Free Cavendon Hall by Barbara Taylor Bradford

minds at rest. By the way, where did you fall, Lady Daphne? In the woods?”
    “Yes,” Daphne replied, swallowing hard.
    “I shall lock the door behind me, m’lady. You don’t need anyone walking in on you unexpectedly. I’ll only be a few minutes.”
    *   *   *
    “Is Daphne all right?” DeLacy asked as soon as Alice walked into the sewing room.
    “Oh yes, she’s perfectly fine,” Alice answered, smiling. She added, “You look lovely in that rose-colored chiffon, Lady DeLacy. I think this one will work beautifully for you, for the spring supper dance later this month. Don’t you agree, Cecily?”
    “I do, Mother, it is a wonderful color for DeLacy, and a change from blue.” Cecily began to laugh. “Everyone in this family wants to wear blue.” She glanced at DeLacy, and said, “I’m sorry, Lacy, but it is the truth.”
    “Oh, I know. Great-Aunt Gwendolyn says we’re all stick-in-the-muds, and unimaginative. She thinks we should all wear purple … the royal color. She even wonders aloud why we want clothes to match our eyes.”
    Alice also had to laugh. “She’s been saying that for as long as I can remember.”
    DeLacy swirled, the chiffon evening dress flaring out around her legs. She said, as she turned again, “I suppose Daphne must have fallen in the woods. I know she was going to see Julian at Havers Lodge … to tell him he could invite his fiancée to the big ball. She must have been hurrying back because of the thunderclouds, and then tripped.”
    “That’s exactly what happened,” Alice murmured, her mind instantly focused on the Torbetts. She knew the earl and the countess had never been too happy about Lady Daphne’s friendship with Julian, when they were younger. They were afraid the two of them might become too attached to each other. Fortunately, that hadn’t happened, because of Julian’s intentions to have a military career, and Daphne’s lack of interest in him romantically.
    They had only ever been platonic friends. This was also because Daphne’s head was filled with dreams of a duke’s son and a brilliant marriage, planted there at a very young age by her father, the earl.
    To Alice’s way of thinking, there was something odd about the Torbett family. They tended to put on airs and graces, and they weren’t as wealthy as they liked the world to believe. Hanson had always told Walter that they were pretentious, jumped-up nothings.
    On the other hand, Hanson was a bit of a snob and tended to dismiss anybody without a title. However, his damning statements seemed to stick, remained in the head.
    Going over to the rack of dresses, Alice looked at all of them with her beady eye; they were perfect for DeLacy, she decided. She took a honey-colored taffeta ball gown over to DeLacy. “I think this would be lovely—”
    There was a knock on the door, and when Alice called, “Come in,” it was Walter who poked his head into the room. “Sorry to disturb you, ladies, but his lordship would like DeLacy to go down for afternoon tea. Lady Gwendolyn has just walked over, and they are waiting in the drawing room.”
    Alice nodded, and exclaimed, “Tea, of course! You’d better hurry along, DeLacy.” And I’d better go and look in on Daphne, Alice thought, as she gave the honey-colored gown to Cecily, then hurried out to join her husband.
    In the corridor, Alice took hold of Walter’s arm. “Has the countess returned from Harrogate yet?”
    “No, she won’t be back for another hour or so.”
    “I’ll see you at home tonight,” Alice murmured, and went down the stairs to the main bedroom floor. Walter followed her, and squeezed her arm affectionately, before they went in different directions. DeLacy was already halfway down the main staircase, on her way to tea.
    Alice unlocked the door to Daphne’s bedroom, went inside, and quickly locked it behind her. Daphne was nowhere in sight. Alice noticed the small pile of clothes folded up on a chair. She went to examine