The Magnificent Masquerade Read Online Free Page B

giggled guiltily. "Yes, I
thought of that, too. If we go through with our plan, we'd avoid months of
tension. If we had to bring her out, we'd have quarrels about everything. About
gowns, and bonnets, and hairdressings-"
    Her husband nodded knowingly. "-about
dressmakers and milliners..."
    "-about what invitations to accept .. “
    “-and whom to refuse . . . "
    “-and we'd have to be always making up excuses
for Kitty when she forgot appointments ..."
    "-and soothing the ruffled feathers of
those she'd offended ..."
    “-and explaining away her excesses. . `-and
greeting callers at all hours ..."
    "-and arguing over whom to invite to our
own ball .. `-and sending out cards ..."
    “-and making up menus and buying extra linen
and plate ..."
    “-and turning the house topsy-turvy.. `-and
dealing with all the tradesmen ..
    “-and paying all the bills!" His lordship
rubbed his pudgy fingers over his forehead as if wiping away all the imaginary
strain. "Won't it be glorious not to have to go through any of that?"
    Laughing, her ladyship reached up, pulled down
her husband's head, and kissed him. "We're a dreadful pair of parents,
Thomas," she muttered into his shoulder.
    "I wouldn't say that," he demurred,
chuckling. "It's for her own good, after all. If we do some good for
ourselves in the process, I see nothing reprehensible in it."
    Lady Birkinshaw shook her head in reluctant
admiration. "You're quite right," she said, undoing his neckcloth and
nuzzling him fondly. "The more I think about it, the more I realize that
my totty headed husband has, for once, done something sensible."
    Thus the matter was settled. They were agreed.
In the spring Kitty would be wed to Toby Wishart, will-she or nill-she. Now all
they had to do was convince the girl. That, Lord and Lady Birkinshaw knew,
would not be easy. Kitty would fight their decision tooth and nail. They were
certain to be met with tears and tantrums, not one bit of which they wanted to
face. So Lord Birkinshaw suggested they avoid facing the girl altogether. All
they needed to do, he said to his wife next morning, was send Kitty off to
Suffolk
directly from
school. Why put themselves through the agony of dealing with her at home?
    "Let the chit spend a fortnight or so at
the Edgerton estate becoming acquainted with her betrothed. I'll arrange it
with Edgerton first thing tomorrow. By the time the fortnight's passed, she'll
have grown accustomed to the idea." Lady Birkinshaw nodded in shamefaced
agreement.
     It was perhaps not the most courageous
way of handling their daughter, but it was certainly the most expedient. If
they wrote a letter to the school and sent her off to the country with
dispatch, the girl would have no opportunity to enact a scene. The next
afternoon, with his wife standing over him, Lord Birkinshaw sat down at his
desk to compose two letters—one to his daughter, and one to the headmistress of
the school. The letter to Miss Marchmont was businesslike and terse.
    The instructions within (written in so pedantic
and formal a style that a reader might easily have assumed they'd been composed
by his solicitor) were quite explicit: his daughter, Miss Katherine Jessup,
spinster, at the moment residing at the Marchmont School, was "herewith
withdrawn" from that institution for the purpose of preparing herself for
a marriage to The Honorable Tobias Wishart, "said marriage to take place
six weeks following the first reading of the banns at our parish church this
Sunday." In the meantime, the said Miss Jessup, having been graciously
invited by Lord Edgerton to spend a fortnight at his estate in
Suffolk
for the purpose of acquainting the
betrothed couple with each other, was to pack up her things at once.
    On the very next day ("before she'll have
time," Lord Birkinshaw explained to his wife, "to concoct a scheme to
make mischief") a carriage would arrive to convey her to the Edgerton
estate. She was to remain there in
Suffolk
under the chaperonage of Lord Edgerton