An Artful Deception (20 page)

Lady Weatherton’s eyes grew wide. “Then she was not killed?”

“
No. But since she could not remember who she was, she imagined herself to be her maid. Since I had not seen her since she was a child, I did not recognize her. She began her stay in my household as my lady’s maid.”

Lady Weatherton covered her mouth. “How shocking.”

“
Indeed. Fortunately, I began to discover small things about her, such as her superior breeding and grace in conversation and deportment that made me question her assumed identity. I began to gently question her, for I felt all was not as it seemed.”

“
Very wise of you. Pray tell the outcome.”

“
She began to regain her memory, though I must admit that it was very little at first.”

Lady Charlesworth dabbed at her eyes as she turned to Katharine and patted her hand. “Now, to our great relief, she is quite herself again.”

Lady Weatherton stared at Katharine, eyes wide with the import of this news. “So this is Lady Katharine?”

She continued to peer at Katharine a moment longer and then announced. “If it is any comfort to you, I, too, thought her deportment too refined for a maid. It is a subtle thing, but one that a lady would notice.”

“
Yes, you are quite right,” Lady Charlesworth agreed.

Lady Weatherton spoke directly to Katharine. “I shall look forward to making your proper acquaintance, my dear. You must have been through a terrible ordeal.”

Katharine lowered her eyes. “Yes, my lady. It was quite frightful. I am only too happy to have recovered my identity by Lady Charlesworth’s kind efforts.”

Lady Charlesworth smiled indulgently. “I shudder to think what the poor child has been through, what we all have been through. I am only grateful that the truth has come out at last.”

Lady Weatherton blinked back tears that had gathered in her eyes. “Oh my dears, it must have been terrible for both of you. All the years of careful upbringing, only to have this girl fancy herself a servant. If you, Lady Charlesworth, had not become suspicious, it might have been years before her rightful position was restored.”

Katharine nodded solemnly. “I am deeply grateful to her ladyship.”

Before Katharine could be addressed further, Lady Charlesworth took charge of the conversation. “But it has all come to a happy end. My son and Lady Katharine have fallen deeply in love and there is to be a wedding.”

Lady Weatherton brightened. “A wedding? Has there been a date set?”

“
No. But I expect they shall want to be married here in London before the end of the season.”

Katharine sighed. She would have much preferred a country wedding at the quaint chapel on the Charlesworth estate. Yet, to keep Lady Charlesworth in humor, she was willing to concede on this point.

“
We shall go away to the country for a while to let the dear girl’s mind settle and to make our plans. Then we shall return and be merrily busy upon with the arrangements.”

Lady Weatherton beamed. “These are most happy plans, indeed.”

“
Yes. We can assemble our guest list while in the country. But we must find a good dressmaker and see to the measurement and material before we leave. Have you any recommendation?”

“
Indeed. I have all of my clothes made by Madame Yvette on Stall Street. She is the best, I believe.”

“
That is very good to know. I have heard of her. Perhaps we shall pay her a visit in a day or two.”

Lady Weatherton looked pleased to have been of service.

They took tea with her before departing for a visit to the next lady on the list.

As they boarded the carriage, Katharine knew that Lady Charlesworth was not going to be pleased by one change in her plans. Nonetheless, it could not be helped. Katharine felt strongly about the matter. So, she took a deep breath and plunged ahead.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“
My lady, I must beg that you would humor me in regard to one aspect of the wedding. You spoke of finding a dressmaker. And yet, I have already chosen one.”

Lady Charlesworth looked surprised and more than a little pleased. “Indeed? I did not know you were acquainted with any couturieres in London. Perhaps she is the one who made your mother’s gowns? Your mother had exquisite taste.”

“
She is Lizzy’s aunt. I stayed with her for the short time that I was away from you.”

Lady Charlesworth’s usually pale face went completely white. “What? That woman on Cheapside? You cannot be serious.”

“
I am very serious. I would not care if she lived in a stable. She is an exceptional seamstress.”

Lady Charlesworth fanned herself. “But we will be asked who stitched your dress. What shall I say?”

For her part, Katharine did not care. However, she did pity the social sensibility of Lady Charlesworth. “We could say that she is the aunt of a most loyal servant whom I insisted upon rewarding. You may lay the blame squarely upon me for insisting upon her services.”

“
I have not told anyone that you stayed there with her. I had hoped to conceal that part of the story.”

“
I see no reason why it need be revealed.”

“
I beg you to reconsider, in fact, I command you to do so. I understand that you are grateful to this woman, but can we not pay her a ten-pound note to satisfy your gratitude? I should be happy to take it out of my purse.”

“
She would not take it. She takes pride in earning her living.”

Lady Charlesworth frowned. “This is most distressing. I shall speak to Philip about it. Perhaps he may convince you to be sensible.”

Katharine knew that she had won the argument. Philip would understand her gratitude and would not care that she wished to engage Mrs. Baker to make her dress. Perhaps if she let Lady Charlesworth have her way with the rest of the arrangements, she would find it easier to accept this one concession.

They rode in silence to the next matron on the list. Once there, they repeated the performance with the same sympathetic results. By the time they finished their morning of calls, they were both exhausted.

