‘Well, when the invitation came to stay with the Vaughans at High Weald, I rather thought that . . . that Archie would propose. He’d been up shooting with Papa in July and I was aware that . . . things had been discussed between them. So I refused the other proposals I’d received, presuming that I’d been invited to Kent so Archie could ask me. But even though I was with him under the same roof for a month, it felt rather as if he was doing his best to avoid me. In fact, I rarely saw him, other than at mealtimes. And oh . . .’ Aurelia bit her lip as tears came to her eyes, ‘Flora, I love him so.’
Flora listened, her treacherous heart full of spontaneous relief, but also a gnawing guilt that she might have played a part in her sister’s misery.
‘I . . . maybe he’s simply been waiting for the right moment.’
‘Darling Flora, it’s sweet of you to try and comfort me, but there could not have been more opportunities, had he wished to take them. His mother constantly encouraged him to take me for a walk around the gardens, which really are quite the most exquisite I’ve ever seen. And all he talked about was his plans to restock them with all sorts of exotic plants I’d never even heard of! Then we’d walk back to the house and he’d disappear to his precious greenhouse and . . .’ Aurelia bit her lip again. ‘In the end I decided I had to return to London.’
‘Maybe he will realise he misses you and follow you here,’ Flora suggested flatly. Archie’s letter to her was finally beginning to make the most awful sense.
‘No. I can no longer live on Aunt Charlotte’s generosity, so I must go home.’
‘Oh Aurelia, I am so very sorry. Perhaps Archie is just not the marrying kind.’
‘That is hardly the point. One of the reasons Papa decided to sell Esthwaite Hall was to provide me with a suitable dowry so it could help the Vaughans maintain High Weald, as it would become my family home. You know how Lady Vaughan and Mama were such close childhood friends.’ Aurelia lowered her voice further, seeing Elizabeth standing only a few yards away. ‘They planned it between the two of them and that is what Papa was discussing with Archie up in Scotland.’
‘I see.’ And Flora did, all too clearly.
‘I have no choice other than to be packed off to Scotland. It’s rather ironic, isn’t it?’ Aurelia gave her sister a ghost of a smile. ‘Me returning home as a failure, and you here in London under the patronage of Mrs Keppel. Not that I begrudge you one bit, of course, darling.’
‘Aurelia, believe me, I was heartbroken when Mama told me we had to leave Esthwaite. You know how much I loved it. I miss it with every bone in my body. I’d give anything to be back there.’
‘I know, sister dear,’ said Aurelia, taking Flora’s hand. ‘Forgive me for my miserable countenance, but if I can’t talk to you about this, who can I talk to?’
‘Surely, if there was an agreement between him and Papa, Archie must honour it?’ Flora frowned.
‘And I am quite sure that even if he did, I would no longer wish to marry him. After his quite considerable attentions at the beginning of the Season, he seemed completely distracted when I arrived in Kent. My feeling is that there is someone else who has stolen his heart. But for the life of me, I have no idea who it is.’ Aurelia gave a deep sigh and Flora wished the floor could swallow her and her duplicitous heart up and take Archie Vaughan with them.
‘Now, darling, let us not talk of my problems any longer. Tell me all about life in the Keppel household.’
Flora did her best to tell Aurelia of Violet and Sonia and her daily routine, but the betrayal she had been an innocent yet willing party to had reduced her thoughts to sludge. She was all too grateful when Mrs Keppel came over, wishing to introduce Flora to her friends.
‘They are all quite desperate to meet the newest and most beautiful young member of our household.’ Mrs Keppel smiled as she took Flora’s elbow and proceeded to lead her around the room, showing her off as if she was a personal trophy. And indeed, many of the ladies seemed genuinely agog to meet her. From time to time, she stole a glance at Aurelia, who sat dejectedly on the chaise longue, trying to make conversation with an old woman dressed all in black, who seemed to be as friendless as she.
Eventually, as the guests began to take their leave, Flora excused herself from Countess Torby, who issued her an invitation to the soirée she was holding soon.
‘Dame Nellie Melba will be performing for us. She has only just returned from her tour in Australia, my darling, and she is coming straight to Kenwood House,’ the Countess said in front of the admiring circle around Flora.
Aurelia came over to kiss her goodbye.
‘When do you leave for Scotland?’
‘At the end of this week. The sooner the better, I believe,’ Aurelia breathed. ‘London doesn’t take kindly to failure.’
‘Will you come to visit me here before you go?’
‘Of course, and please don’t worry about me. Perhaps I will meet a laird up in the Highlands and become mistress of a beautiful estate there.’ Aurelia gave a weak smile. ‘It’s time for me to forget all about Archie Vaughan. Goodbye, dearest sister.’
Once everyone had left and Mabel and the footman had removed the discarded teacups and plates of untouched dainties, Mrs Keppel ushered Flora to sit in the chair opposite her by the fire.
‘Well, Flora, your first foray into London society seems to have been an unqualified success! I think you will find yourself well occupied in the weeks to come. There have been so many invitations issued. Everyone told me how charming they found you.’
‘Thank you. However, I must not neglect my duties to your daughters.’
‘My dear girl, can’t you see that was a pretext I gave to you and your mother to enable you to come and live under my roof? Of course, having never met you, I wasn’t sure how you would . . . present . . . so I wished to have a fall-back position in place. And then you arrived, so elegant, cultured and utterly delightful! After this afternoon, a rather splendid dinner later this week, and a far more . . . intimate tea party very soon after that, there won’t be a household in London who will not wish you to grace it with your presence. You’re the talk of the town!’
Flora gazed in complete confusion at this extraordinary woman. ‘Mrs Keppel, for the life of me, I do not understand why anyone in London would wish to invite me to their homes. After all, I was not even presented at court.’
‘Don’t you see, that is what makes you even more fascinating?’
‘To be frank, I do not,’ Flora confessed. ‘Please don’t think me ungrateful, but having accepted my lot in life, to have all suddenly changed about me for no reason I can think of is a little . . . strange.’
‘My dear, I do understand. One day, all will be explained, but I feel it is not my place to do so. All I ask for now is that you trust me. I shall not steer you wrong. And even though you cannot know it, there are many similarities between us. While I am able to, I wish to help you.’
Flora, still none the wiser, could only agree.
That night, she lay down gingerly, relieved to have had the whalebone corset removed. Looking down at her ribs, she counted the tiny purple bruises that had appeared and wondered how the women in Mrs Keppel’s drawing room could suffer the pain every day of their lives.