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“ R osalyn.”
She looked up from her book. “Yes, Fairchild?”
Her brother came to stand in front of her, his brow a little furrowed. “I forgot to inform you before we left for London that Lord Waverley may well be in society this year.”
Her heart leapt. “Truly?” Lord Waverley was as dear a friend as could be to them both, though the loss of his father had kept them from his company for many a month.
“It will be wonderful to see him. My last letter to him was only a few weeks ago but I do not think I mentioned London. Does he know that we will be here also?” She winced.
“I do worry about what society will say of him.” She had not heard a good deal of late but there had been some whispers and rumors about the late Lord Waverley that had disappointed her.
Evidently, the ton believed that there was now very little coin left for the new Marquess of Waverley and some suggested that he was of the same ilk as his father – something that Rosalyn knew for certain to be false!
“Indeed.” Her brother cleared his throat. “Speaking of society, we must speak.”
The way his voice dropped low made Rosalyn frown and she rose to her feet, fairly certain that she knew what this discussion was to be about. “Speak about what, Fairchild?”
A slight lift of his chin and a narrowing of his eyes told her he was quite determined to have his way, though she silently told him he would not.
“It is about all of this reading and learning that you do, these supposed pastimes that make you nothing more than a bluestocking.” An edge of steel came into his voice.
“You know how I feel about it, Rosalyn. It is time for it all to come to an end.”
Instantly upset, Rosalyn shook her head. “No.”
“You must! You now must think a little more about what society expects and act accordingly! You cannot – ”
“Why must you protest so, brother?” Rosalyn put both hands to her hips and narrowed her eyes. “There is nothing wrong with my pastime , as well you know.”
“Yes, yes, I am aware that you say that but it is not usual for young ladies such as yourself to do nothing other than read all the time.” Her brother Daniel, the Earl of Fairchild, rolled his eyes at her.
“And it is certainly not the inclination of most young ladies to demand that society recognize them as a bluestocking!”
Rosalyn frowned, dropping her hands to her sides. “Demand? I certainly do not demand that society approves of me, brother. It is only that I do not hide it. You know as well as I that our late father very much approved of my learning.”
With another sigh, her brother pushed himself up in his chair so he did not slouch as much as before. “He did, yes.” His nose wrinkled. “And mother does as well, for she gave me a very severe talking to before I left for London, stating that I was not to discourage you in any way.”
“And yet, here you are doing that very thing.”
This made her brother grimace, one hand rubbing over his chin.
Silence fell and Rosalyn chose to take a seat opposite him, holding his gaze steadily but refusing to let the conversation go.
Ever since they had come to London some weeks ago, Lord Fairchild had been eagerly pursuing the young ladies of London and had seemed to forget about her.
Until this afternoon, it seemed.
“In truth, Rosalyn, it is this nonsense about being in a ‘book club’ that has concerned me.” Shifting in his seat, he glanced at her but then looked away. “Whatever does that mean? And why must you publicize it in such a way?”
“Publicize it?” Hearing the tension in the way her voice rose, Rosalyn took a moment to collect herself so that she might speak calmly.
“Fairchild, you must know that we are not publicizing it as such! It is only that we do not hide it from the ton , just as we do not hide ourselves from them either. Besides which, is it not as though we are going to have a good many other young ladies seeking us out, eager to join us, is it?” She managed a quiet laugh at this, thinking of what it would be like should hordes of young ladies begin to seek out herself and her friends, all in the hope of joining their bluestocking book club.
“That is not something that will occur, I am quite sure of it.”
“As am I.” Lord Fairchild scowled but continued to look away from Rosalyn as though he was a little embarrassed to look into her eyes. “I do not wish you to be ridiculed, Rosalyn, that is all.”
Searching her brother’s face and being fully aware of the way he could not look into her eyes, Rosalyn let out a small sigh. “Daniel, I think that if you were to be honest with me – and with yourself – you would admit that it is yourself that you worry about, is it not?”
He said nothing but cast his gaze down to the floor. Pain struck Rosalyn’s heart but she continued on regardless.
“I can see that you are hoping to make an attachment yourself this Season,” she said, speaking softly in the hope that it would show her brother her understanding. “Naturally, you want to make certain your reputation is pristine and that there is nothing to bring you any sort of shame.”
Slowly, his gaze began to lift.
“But I am not something to be ashamed of,” she finished.
“My love of learning is not something you can hide, I am afraid, and I will not pretend to be anything other than that. Any young lady of quality, however, ought to be accepting and considerate, so I sincerely doubt you have anything much to trouble yourself with.”
This made her brother shift in his chair, one hand rubbing over his mouth as he finally caught her gaze. He sighed heavily but then turned his eyes away from her again. “I do not think any young lady of quality ought to be engaged in as much learning as you are doing.”
She shrugged, having heard such a sentiment before. There were no words accompanied by such an action, and this made Lord Fairchild sigh, though again, it made no impact upon Rosalyn in any way.
“You are not going to desist, are you?”
Shaking her head, Rosalyn spread out her hands. “I am not going to turn from this, brother. The sooner you come to understand that and accept it, the better it shall be for us both.”
With a grimace tugging at his lips, he nodded and then pushed himself forward to the very edge of his chair, as though he were going to rise from it. He did not, however, finally looking long at her, as if assessing whether or not she would, in any way or any capacity, change her ways.
