Chapter 13

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

S o made up was Adelaide's mind that the previous day's foray into society had been a disaster, it did not occur to her that the stream of callers she could hear arriving downstairs had come to wait upon her. She was busy wrapping the brush she had bought for Patty when her door burst open.

"Bloody hell!"

"Adelaide!" Lady Tipton admonished as she thrust her head around the door.

"I am so sorry! You startled me."

Her aunt dismissed the matter with a shake of her head. "Why are you not coming down?"

"I did not know you wished me to."

"Never mind what I wish. There is a swarm of young men in my parlour, all here to see my niece, and my niece is idling in her bedchamber. Make haste!"

"What do they want with me?"

Her aunt came farther into the room and looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "What do you think? "

Adelaide blushed at the implication. "What am I to say to them? What am I to do?"

"I should keep doing whatever it is you were doing last night, dear. They were all evidently pleased enough by it to come in search of more. Do try not to curse, though."

Adelaide managed to avoid any uncivil outbursts that morning, and the next, and even the next. That was, regrettably, the extent of her triumph. Unhelpful though it was, her aunt's suggestion that she conduct herself as she had the night of the ball turned out to be remarkably accurate, for it seemed she was unable to act in any way other than gauche, bordering on vulgar, no matter how hard she tried not to. Indeed, it seemed the harder she tried, the more vulgar she became, her anxiety defeating all her good intentions. Nevertheless, though she spent three consecutive mornings in an agony of embarrassment, the callers would keep coming.

Mr Lyle came but once but stayed a full hour, which Lady Tipton assured Adelaide was beyond presumptuous. Mr Keech called twice, bringing flowers the first time and his mother the second. Mr Jones came to invite Adelaide for a walk in the park, which Oakley declined on her behalf at a beseeching look from her. Mr Levy invited the whole family to dinner—and was refused by Lady Tipton. Even Mr Dunnock called to assure Adelaide that no ill feeling persisted and to issue an open request for another dance when the opportunity arose.

Of all of them, Mr Hanson was the most persistent. He came every day at the same time and always managed to seat himself closest to Adelaide. He was the least troubled by her frequent blunders, always dismissing them with a laugh whenever they could not be overlooked. Indeed, he laughed at most things and passed the majority of his visits making sport of the other men's attempts to win her favour.

"Of course Miss Richmond does not wish to attend the opera with you, Rodders," he said during his fourth call. "She has no doubt heard about the time you fell asleep and snored all the way through Tenducci's finest air."

Sir Rodney reddened and glowered sullenly at him. "I was not snoring. I had a cold. As you well know."

"Oh yes, you might be right. I was likely thinking of the time I fell asleep during that poetry recital you gave that went on for five hours."

"It was ten minutes."

"Do you write poetry, sir?" Adelaide enquired.

"No, madam. I was reading Wordsworth. It was a charitable event."

"It certainly was, for they allowed you to speak at it," Mr Hanson interrupted, though he receded somewhat when Sir Rodney gave an exasperated sigh. "I jest, old fruit! Do not take it to heart. No doubt Miss Richmond would prefer to listen to you mumble a few sonnets than wheeze your way through an entire opera."

"I really think I ought to be allowed to decide that for myself," Adelaide said testily.

Mr Hanson looked mildly taken aback, but it was no more than the blink of an eye before his next joke occurred to him, and he was off again, amusing himself with another witticism .

The visit mercifully ended not long after, and both gentlemen departed.

"Is something the matter?" Oakley enquired when they were gone. "You scarcely said a word except to bite Hanson's head off at the end there."

"I beg your pardon. I did not mean to insult another of your friends, but he seems incapable of taking anything seriously."

"I did warn you."

"You did." She let out a sigh. "And perhaps I am being unfair. It may only be that I have seen so much of him. He would probably be less tiresome in smaller doses."

Oakley popped a grape in his mouth and shrugged. "That is well. No one said you were obliged to take him in larger doses. Choose someone else to marry."

Adelaide stared at him, attempting to divine some aspect of teasing. There was none. "I am afraid I do not take your meaning."

"If you do not think you would do well with Hanson, pick elsewise. It is not as though you are limited for choice—you have been inundated with callers this week."

"Callers, yes. Not suitors. I have been to one ball, and you would have me choose my future husband?"

"You may as well begin thinking about it."

Adelaide sat agape, dumbfounded with dismay. "I have only been a part of this family for a matter of weeks, and you would parcel me off to someone else already? Are you that eager to get rid of me?"

Oakley rolled his eyes. "You are right—you have been spending entirely too much time with Hanson, for you have assumed his propensity for gross exaggeration. I never said you must marry now . But you must understand that you will need to marry."

"Why? May I not stay with you?"

"Surely you would not wish to—not indefinitely. Do you not desire children?"

"Upon my life, I have hardly had time to settle my feelings on being your sister, let alone on whether I should like to be a mother!"

"I comprehend that—truly, I do—but time is not on our side. We are not sure of your true age, but if we presume it to be twenty, and we take your history into account, there is good reason for not delaying an alliance. As your brother, it behoves me to ensure you make a suitable match."

He almost swaggered as he made this presumptuous claim to her fate, and it was the most he had ever looked like Adelaide's stepbrothers. She repressed the urge to shrink away from him. "You have only been my brother for a grand total of about two minutes. You have not yet earned the right to tell me what to do."

"I am not attempting to be some sort of tyrant. I will do everything I can to accommodate your wishes—but it is not only my right, it is my duty to ensure you are well situated. You are my responsibility now."

"Only because you got me dismissed from my post."

"I make no apology for that. You belong with your family."

"Except, apparently, you do not want me!"

"Do not be absurd."

Feeling a sudden surge of an all-too-familiar emotion, Adelaide pushed herself to her feet, but Oakley put himself between her and the door.

"Adelaide, please, I did not mean to distress you."

"No, I am sure you thought it would give me nothing but comfort to hear that I must marry a stranger before my reprehensible past is discovered and I become a pariah with whom you will be lumbered for the rest of your life. Thank you. You are all compassion, Brother . Excuse me."

When he did not move, she pushed past him and strode out of the room, slamming the door behind her in the hope it would deter him from following. She had known this would happen—though, even in her worst imaginings, she had not thought he would tire of her as quickly as this. She ought to have known better than to allow herself to become attached to any part of this family. She arrived in her bedchamber and was about to slam that door also, but something prevented her. She had run here in search of sanctuary, but the recognition that no part of this new world felt secure overwhelmed her with the desire to be as far away from it as possible. On a whim, she dug out her old boots from her trunk, shoved them on her feet and a bonnet on her head, then walked down the stairs and directly out of the front door.