rest, dear. I’ll have a tray sent up in a few hours.”
“Yes, all right.”
Violet watched as Hyacinth made her way up the stairs, but as soon as her sister was out of sight she opened the front door and darted outside.
