Banishment (Daughters of Mannerling 1) Read Online Free Page A

room. She gave a very funny description of Mrs Kennedy which set them all laughing, and wondered why she began to feel quite small and mean and diminished.
    She changed the subject abruptly by asking, ‘Why did Papa find it necessary to take all the jewellery to London to be cleaned, Mama? Most of mine was cleaned before the beginning of the Season.’
    ‘I really don’t know, my dear,’ said Lady Beverley. ‘But be sure your father knows what he is doing.’
    Later that day, Isabella went to the study where the secretary was working over some estate papers. ‘Mr Ducket,’ she said, ‘that mare of mine is a trifle tame. I wish to buy a horse with more speed and power.’
    To her surprise he looked awkward and embarrassed. ‘It is not for me to say, Miss Beverley, whether you should have a new horse or not. I beg you to apply to Sir William when he returns.’
    ‘But that is not necessary,’ said Isabella. ‘I do not know any horse dealers. I wish you to arrange it. Have a selection of horses brought to the stables for my inspection.’
    ‘I must insist that you wait for your father’s return, Miss Beverley.’
    ‘I find your attitude most odd, Mr Ducket. We have always applied to you in the past for things when Papa has been absent.’
    ‘I am sorry, but those are my instructions,’ he said.
    ‘From Papa? How strange,’ said Isabella huffily. ‘I am sure you are mistaken and he will be most cross with you on his return.’
    She felt quite taken aback. She had never been refused anything before.

TWO
    Eating the bitter bread of banishment
    WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
    Any lady of less arrogance and pride than Isabella Beverley would have thought often of the handsome viscount, but as a week went past, Isabella almost forgot about him, until on the following Monday he sent a footman over with a request that she should go out on a drive with him. The weather during the preceding week had been rainy and unseasonably cold, but the sun had started to shine again and Isabella, after consulting her mother, decided that a further acquaintance with the viscount could be used to advantage. ‘Perhaps I have been too stiff and cold with the gentlemen I have met,’ said Isabella earnestly. ‘I could practise my social manners on this viscount.’
    And so, attired in a carriage gown and smart hat, Isabella smiled at the viscount as he assisted her into his curricle and called to the Mannerling groom to stand away from the horses’ heads.
    ‘Where are we going?’ asked Isabella. She did hope they were not going to visit his aunt.
    ‘To Hedgefield.’
    ‘To the town? But there is a fair on today, is there not?’
    ‘Do you not like fairs?’
    ‘I have only been to one. Are they not rather noisy and vulgar?’
    ‘Great fun, I assure you, Miss Beverley.’
    Isabella thought that if she protested, then he might decide to take her to see his aunt. So she gave a little smile and said it might be amusing.
    He reached a crossroads where dead and rotting bodies swung over their heads on a gibbet and then took the left turn, which led to the town of Hedgefield.
    As they entered the town, Isabella began to wish she had stated firmly that she did not want to go. So many people, so many
common
people, so many booths and flags and bunting, so much noise. She felt the quiet, cool rooms of Mannerling calling her home, calling her back.
    He drove into the yard of the central inn, the Green Man. ‘Would you like some refreshment first?’ he asked as he helped her down and then threw a coin to an ostler who had come to take the horses to the stables.
    But Isabella shook her head. A few moments at the fair and then she would plead a headache and ask to be taken home. They left the inn-yard and began to move among the booths, Isabella holding in her skirts, as if brushing them against the common herd would contaminate her in some way.
    ‘This conjuror is very good,’ said the viscount, stopping outside a booth. To Isabella’s horror,