Chapter Text
Lady Stoborough narrowed her eyes. “I do beg your pardon, sir?”
Mr Hendred scowled, and tightened his mouth. “Your nephew, my dear ma’ams, has become engaged to my niece. I must ask you to intervene.”
Miss Jane Damerel turned her eyes on Mr Hendred, her fat cheeks glistening. “Of which nephew do you speak? Surely not Alfred?”
“I speak of Lord Damerel.”
Lady Stoborough frowned, and said with majestic disdain to her sisters, “But we had decided Jasper was to marry Miss Amelia Ubsley, had we not?”
“It’s very like Jasper, however, to become engaged to another girl,” said Miss Eliza Damerel, putting her sharp nose in the air. “What is this girl’s name, pray tell?”
“Miss Venetia Lanyon,” said Mr Hendred.
Lady Stoborough’s grey eyes glinted dangerously. “Miss Lanyon? We do not recall seeing her in society—?”
“No,” said Mr Hendred, a grimace of pain crossing his countenance. “This is why Mrs Hendred is so upset. Her brother John, a quizzing sort of man, insisted on keeping his children sequestered in Yorkshire, and, despite our pleas, refused to let us introduce Venetia to society—”
“How old is she?” said Lady Stoborough.
“Five-and-twenty.” Mr Hendred pulled his thin lips together and frowned angrily. “We had high hopes of making a suitable match for her. She has considerable address and beauty, as well as a comfortable independence—only recently, we brought her to London—”
Eliza spoke. “Not Lady Steeple’s daughter—? Seen walking down Bond Street recently arm-in-arm with Lord Steeple?”
Mr Hendred sighed and bit out the word as if it was giving him indigestion. “Yes.”
“We heard she was the image of her mother?” said Lady Stoborough with interest.
“She is.” Mr Hendred’s nostrils pinched and he put on his most haughty expression. “I demand you intervene to stop this entanglement—you know well of Damerel’s reputation. Venetia is, despite her mother, a total innocent. You may glean this from the fact that she thought Lord Steeple ‘a very lovely fellow’—”
Eliza barked out a laugh. The three sisters looked at each other. Then Lady Stoborough said, “We will not be dictated to, Mr Hendred. It has been our long wish to see our nephew settled.”
“That I can well understand, ma’am—but must it be with my niece—?”
“It is not our place to intervene,” said Lady Stoborough. “You may leave now, Mr Hendred.”
Mr Hendred drew himself up. “Ma’ams. I remain your most obedient, and beg you to think again.” Then he bowed and left.
“H’m,” said Lady Stoborough after Mr Hendred had left their Grosvenor Street house. “Well, well, well. Shall we call Damerel down and ask him what he is about?”
“A man such as Hendred would not hoax us, would he?” Jane scowled.
“He would not dare,” said Eliza.
“No, no,” said Lady Stoborough. “Depend upon it, he and his stiff-necked wife are genuinely horrified by Damerel’s engagement. But the more I hear of it—the more I like it. Let’s call him down.”