When they arrived home, Lady Charlesworth proclaimed her plan a success. “I believe after a brief stay in the country, it is safe to assume that we may return with every hope of rejoining society. And with a wedding to tempt them, no respectable matron will be able to stay away.”

She retired for a rest while Katharine sought out Lizzy, who was fairly bursting to find out how their morning had gone. Katharine’s green eyes sparkled with amusement. “I wish you could have been there, Lizzy. Lady Charlesworth proved herself a fine performer. She had the matrons mopping up floods of tears. I do believe that, if they can forgive me, she shall forgive me also and I shall be restored to favor.”

“
I am glad to hear it.”

“
There is only one thing which disturbs her.”

She told Lizzy about her determination to have Mrs. Baker sew her dress.

Lizzy bit her lip as she listened, and then said, “It is wonderful of you to feel obliged. And yet, I do hope it will not cause hard feelings with the mistress. I am sure my aunt would not want that.”

Katharine smiled. “If there is one thing I have learned about Lady Charlesworth, it is that she does not dwell upon what is unpleasant to her when there are other things to distract her.”

Lizzy laughed. “You are quite right, of course.”

That evening, after having failed to convince Philip of the rightness of her stance, Lady Charlesworth informed Katharine, “Tomorrow, you may take Lizzy and go to the dressmaker. I shall remain here and oversee the packing of our trunks.”

So, the next afternoon, Katharine ordered the carriage brought round so that she and Lizzy might pay a visit to Cheapside. Though the morning had begun with low overcast clouds, the afternoon saw them meld together to bestow a gray drizzle that forced the driver to raise the carriage top before assisting Katharine and Lizzy aboard. Katharine stared out at the puddles forming along the sides of the cobbled streets and imagined that Mrs. Baker had been forced to put out the pots that caught the water from her leaking roof.

Lizzy’s agitation grew as they drew near the east side. “We have never met. What if she does not like me?”

Katharine patted her hand. “Relax. In spite of her gruff ways, she is kind-hearted. She will like you.”

A footman summoned Mrs. Baker while the driver shielded Katharine and Lizzy under cover of a broad umbrella as they dashed for the door. Mrs. Baker stepped back to admit them. “Ye are a welcome sight, though I think ye daft for coming out in such awful weather.”

Katharine smiled into Mrs. Baker’s sharp beady eyes that reminded her of a sparrow. “We have business with you. It cannot wait because I shall be returning to the country tomorrow.”

Lizzy smiled shyly as Mrs. Baker studied her. “And who is this?”

“
I am your niece, Lizzy, daughter of your brother, Fred.”

“
Yes. That I would have guessed. You have Fred’s wide eyes and dark hair. You look a great deal like your father.”

“
I am glad for that, Aunt.”

Mrs. Baker’s eyes betrayed a faint misting before she broke the tender moment by saying, “Ye’d better both set at the table and have a spot of tea. No doubt, ye got wet and will catch cold if ye do not get something hot in ye.”

“
That sounds wonderful. Perhaps we can all have a chat,” Katharine suggested.

They settled at the table. When the tea kettle was whistling merrily, Mrs. Baker poured tea into three cracked cups and joined them to sip the refreshingly warm drink. She asked Lizzy about the years since she had been separated from her brother and told her visitors a little about her life on Cheapside, how her only child had died from the cholera at only ten years of age and how she had been widowed and left alone these past twelve years.

Coming from the lips of some women, it would have sounded a pitiful complaint against the unfairness of life. From Mrs. Baker, it was simply a recitation of her journey since leaving her parents, who were tenants on the Charlesworth estate. She told Lizzy of the adjustment of living in London with her husband, who became a coal whipper and how she had learned to sew to help support her family.

And that brought Katharine to the reason for their visit. “The young man who came here has proposed and I have accepted. It is my wish that you would sew my wedding dress. Would you be so kind as to do so?”

Mrs. Baker’s lower jaw dropped in wonder. “Me, sew a wedding dress? It has been some time since I sewed so fancy a dress.”

She stared down at her knobby fingers. “I wonder if I would not snag the silk and lace with these rough hands.”

Katharine placed a hand gently atop the woman’s fingers. “I should not mind a snag here and there if you agree to make the dress, for I know how well you sew.”

Mrs. Baker’s mouth pulled into a smile. “It would be fun to order silk instead of coarse woolen for a change.”

“
And it would be fun to come here with Lizzy and have a fitting. And no one except the three of us would see the dress until it was finished. It would be just like a cozy secret,” Katharine said.

The rain splashed through leaks in the roof, making a tinkering sound in the buckets that were set about the small combined parlor and kitchen. Yet the occupants seemed unaware of the noise as they bent with heads together, drawing designs until Mrs. Baker felt sure that she knew exactly what Katharine had in mind. She took Katharine’s measurements and promised, “I will order the fabric and work on it while ye are away. In a month, I will have yer dress ready to try on.”

Katharine’s eyes shone. “It will be everything I imagined when I was a little girl. And all the more precious because you have made it.”

She paid Mrs. Baker to order the material, and then insisted upon a generous price for the making of the dress. Then she and Lizzy bid their good-byes and ventured into the rain that had slackened into a fine mist. The pale rays of sunset lit the sky with a pink haze.