A Suitable Husband

Prologue

            

London
September 1812

Cedrica Grenford set her portable writing desk on the table. She had freshly prepared quills, a full bottle of ink, and neatly cut sheets of paper, each with the Haverford crest watermarked in the background. She took a deep breath and pushed her glasses farther up her nose. She was ready for this, her first test as confidential secretary and companion to Her Grace, the Duchess of Haverford.

That is to say, to Aunt Eleanor. Who would have thought that little Ceddie Grenford would grow up to one day call a duchess 'aunt'? Even if that illustrious personage was remotely connected by marriage.

She had not imagined such a result when she had written to the duke to beg a refuge for her father, his distant cousin, who was failing in health and confused in mind. Papa was an ill-paid country vicar with a lifetime habit of giving away whatever came into his hands. Now the church he had served so devotedly proposed to put him into a poorhouse. Or an asylum.

Two weeks ago, the duchess, escorted by her son, the Marquis of Aldridge, descended upon their house and carried Papa off to be cared for in a lovely pensioner cottage near Haverford Castle in Kent, taking Cedrica to London to serve the duchess as a companion. Of course, Cedrica had breathed a grateful sigh of relief... until this afternoon. She might be a little nervous, but she was determined to do well in her new role.

"Cedrica, my dear," said Her Grace, "come here and meet some of the ladies who form our committee."

Cedrica managed to acquit herself without disgrace as she was presented to some of the duchess's legion of goddaughters and their friends. Lady Emily Pembroke stopped her conversation with Lady de Courtenay to smile at Cedrica. Lady de Courtenay gave a friendly wave. Miss Sedgely offered a straightforward handshake, and Lady Elinor Lacey introduced the two bored schoolgirls with them as Miss Louise Durand and Miss Blanche Lacey.

The Belvoir sisters, Lady Sophia and Lady Felicity, also greeted Cedrica warmly. "I am to act as chairman, and Lady de Courtenay will make a third with you and I," Lady Sophia said. "This committee has much work to do, Miss Grenford, and the three of us most of all."

Lady Sophia introduced Miss Lockhart, who in turn made Miss Kate Woodville known to the company. Miss Woodville, it seemed, was a teacher at a young ladies' academy. Perhaps teaching might be a future for Cedrica. She would make a point of talking to the young woman.

"Aunt Eleanor, I brought my friend, Miss Baumann," Lady Felicity said, "Esther has a great interest in education for girls, and that is why we are here, is it not?"

The duchess smiled. "You must be Mr. Nathaniel Baumann's daughter, Miss Baumann. You are most welcome to our number. Shall we be seated, ladies?"

This is no different to taking notes for the meetings of the Ladies' Altar Society, or the Mothers' Union, or the Vestry. So Cedrica had been telling herself for days, but these were not farmers' wives and shopkeepers; these were fine ladies in fashionable silks with upper-class vowels and curious eyes.

And if the ladies were terrifying, the gentlemen would be worse. Lord Aldridge had suggested that she regard the proposed house party as an opportunity to meet a suitable husband and had promised to pay a dowry if such a gentlemen could be brought to propose. His money was safe enough. She preferred not even to speak to gentlemen of the ton if she could avoid it.

Cedrica sat in front of her desk, at the left hand of the duchess and the right of Lady Sophia, who took the head of the table and opened the meeting.

"Ladies, you know why we are here. Several of us were talking about the dearth of opportunities for women in all classes, should they want more of an education than the skills that our world deems 'appropriate for a woman.' We do not think ourselves less capable of great learning than our brothers, nor do we consider ourselves extreme examples of our kind. We believe that women who wish to study the arts or the sciences should be able to do so, as have some of us ourselves."

Goodness. Had such ideas been suggested at a Vestry meeting, the speaker would have been laughed out of the room, with her father leading the mirth. Even the Ladies' Altar Society would have been shocked. But these grand ladies were all nodding, even Her Grace.

"But talk butters no parsnips," Lady Sophia continued. "We agreed that we needed a fund to support schemes for assisting girls to be educated beyond the sphere to which their sex, class, or both assign them. Her Grace has kindly agreed to be patroness of this fund and has an idea for announcing it to the world and, at the same time, raising money to support it. Ladies, you, your family and friends, and anyone who is in the least likely to support us are invited to Hollystone Hall in Buckinghamshire this December for a holiday house party and a New Year's Eve Charity Ball."

The explosion of delighted comments that filled the room flowed over Cedrica. A ball. How on earth would she ever manage that, much less the house party that would precede it?