With a long and almost mournful sigh, it appeared to Rosalyn that he accepted she would not, and with another scowl, he finally rose to his feet.
“Very well. I shall do my utmost not to bring this subject to the fore again, though I confess that I am not at all pleased to hear about this ‘Bluestocking Book Club’ – and even more displeased that I had to hear about it from Lord Gillford rather than from my own sister!”
Rosalyn spread out her hands. “If I had told you of it, would you have shown any pleasure whatsoever? Would you have sought to garner understanding? Or would you have become frustrated and railed at me for some days about it all, seeking to put an end to it all?” She spoke gently but with enough firmness to make her brother’s head drop.
“And then, would you and I have argued a great deal? Would we not have become upset with one another and might have been greatly displeased with each other! I did not want that.”
Her brother rubbed one hand over his eyes but, with a hiss of breath, dropped his hand back to his side and looked at her.
“I suppose that you are right. I have always tried to dissuade you – without success, I might add – and I would have done the very same with this. I do wish that our late father had made you more of a lady, Rosalyn.”
These last few words sent a dagger into Rosalyn’s heart, and though she tried to open her mouth to respond, she could not. Tears began to form in her eyes, and she blinked furiously, desperate now to keep her composure until her brother took his leave of her.
It did not take long. With another clear and heavy sigh, Lord Fairchild quit the room, his final few words still doing all they could to shatter Rosalyn’s heart.
The moment the door closed, Rosalyn put her head in her hands, her elbows on her knees as she sat forward, her chest tight and her heart aching.
To her mind, their late father had raised both her and her two brothers in a manner most fitting, for both of her brothers were well known in society as excellent men of good standing with fine character.
She had been given the opportunity to learn just as much as she wished and had reveled in it, just as she did now, and though she had been given instruction about propriety, dancing, and deportment, she had also been taught about mathematics, history and even politics.
Whatever it was she had desired to know, her father had encouraged her in that and her mother also!
It was only her brother who had ever pushed away the suggestion that being a bluestocking was a great, terrible thing.
To his mind, she was ruining her own reputation by having such a determination to learn.
Drying her tears, Rosalyn tried not to let her brother’s sharp words push any further into her heart.
She had friends here, she reminded herself, good friends who would do anything they could to assist her.
They had already done some good with their ‘Bluestocking Book Club’, though their meetings had been a little less about the books they were reading and a little more about solving a mystery!
Though it came right in the end, Rosalyn thought to herself, sniffing lightly as she rose to her feet to ring the bell for tea, hearing a scratch come from the door at the same time. Joceline is happy and I am truly delighted for her.
As if her friend had known she was thinking of her, the footman came at that very moment with Miss Joceline Trentworth’s calling card.
Instructing the footman to bring tea for them both, Rosalyn waited with eager expectation for her friend to arrive, rushing forward to hug her the moment she stepped into the room.
“Oh, I am so very pleased to see you!” she exclaimed, her heart lifting in an instant, pulling away from all that her brother had said to her. “Should you like to take some tea?”
Her friend smiled. “Yes, I thank you. Though I cannot stay for too long, for there is dinner to prepare for. I am to join Lord Albury for dinner this evening, along with his other guests.”
Rosalyn beamed at her. “How wonderful. You are courting now, yes?”
“Yes.” With a soft smile, Miss Trentworth tipped her head just a little. “It was very difficult at some junctures, I confess it, but it has been worth walking through those difficulties to reach where we are now.”
Rosalyn’s smile lost some of its strength.
“My brother has only added to my difficulties, unfortunately.” As the maid brought in the tea tray and set things out, Rosalyn recounted all that had been said, including the final sentence, which had brought her such severe pain.
Miss Trentworth listened carefully, though Rosalyn could tell from the shadows in her eyes that she was not in the least bit pleased by it all.
“That must have been very difficult to endure,” her friend said, when Rosalyn had finished. “Though I must hope that you are not about to turn from us all?”
“Certainly not!” Rosalyn declared, her chin lifting. “I told him that I had every intention of continuing just as I have always done, that the bluestocking book club is not something I would turn from.”
“That is good.” With a brilliant smile, Miss Trentworth leaned forward in her chair. “For I had come to suggest that we might meet again very soon, mayhap this week, if it would please you?”
Rosalyn’s heart lifted in an instant. “Yes, it would, very much indeed.”
“Excellent.” Miss Trentworth’s expression gentled. “I do hope you know just how much help you provided to me and Lord Albury with the missing necklace, Rosalyn. We could not have found the truth without your diligent study.”
This made Rosalyn smile, the wound inflicted by her brother slowly beginning to heal at the encouragement of her friend. “Thank you, Joceline.”
“I mean every word,” came the reply. “Though mayhap now, we will be able to settle into reading our books and discussing them at the book club, rather than discussing what we have learned about the necklace and its disappearance!”
This made Rosalyn chuckle as she picked up her tea.
“I am quite sure that no matter what we do, I shall be contented,” she said, with a smile.
“Although I shall admit it would be wonderful to discuss what we have been reading! I have learned a good deal about one particular artist that I should be delighted to share with you all.”
“And so you shall,” came the determined reply. “The bluestocking book club will meet very soon, and you shall tell us all about this artist and all you know of him.”
Rosalyn beamed at her friend, reaching for her tea and finding her heart entirely healed. She had her friends, she had their book club, and whether her brother approved or not, that was all that she needed to be happy.