The Dreadful Debutante by M. C. Beaton Read Free Book Online Page B

with a most recalcitrant tiger. My own had disappeared, and this urchin approached me in Grosvenor Square and offered his services. He was competent enough, but he brawled in the inn yard with one of the other tigers, and I had to cuff his ears.” He turned to Mr. Markham. “If you ask any of the gentlemen who were on that race with me, you will find they will support my story of the fighting tiger. Can you imagine your daughter fighting in an inn yard?”
     
    Mr. Markham gave a reluctant smile. “My apologies. I should not have believed such a tale.”
     
    “But where did you go this afternoon?” demanded Drusilla. “We did not see you in the Park.”
     
    “I drove Miss Mira to Westminster Bridge instead to look at the river, a harmless occupation and quite conventional. Now I would like to take my leave.” Haughty disdain was back on the marquess’s face, alarming Mr. and Mrs. Markham, who had no wish to alienate this lord, who had been so kind as to bring the unruly Mira into fashion.
     
    “Please, my lord,” said Mr. Markham, “you must understand our concern. The story seems fantastic now, but at the time it had the ring of truth because it was just the sort of thing Mira might once have done.”
     
    Mrs. Markham felt that things were getting worse and that her husband was being unusually clumsy in even suggesting that Mira could be a hoyden.
     
    The marquess appeared to relent. “I shall see you all at the opera tonight. I have promised Miss Mira a dance.”
     
    But when he left them and reached the street, his face was grim and set. He drove straight to his mother’s. The dowager marchioness preferred to live in a little town house of her own in South Audley Street, claiming that she felt lost in the large family mansion in Grosvenor Square.
     
    He mounted the stairs and entered his mother’s drawing room. She had been sleeping in an armchair by the fireplace, but came awake with a start when he marched into the room. He tossed his hat into a corner and sat down opposite her.
     
    “Mama, that Gardener female saw fit to call on the Markhams and regale them with the story of Miss Mira being my tiger. It could have originated only from you or Lady Jansen.”
     
    His mother sat up straight, blinking in alarm. “It was not I!” she exclaimed. “Would I, your mother, spread such a story about? Do you think I want you to marry a rowdy little chit like this Mira? And that is what you may have to do if this is believed.”
     
    “I scotched it. But that means that Lady Jansen is the culprit.”
     
    “Oh, but she is such a dear lady and the soul of discretion. I thought she would make you the ideal wife. No, no, one of the servants must have been listening at the door.”
     
    “Which untrustworthy servant would that be?”
     
    “I do not know. John, the footman? But he has been with you some years now, and your butler is above reproach.”
     
    “Then we come back to Lady Jansen. I do not wish you to have anything further to do with that woman, nor do I wish you to introduce me to any more females. Should I choose to marry again, then I am perfectly capable of finding my own bride.”
     
    “To be sure,” said his mother weakly, “I was only trying to help.”
     
    “Don’t!”
     
    The dowager marchioness looked sulky. “Your dear father would never have spoken to me in such a way. But, yes, yes, when Lady Jansen calls, I will not admit her.”
     
    Lady Jansen prepared herself with great care for the opera that night. She felt sure the marquess would be there. The gossip she had spread would already be working. Little Mira Markham would be in such disgrace now that her parents, in order to protect the reputation of the elder, beautiful daughter, would be forced to return Mira to the country. She thought constantly of the marquess. He had looked on her with approval. When his mother had at first slyly suggested she might be a suitable bride for her son, she had been interested, but only