The Duchess

'Rogue!' she repeated with a chuckle. 'Then why did you ask if you already knew?'

'Because, madame, you know more than I do, and usually before I do,' he explained. 'Besides, 1 value your approval.' He bowed to her. 'You ladies will excuse me,' he said, and hurried off.

'Clever of Septimius to engage him,' Lady Bellingham said. 'He is utterly invaluable, but I do not believe for one moment that I know anything before he does. What a flattering devil he is.' She chuckled again. Then she grew serious. 'I understand there will be an unusual number of young eligible gentlemen this season, and fewer ladies than is usual. Both of you should have husbands before it is all over.' Then she thought a moment before she spoke again. 'Olympia! My ball is in ten days' time. It is always considered the official opening of the season. Do not accept any invitations before then for your gels. Those silly chits, just out of their schoolrooms, are even now parading themselves about the park, giggling behind their hands at the gentlemen. There isn't one of them that I've yet seen who can hold a candle to either of your two gels. Of course everyone knows they have come to town, but keep them out of sight until the night of the ball. It will make their first appearance and entry into society spectacular!' She chortled wickedly. 'All the men will want to meet them that evening. The doting mamas will be absolutely furious.'

'What a wonderful idea, Clarice!' Lady Abbott agreed. 'And as you have assured me that there are plenty of gentlemen to go around this year, I need not feel a bit guilty about using such a tactic.'

'Zounds, Aunt, is that not devilishly wicked of your¹' Allegra teased.

'My child, do not use language like that,' Lady Abbott replied. 'It is so common. There is nothing wrong with you and Sirena making a unique entrance into this world you are going to inhabit for the rest of your lives. It is really the best way to get you noticed immediately.'

'Oyez! Oyez! Two prime young virgins with proper dowries, ready to wed. What am I bid, gentlemen?' Allegra mocked.

'Allegra!' her aunt cried, distressed, but Sirena giggled.

Lady Bellingham, however, burst out laughing. 'She's absolutely right, Olympia.' Then she turned to Allegra. 'Yet, m'dear, how else are you to meet proper gentlemen?'

''I am not certain I want a proper gentleman, madame,' Allegra responded, half seriously, half mischievously.

'The naughty ones are more fun, I will agree, and I speak from experience,' Lady Bellingham said with a twinkle in her eye, 'but it is the proper ones we marry. For our sakes. And for our families'. Sometimes you will find a unique gentleman with both naughty and proper qualities. However, they are very rare, m'dear. Do not fear, Allegra Morgan. 1 will be your guide. I will advise you myself, for I know all about the ten thousand, or the ton as some are now calling us. Trust me, and I will bring you safely through your first season. Hopefully your only season.'

'I fear I shall need a pilot to traverse the choppy waters of society, madame. I cannot simper, or be coy. I think those attributes ridiculous. A gentleman with no more on his mind than cards and racing is as much of a featherbrain as a girl who thinks about nothing but gowns and balls,' Allegra said. 'I shall be a difficult match, I fear.'

Lady Bellingham reached out, and patted the girl's hand with her own plump white one, which sported three beautiful rings. 'There, there, my child,' she said. 'There is someone for everyone. Of that I am certain.' Then she heaved her ample bulk from the bench, saying as she did so, 'I have surely overstayed my welcome. Olympia, walk with me. Good-bye, my dear gels. I shall look forward to seeing you at my ball.'

When the two older women left the garden Sirena spoke. 'Mama says she is a power to be reckoned with in London society.'

'She will be a good friend to us, and I suspect that we are fortunate in that,' Allegra noted shrewdly.

'Do you think that she is right?' Sirena asked her cousin.

'About what in particular:¹' Allegra replied.

'That there is someone for everyone,' Sirena answered. 'What if we go through the entire season, and do not find husbands?'

'We will come back next year,' Allegra said practically. 'Not everyone, I am told, bags a husband their first time out.'

'But we will be eighteen in December,' Sirena said.

'And we are seventeen now,' Allegra responded laughing. 'Oh, sweet coz, I am not sure I am ready to be married yet. We are just out of the schoolroom. I should like to see something of life and the world before I am settled down into a dull married existence.'

'But I want to be married!' Sirena said plaintively. 'Mama won't move into the dower house until I am safely settled with a husband. I hate living at the hall now. Charlotte so obviously dislikes us. She begrudges Mama and me every mouthful we eat or drink.'

'Marrying to escape your sister-in-law is a rather bad idea,' Allegra said. 'If we do not find husbands this season, sweet coz, then you shall spend the summer with me, and in the autumn I shall have Papa take us abroad for the winter months. We will return next season refreshed and most sophisticated from our travels. It will make us far more interesting than the schoolroom chits joining us next year. We shall be utterly fascinating to the gentlemen.'

'Oh, Allegra, you are so sensible! I wish I could be more like you, but I really do want to find the man of my dreams, and have my own home.'

'If that is what you wish,' Allegra responded, 'then it is what I want for you, too, Sirena. You will not have a difficult time in finding suitors. Your background is impeccable. Mine, however, is not. Papa's title is not very old, and my mother's behavior will surely lead the gossips to believe I am like her.'

'But you are so rich!' Sirena said frankly. 'Mama says all else will be forgotten regarding your background because of your papa's wealth.'

'Oh, yes, my status as Papa's heiress. But I don't want a man marrying me just because I am my father's daughter,' Allegra said.

'You cannot escape what is fact,' Sirena replied.

'I suppose I cannot,' was the thoughtful answer, 'but I can certainly judge a man's sincerity, I hope, which may keep me from an unhappy misalliance. My mother married Papa for his wealth when she did not really love him. If she had loved him she could not have fallen in love with her count and run away with him, could she?'

'I suppose not,' Sirena said softly. Her mother had always cautioned her to avoid any prolonged discussion of Allegra's mama. Pandora had, Lady Abbott told her daughter, been the youngest of their father's children. Beautiful, winning when she chose to be, and utterly selfish from her birth, Lady Abbott said. Her divorce from Lord Morgan had been all her fault, not his; and as she would not allow Allegra to suffer because of her mother's bad behavior, Sirena must avoid all conversation leading in that direction with anyone, including Allegra.

It was at that moment that Lady Abbott hurried back into the garden. 'Oh, my dears, you have made such a good impression upon Clarice Bellingham! She will lead you both through the season, she has assured me. Her approval is a guarantee of your success!' the good lady burbled. Then she hugged them both. 'And Madame Paul, herself, has arrived with her assistants to personally oversee your fittings. I have explained to her that you must each have a ball gown ready for the Bellingham ball, and your court dresses almost immediately. Come along, now!'