Free The Marriage Wager by Candace Camp

generally renew one’s wardrobe. It was as odd as her knowing where to buy ribbons, lace and other accessories at the best prices. Constance could not help but wonder if Lady Haughston might not suffer from something of a lack of funds herself. She had heard no rumors to that effect, of course, but clearly Francesca was quite adept at hiding such a thing, at least in regard to one’s wardrobe.
    Before long, Georgiana and her sister drifted down the hall and stood with their mother, looking awestruck as they watched Francesca bustle about the little room. When, finally, Francesca left, reminding Constance that she was to come to her house the following afternoon before the ball, the two girls turned to their mother, their voices rising in a wail.
    “Why is she going to Lady Haughston’s?” Georgiana cast a disparaging glance toward Constance. “Why can’t we go, too?”
    “I am going because Lady Haughston asked me,” Constance told her calmly, refraining from pointing out the obvious corollary that Georgiana and Margaret were not going because Lady Haughston had not invited them.
    “I know that,” Georgiana snapped. “But why? Why does she want you there? Why did she take you out today?”
    Constance shrugged. She was not about to tell her relatives of Francesca’s plans for her.
    “And how did you buy all these things?” Margaret added, looking at the dresses and adornments scattered all over the bed.”
    “I used money I’d been saving.”
    “Yes, well, if you have so much money, you might have thought to help us a little,” Aunt Blanche sniffed. “We have been giving you a roof over your head and food to eat for the past six years.”
    “Aunt Blanche! You know I give you money every month!” Constance cried. “And I always pay for my clothes and personal items.”
    Her aunt shrugged, as though Constance’s argument had nothing to do with what she had said. “I cannot see why Lady Haughston has such a preference for you. It is most inexplicable. Why does she not ask to take out Georgiana?”
    “What about me?” Margaret asked indignantly.
    “I am the eldest,” Georgiana told her sister haughtily.
    The two girls began to squabble, and Constance turned away to begin to fold and put away the things that now lay all over her bed. After a few minutes, her aunt and cousins moved out of her room, continuing their conversation in the more comfortable arena of the sitting room.
    But the subject did not die. Georgiana and Margaret brought it up again at the dinner table, until finally their normally lax and imperturbable father snapped at them to be quiet. The two girls lapsed into a sullen pout, but they took up their grievances again as soon as their father had retired to his port after dinner. Their mother, of course, agreed with them that it was neither right nor fair that they had not been taken under Lady Haughston’s wing instead of Constance. Constance retired early, claiming a headache—which was indeed the truth, after listening to the other women harp on the subject of Lady Haughston all evening. The next day she stayed to herself as much as possible, working quietly in her room on the various small things that she and Francesca had determined could be done to her dresses. The larger alterations, of course, she would have to take with her to Lady Haughston’s for the more skilled hands of Francesca’s maid.
    Constance even considered foregoing her luncheon. Sir Roger always went to his club during the day, so there would be no one to put a stop to Georgiana’s and Margaret’s complaints. Their mother rarely reined them in, and in any case, Constance knew that Aunt Blanche also disliked the fact that Lady Haughston preferred Constance to the rest of them. Her worst fear was that Aunt Blanche would forbid her to go to Francesca’s house, even though it would clearly work against her own best interests. Aunt Blanche was often as slowwitted as her daughters, and much more stubborn.
    However,