Page 18 of The Gentlewoman Companion (The Gentlewoman #4)

Lord Halverton, who did not seem to know his companions as well as she expected he might, played dealer and smiled at Louisa from across the table.

It gave her courage, though he paid equal attention to everyone.

“The value of a fish shall be one shilling?” he suggested as he distributed the counters.

Everyone agreed. He turned over a card at random—the two of hearts.

“Hearts trump,” he said, then dealt three cards to each player.

The game advanced in a far more subdued manner than Louisa was accustomed to. After a few rounds, the players’ bargaining increased in volume, and she felt more comfortable. She did not, however, give in to the impulse to whoop whenever she won or protest when she did not.

In the third and final round, Louisa turned a ten of hearts. Her breath caught. If no one turned a higher trump, she would win, a prospect that greatly appealed to her. To ensure victory, she could buy everyone’s remaining cards, which would disable them from playing that final round.

“May I buy your last card?” she asked Mr. Kent, a quiet, serious man. He relented at the bargain price of only one fish. “Miss Trelawney, may I purchase yours for the same?”

“I hardly trust your fish are worth anything! Must I wait for payment until you receive your wages?” She giggled and patted Louisa’s arm as if they were great friends and her insinuation was naught but an affectionate tease. Louisa’s confidence melted.

“Miss Trelawney,” Lord Halverton said, inflicting her with an acerbic glare. “Let us keep our conversation genuine and our competition fair.”

Miss Trelawney flushed. “Miss Thorpe, of course you may buy my card. Shall we say four fish?”

They bargained, and Louisa prevailed with three counters, winning the round.

She stood and gathered the fish she had won.

When she sat down, she found Mr. Henry Trelawney gazing at her from her neck to her bodice and wished Lady Halverton’s taste a fraction less fashionable. Next time she would wear a fichu.

“Trelawney is a Cornish name,” Louisa said to Mr. Trelawney, “but I assume your family is long removed from the region?”

Miss Trelawney waved a hand. “Our family has resided in Gloucestershire for generations.” Her brother cast her a dubious look then resettled his gaze on Louisa’s chest.

“Are the Cornish Trelawneys so ill-mannered?” asked Mr. Lewis. He directed the question at Louisa, who appreciated his defense but could hardly answer, though she thought it doubtful the Cornish Trelawneys could be half so elegant as Miss Trelawney and her family.

Lord Halverton tossed a fish at Mr. Trelawney’s face, shifting the gawker’s stare from Louisa. “Another round.” He began dealing.

Louisa relaxed her tense shoulders. Lord Halverton and Mr. Lewis would not allow anyone to bamfer her! She rested against the cushion at the back of her chair, feeling quite equal to anything.

When Lord Halverton pushed Louisa’s card to her, he looked at her with a silent apology for his discourteous guests. Well, one could not choose their neighbors, but they were not all bad. Besides, Miss Trelawney had only been teasing her.

As the group settled into silence, the conversation at the other table became audible.

“…needless expense of that gown. If you indulge your companion, she will not know her place,” Lady Waxpole spoke to Lady Halverton.

“Her place,” Lady Halverton retorted, “is beside me.”

Louisa sat upright, hands clenched in her lap. In the next round when the dealer auctioned an ace, she bid hard and loud, taking the card and winning another round. She had more fish than anyone, and her zealous focus on the game distracted her from Lady Waxpole’s too-loud voice.

Miss Trelawney turned to Louisa. “Do you ride? I should love to show you the countryside.”

Louisa wanted badly to trust the invitation, but it felt insincere. Why would Miss Trelawney wish to ride with Louisa? Should she decline? “I nearly fell from a spooked horse recently.” She bit her cheek, unsure if she regretted refusing the offer.

“A great pity. But do let me know when you are ready.” She flashed a smile at Louisa and glanced at Lord Halverton before turning back to Miss Cron, who had remained silent much of the game, losing and winning just enough to maintain the ten fish with which she had begun. “And you, Miss Cron, do you ride?”

She looked down at her fish. “If Miss Thorpe is uncomfortable on a horse, I have an open-air donkey carriage at my disposal.”

“Oh!” Louisa gasped, truly thrilled at the offer. “I am familiar with that carriage. How lovely that Miss Fischer and Mrs. Beecham allow you to use it!”

“Yes, they are my aunts. Tomorrow then?” Miss Cron’s smile was a mere whisper.

Lady Halverton had mentioned the sisters had a niece. “Tomorrow. And you drive the carriage yourself?” At this Lord Halverton tapped his finger on the table and raised his brows. Well, if he would not indulge her, she would find another instructor.

“I cannot remember not knowing how,” Miss Cron said.

Louisa’s heart galloped. “If it isn’t difficult?—”

Mr. Lewis slapped his card in the middle of the table with a good-humored, “Are we playing or not?”

After another round, Miss Trelawney said, “If there is room for three in that quaint little carriage of yours, I would join you.”

“I fear it only admits two,” Miss Cron said, “but you may ride along side.”

“I believe I will join you.” She nodded at Miss Cron, then at Louisa.

Though Louisa recognized Miss Trelawney’s look as condescending, she was eager to know more of both young ladies.

At the game’s end, Lord Halverton said, “I believe Miss Thorpe is champion. Pall mall is not the only game at which she excels.”

Louisa pushed her cards toward him. Their fingers brushed and she met his eyes, accepting and gentle. Friendship. The sensation crowned a successful evening that had begun with uncertainty.

When the room cleared of guests and she and the countess bid goodnight to Lord Halverton, Louisa ascended the stairs beside Lady Halverton. “Where were Miss Fischer and Mrs. Beecham?”

“They are too sober for trivial card parties,” Lady Halverton said.

“Really?”

“They eschew cards, gossip, and spirits.”

Louisa wondered if she should take a stand against those things. She didn’t want to. Since their niece Miss Cron had participated, perhaps Louisa could indulge as well. And besides, Lady Halverton had hosted the party without hesitation.

“I will send Nellie to you directly, my lady.”

Once in her room, Louisa sat by the window watching the stars until Nellie finished with Lady Halverton.

“Well? And so how was it?” Nellie asked, closing the door.

“A triumph! Well, not everyone was kind. Mr. Henry Trelawney is a karn, but his sister is so graceful, I cannot help but admire her. Though she did insinuate I could not afford to pay, should I lose the game. But then she asked to go riding together.”

“She sounds like a janjansy.”

“Not insincere, I don’t think. She was simply teasing.”

“Well, I hope you enjoy the outing.”

“And Lady Halverton and Lord Halverton supported me in every sense. Even Mr. Alexander was kind, though I believe he was most interested in moving the game along. But…Lord Halverton stunned me.”

Nellie unpinned Louisa’s hair and brushed through it. “What did he do?”

“I think he is a friend.”

“And that surprises you?”

“Well, yes. He is far above me, and I am an employee. But when anyone treats me as such, the Halvertons will have none of it. He went out of his way to invite me to conversations and set down the Trelawneys. I think he and his mother have a good opinion of me and that others will soon come around.”

Louisa saw Nellie raise an eyebrow in the mirror. “You best work on liking yourself, Miss Louisa.”

She studied herself in the mirror for a long moment, then said softly, “I like myself much better when other people do.”