Netherby Halls

“Just so,” agreed Sophy, brightening. “Things may turn out after all! Oh, Sassy, you have turned out to be my one true friend.”

“Now, just go and put on your prettiest ensemble,” Sassy said, ignoring this but feeling quite happy about the friendship herself.

“Yes, yes! He must not be able to resist me!” declared Miss Delleson, jumping in place and clapping her hands.

* * *

“Sophia!” Mrs. Delleson snapped in a hushed voice as she glanced around in the church and frowned. “Do stop casting your eyes around the room as though Prinny himself were about to enter. It is most hoydenish of you.” She fretted with the lace cuffs of her velvet spencer. “I do wonder where Lord Grey is this morning?”

“He does not like church, Mama. In fact, he advises me that he rarely attends, unless he must,” lied Sophy expertly.

“Really?” Mrs. Delleson said, sounding surprised. “Well—that is something I cannot approve of. But no doubt he shall change such thinking when he has a good wife to guide him.”

Sassy adjusted the pale yellow silk scarf around the collar of her blue redingote and avoided Sophia’s eyes. However, this seemed impossible, and when their glances did in fact meet, both girls nearly gave over and laughed. They checked this and sat perfectly ladylike on the hard wooden pew, though Sassy felt a gurgle lodge in her throat.

Sophy was looking around though, and it was obvious to Sassy that Mr. Lutterel and the marquis were not attending church this morning. It was most depressing and did not bode well. Apparently Mr. Lutterel had still not forgiven Sophia’s betrayal.

“Oh, dear, Sassy,” Sophy cried after the doors closed, “he is not coming.”

“Hush, love. Your mama will hear you,” Sassy warned.

“He will leave Bristol, and he will never look at me again.” Sophy seemed to be already working herself into a state; the thought that the marquis would leave with Mr. Lutterel swept through Sassy and made her own heart ache.

When Mrs. Delleson’s attention was diverted by her younger daughters, Sophy leaned into Sassy and said, “We must think of a plan.”

The minister began his sermon, casting Sophia a disapproving eye as he noted she was busy whispering to her companion instead of listening to him.

“Hush, Sophy—you are drawing attention to yourself.” Sassy eyed her friend meaningfully.

Unhappily, Miss Delleson obeyed, but as the sermon dragged on, she began fidgeting in her seat, much like a child. When at last the sermon was over and people began filing out of the church, Sophy turned to her mother and announced enthusiastically, “Mama, I have just had the most marvelous notion. Instead of returning Miss Winthrop to Delleson and then having Dibbs drive her home, why don’t I just drive her to Netherby now? As it happens, Dibbs put Sassy’s portmanteau in the boot, I suppose thinking we would be taking her directly back to Netherby, so we are quite set.”

“Sophia, you are perfectly aware that your father does not allow you to drive his horses.”

“Sassy will drive us there, and Lord Grey, who has business at the school this morning, can drive me home. He always has a driver, and he can send the driver on ahead to Delleson. What fun, don’t you think?”

“With Lord Grey?” Mrs. Delleson smiled brightly. “Yes, yes, that is a very good notion, my dear.”

Excitedly Sophia took the lead, allowing Sassy barely a moment in which to thank Mrs. Delleson for her gracious hospitality.

They took up seats, and Sassy sighed heavily. She did not like openly deceiving Sophia’s mama. “Sophia, that was a wicked lie, and I don’t like being a party to such things.”

“Oh pooh.” Sophy pouted. “You had naught to do with it. Don’t be a prude, Sassy—she will never know the whole. Oh, do not look at me like that. Things have gone awry, and I must make a push to save the day, must I not?”

“That depends. Just what are you planning?”

“I am persuaded that your parents would never have put your happiness aside simply because they wished you to be rich, would they?”

“No, no. They would not …” Sassy said with a frown, trying to follow Sophy’s reasoning.

“And to be fair, Papa has told me not to let Mama bully me into a marriage I might not like. He thinks the world of Percy, you see. So Papa is on my side.”

“What are you planning, Sophia Delleson?” Sassy felt a trickle of concern.

“This is my mother’s fault. If she had just allowed Percy to court me openly, none of this would have happened. He is not a man without means after all, and he travels in the first circles.”

“I do agree. I do not understand the objection,” Sassy said, frowning again.

“I knew you would understand,” Sophy declared joyously.