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Excerpt from the Quizzing Glass Gazette, September 21, 1821, the Lady Society column:
It has come to the attention of Lady Society that a new titled peer has arrived in London. Ladies, hearken to my words. He is thirty years of age, unmarried, without any mistresses—at least from what this clever listener can glean—and fabulously wealthy. He is also quite handsome, with eyes the color of pale amber and hair as black as a peregrine falcon’s wings. Which is fitting, given his name . . .
What is perhaps most surprising is that this gentleman is simply that: a gentleman. It has been a while since I have been witness to a man with charm and grace and selflessness, yet without a wicked bone in his body. Perhaps it is because he never expected to become an earl? If you are husband hunting, seek out this man before some other clever young lady does.
“Something simply must be done about that girl.”
The hushed, hateful whispers echoed up the stairs to where Sabrina Talleyrand was sitting. She tucked her knees up to her chin as she strained to hear the response from the other person below.
“Yes, yes, Prudence, I know. But we couldn’t afford to send her to London for the season when she first came of age, and now she’s twenty-two. It’s too late for her to be considered for any decent match.” Her brother, Jereym, let out a long-suffering sigh.
Prudence, Jereym’s wife and Sabrina’s sister-in-law, huffed. “She’s costly. We are barely making ends meet as it is. We can no longer afford to keep her. You must find a way to marry her off, preferably to someone with deep pockets who will pay off our debts.”
“Well, I have good news on that front,” Jereym said. “I met a man today at my club. He said he would be interested in meeting her this afternoon, but he’s rather a selective man. She may not be up to scratch.”
“Nonsense. She’s pretty enough—at least to get a man leg-shackled and breed a brat through her.”
Prudence’s cold tone cut Sabrina deeply. How could they speak so carelessly, so callously, of her future? She sniffled as tears began to trail down her cheeks.
“When will this gentleman be here, Jereym?”
“Sometime this afternoon. Have a tea service ready, and tell my sister to make herself presentable.”
Sabrina stood as she heard the hushed whispers grow louder as Jereym and Prudence moved toward the stairs. It took a moment to wrestle her emotions down and swallow the lump in her throat. She had to buy herself some time to figure out what to do. She wiped her eyes and rushed back to her room. She attempted to busy herself at her small writing desk as Prudence knocked on her door. The last thing she needed was Prudence discovering that she’d become adept at eavesdropping.
“Sabrina, my dear?” Her tone was sickly sweet.
“Yes, Prudence? Do come in.”
Her sister-in-law was a tall woman with a willowy figure and china-blue eyes. She would have been pretty if she smiled more and frowned less, but ever since Jereym had married her, Sabrina had rarely seen Prudence in a good mood.
“Oh, Sabrina, good morning.” The little mobcap Prudence wore seemed to make her look far older than her twenty-five years. Sabrina vowed she would never wear a cap like that, even if she grew to be ninety.
“Good morning.” Sabrina waited, praying her eyes weren’t still red.
“Your brother has met someone in London who is most anxious to meet you. I’m told he’s quite handsome, and quite wealthy too. He is coming to visit us today.” Prudence plucked a bit of invisible dust from the puffed sleeve of her pink-and-white striped gown. “I believe you should wear your best gown, the orange one.”
That wasn’t Sabrina’s best gown, but Prudence’s poor fashion sense was a good thing in this instance, because Sabrina had no desire to look good for this man. If Jereym had found him at his club, that did not speak highly of him. Sabrina loved her brother, but she did not like him very much.
After their parents had died, Jereym had become her guardian, but Jereym could barely look out for himself, let alone her. Had it been possible, Sabrina would have left this house and gone out into the world to take care of herself, but there were so few useful skills she possessed. Her poor sewing skills left dreams of millinery shops and seamstress positions out of the question. And she could not entertain thoughts of those professions she could perform, especially those of a more degrading nature.
“Thank you, Prudence. I will change and come downstairs to wait.”
“Good, good.” Prudence left her, a smug smile twisted on her mouth as she exited the small bedchamber.
Sabrina went to her armoire and stroked her hands along the peeling painted wood. It was one of the last pieces of furniture her brother hadn’t sold to pay off his debts. Their drawing room looked passable, as was Jereym’s bedchamber, of course, but the rest of their little cottage was in poor shape. Most of the decent silver and furniture had been sold years ago.
The panels on the armoire were decorated with wildflowers, ones her mother had painted when Sabrina was a child. She traced her fingertips over the snowdrops, dog roses, cornflowers, and bluebells. Their mother had fallen ill a year after their father had died on a hunting trip. Jereym had been a young man then, barely twenty, and she but a girl, and it had changed everything. He had married Prudence and had hoped his new wife’s small bit of wealth would sustain them, but Jereym’s love of fine clothes and gambling tables had left the three of them worse off than they’d hoped to be. Rather than take out her frustrations with their situation on Jereym, Prudence targeted Sabrina instead.
Sabrina removed the orange gown from the armoire and winced at its blinding color. It was one of Prudence’s castoffs. The style was a bit out of date, and the hem needed to be mended. Sabrina had mended it four times already, but her poor sewing skills always left the gown in need of further repairs.
“Miss?” Their single housemaid, Louisa, came into the room. “The master said you might need some help?”
“Oh, yes, thank you.” Sabrina was glad to have help as she changed out of her pale-blue muslin gown and into the orange silk day gown. She combed her hair with Louisa’s help until it was pulled up and pinned in place. Her dark hair and brown eyes did look all right with the gown after all, but that actually made Sabrina frown. She didn’t want to look appealing to whomever Jereym was bringing to meet her.
“Thank you, Louisa.” She dismissed the maid, who still had plenty of work to see to. It was one more thing that Sabrina wasn’t pleased about. They had been forced to dismiss all but a handful of their servants. It wasn’t because she liked to be waited upon hand and foot, but rather because most of the staff were friends, and seeing them leave to find work elsewhere had hurt. And those left behind had found their duties doubled. Louisa had stayed on, acting as an upstairs maid and housekeeper, and one footman had stayed, shouldering the responsibilities of the butler as well. They also still retained their cook and one gardener.
By the time Sabrina summoned the courage to go downstairs, she was sick to her stomach. The next few hours became a painful lesson in patience and perseverance as she sat in the drawing room trying to read.
It was all such nonsense. Sitting and waiting for a man to change her life, likely not for the better. She had a thousand other things she could be doing at that moment. She’d never been one to be idle, except when she was reading, which of late she had done a fair amount of. Before they’d lost most of their money, she’d baked bread and prepared other food in baskets for the local elderly neighbors and the poorer farmers nearby.