Return to Sanditon - A Novella

~ Thirteen ~

Parker Residence, Bedford Place, Cheapside, London

Sidney arrived back at his townhouse to find a stack of correspondence awaiting him. More bills for the restoration of the terrace at Sanditon. He hoped that his funds would stretch sufficiently so that he would no longer have a need to ask Eliza for further monies. He intended to find a solution and repay her every penny.

He put the bills aside and opened the remaining mail. A few fundraisers, a letter from an acquaintance soliciting advice on an investment, and a rushed note from Tom advising him of the resignation of Mr James Stringer. Mr Stringer it seems was to take up an apprenticeship in London. Tom had added a postscript that warned of Mary's imminent arrival. She was to bring the children too. Ah well, the company would be appreciated.

Sidney glanced at the last piece of correspondence and noted it was an invitation to a ball hosted by Lady Northam. Unexpected, Sidney thought, to receive such an invitation. The Marquess of Northam was a member of the ton elite, the Marchioness, a patroness. He had met her husband a time or two, but never the Lady herself. He vaguely recalled that Lady Northam was somehow connected to Lady Worcester. Odd that.

Sometime later, a message arrived from Babington. It would appear that both he and Lady Babington had followed him and Crowe back to town. He was gratified to read that they too would be in attendance at tonight's ball. The only downside being his obligation to escort Eliza. When he had called on her a short while ago, she had been waspish towards him. He was not behaving as she expected of him, she said, considering her willingness to save his family from penury. Her barbed comments culminated in her demand that she be accompanied to Lady Northam's soirée. He had had to bite his tongue to stop himself from betraying his true feelings on that matter, as he wasn't yet in a position to thwart her.