Bath Scandal by Joan Smith Read Free Book Online

necklace of topaz and diamonds at her throat. “A little,” he repeated, frowning.
    “But to what end, if not to finding a husband?”
    Left with nothing sensible to say, he resorted to the old plan of catching Stuyvesant. “There is a chap at home. . . .”
    “Lord Stuyvesant? Gillie detests the man.”
    “She is young.”
    “Old enough to know what she likes and does not like!” she retorted sharply. How different this meeting was from what she had originally imagined it would be. How had she ever thought Southam was anything like Leonard? He was a prig. He and Deborah would get along just fine.
    “May I see her?” he asked, to forestall further discussion on this tender point.
    “Yes, certainly, she will be eager to see you. I hear the music has stopped.” He followed her to the saloon, where the furniture had been rearranged to make room for six couples.
    Glancing around at the youngsters, he found them no worse than he was accustomed to at Alderton. He soon spotted Gillie, and stared in disbelief. It was hard to believe that this fashionable creature was his Gillie. Her wild hair had been trimmed into fashionable curls. She wore a smile such as he had not seen since his betrothal to Deborah. Soon his eyes fell lower, and he discerned her gown. It was cut lower than he liked for his little sister, though to be fair, no lower than the other young ladies were wearing.
    The party were invited to dinner at Mrs. Carrington’s after the waltzing lesson, from whence they were to go directly to the Assembly Rooms, properly chaperoned by two of the mothers and Mrs. Searle. This arrangement made it necessary for them to wear their evening clothes to the waltzing party.
    Gillie rushed forward and threw her arms around Southam’s neck in a girlish display of welcome. “Rawl, I didn’t know you were coming! Why didn’t you write me? How are Effie and Alice, and Abe and Elmer?”
    “They are all fine, and missing you very much. Deborah sends her regards,” he added. Deborah would have sent her regards if she had not left Elmland in a huff. Her manners, honed amid royalty, had not lost their edge.
    Gillie ignored this statement and went on to inquire after the various bloods in her brother’s stable. Bea spoke to the musicians and arranged a ten-minute intermission, to allow Southam a few words with his sister. She introduced some of the chaperons to him. She wanted to bring the duke forward as well, but he demurred.
    “I’d only step on him or trip. I’ll meet him later,” he said humbly, and moved back against the wall to study Southam in silence. Southam was even more fearsome than he had anticipated. The sort of chap who never dropped anything, who talked loud among men, and always knew what to say, even to ladies.
    At the end of ten minutes, Bea joined Southam and Gillie. “Our dancers are becoming impatient,” she said. “Let us find a seat, Lord Southam. I’ll tell you what Gillie and I have been doing.”
    “I’ll stay with you,” Gillie said eagerly.
    “Now, my dear, you know we have two extra gentlemen, so that you ladies will all be in high demand. It would be unfair of you to deplete the ranks of ladies by even one.”
    Southam waited for Gillie’s objection. “I expect you’re right,” she said with a smile. “Besides, I promised Tannie the next waltz.” She looked around for him.
    He came loping forward at an awkward stride. When Southam spotted him, a frown drew his brows together. He said, “So this is the Tannie you have been writing me about, Gillie. I am afraid I cannot say much for your taste.”
    Beatrice sat, listening and watching. She had purposely withheld any mention of the duke when she wrote to Southam. She did not wish to raise hopes she could not fulfill. Her curiosity was high to discover whether Southam was aware of Tannie’s social position. She judged from that disparaging tone that he was not.
    “He has wonderful nags, Rawl,” Gillie confided. “We go riding