Jane Ashford Read Online Free Page A

Melton Mowbray on a blustery day in April. Her sister stood up with her at the small ceremony, and the three of them set off in a chaise directly after the wedding breakfast. A house had been hired in town, and all was in readiness for the new Mrs. Crenshaw to burst upon the ton and make her place in society—all, excepting perhaps the lady herself.
    Clarissa, however, was delighted with everything that occurred and all she saw. What might have been an awkward journey in the closed carriage was enlivened by her constant flow of chatter and her intense interest in the landscape and the villages they passed. She had no doubts of the wisdom of Laura’s course, and though this was not much comfort to her older sister, Clarissa’s high spirits soon affected them all.
    All the talk over dinner at the inn where they stopped for the night and the conversation in the coach the next day concerned what the sisters would do in town and what delights awaited them. By the end of the journey, Laura was feeling almost reconciled to her new state, all the more because her bridegroom had shown himself most solicitous of her comfort. Laura had felt some nervousness when they entered the inn, but Eliot had bespoken a bedchamber for himself and one for Laura and Clarissa without any sign of awkwardness. And when her sister refrained from teasing, Laura began to relax for the first time since she had said, “I will.” Perhaps this would not be as difficult as she had feared.
    They pulled up at the house in Regent Street about teatime, and the front door was flung open by a smart young footman almost before they could climb down. Eliot offered Laura his arm.
    “I hope you will approve,” he said. “There was very little time to furnish a house, but I think I have not done so ill. You may change anything that does not take your fancy.” With that he escorted her up two steps and into the hall.
    Laura found nothing to criticize as they proceeded up to the drawing room, where the tea things had been set out. Though small and narrow, the house was extremely elegant, and the furnishings were in perfect taste. Clarissa exclaimed over everything, calling on Laura to admire the charming little table in the hall, the exquisite blue hangings in the drawing room, and so on and on.
    Laura poured tea rather unsteadily; she could not echo her sister’s easy admiration, not because she did not admire, but because she was oppressed by the sense that while this was now her home, she felt a total stranger here. What was for Clarissa a novel adventure was for her far more serious. She still could not be certain that she had done the right thing.
    After tea the ladies went upstairs to their bedchambers. Laura’s was charmingly hung with dark green satin and flowered paper on a straw-colored background. It had the feeling of gardens and springtime, and she was enchanted with it. A dressing room off it held wardrobes, large mirrors, and a hip bath, and when she unbolted a door on the further side, she found that it connected with Eliot’s dressing room and his bedchamber beyond. She looked around his rooms with some curiosity. Neither was much decorated, but the furniture and ornaments appeared to be well-worn and familiar objects, and the overall impression was of comfort. Walking back into her own suite, she paused a moment over the bolt on the connecting door. It was obviously newly installed. Laura smiled slightly, considered, then returned it to its original position.
    Someone had begun unpacking her valise and had left a can of hot water on the washstand, so she was able to change and make herself tidy. They were to go out to dinner and a play that evening, both to satisfy Clarissa and to spare the staff on their first night, so Laura got out an evening dress. She chose one of her two old ones, a primrose crepe with simple puffed sleeves and one flounce about the hem. Though it was countrified and more suited to a young girl just out than to a married