Free My Wayward Lady by Evelyn Richardson Page B

whom as the women of Thornby were. To Harriet it appeared that society in London was no more enlightened or interesting than it was in Buckinghamshire, merely on a larger scale and more competitive. She had been as bored by the ton's most glittering balls as she had been by the local assemblies.
    For most young women, the prospect of catching a husband outweighed any of the possible discomforts of the Season—the fear of being left partnerless at a ball, the dreadful possibility of being labeled a quiz or, worse yet, a bluestocking, the agony of having the same goal as all the other young women, many of whom were more wealthy or more beautiful or both. None of these common afflictions had bothered Harriet in the least because she had never entertained any idea of finding a husband. The first time she had revealed this singular point of view to her sister, Elizabeth had been shocked beyond words. For a full minute she had gazed at her sister, her blue eyes wide with horrified dismay. "Not want to be married!" She gasped.
    "What ever will you do?"
    "I shall stay here and take care of Papa and keep house for Charlie until he marries and then I expect I can move to the dower house," Harriet had responded simply.
    "But, I mean what will you do without a husband, how ever will you manage?" Elizabeth was unable to comprehend such a fate.
    77
    My Wayward Lady
    by Evelyn Richardson
    "I shall manage the same as I always have. I shall be me and not someone who is at the beck and call of another person who would probably be a great deal less intelligent than I am. Look at poor Lady Winslow, worn to a shadow by that worthless husband of hers who runs through her inheritance and does nothing but drink and ride to the hounds. And then there is the squire's wife who not only has to contend with her loutish husband, but with son who is a boor as well. And what have they gotten for their pains—the respectability of being married women. No thank you. I would prefer to be disreputable and free."
    "But what about love?" her sister protested. "Do you not long for a handsome man to admire you and take care of you"—her eyes grew soft and dreamy—"and give you babies?"
    Harriet snorted in a most unladylike fashion. "Love? Maybe someone could love you for you are soft and pretty and biddable. I am not at all like you. No, I think love is as unlikely as marriage for me. I am just not that sort of person. I am not at all romantic or silly like the Marcus girls, who are forever giggling over one handsome face after the other or filling their days with foolish novels from the circulating library and lessons in dancing, music, and anything else that they hope to use to catch a man."
    "But how lonely you will be." Elizabeth remained unconvinced.
    Harriet smiled. After all, her sister truly was concerned about her welfare and was trying to insure it the only way she knew how. "You will have lots of babies and I shall come and 78
    My Wayward Lady
    by Evelyn Richardson
    visit them from time to time and question them fiercely about how they are doing in their lessons as Aunt Almeria used to do. Remember?"
    Elizabeth, who had never been much at schoolwork, shuddered. "Yes, I do. It is all very well for you to remember such things because you were her favorite. You were always so much quicker than Charlie and I despite your being younger. But you do not wish to be like Aunt Almeria with her scholarly meetings and—"
    "Why not?" Harriet broke in. "She seems to be perfectly content with her life in Bath and never appears to lack for friends or amusement."
    "No?" Elizabeth was uncertain. For some reason, she could not say quite what, Aunt Almeria's well-regulated way of life was not the one she would choose for her vibrant younger sister. To be sure, Harriet's keen mind, which she never made the least attempt to hide, made gentlemen uneasy more often than not. And her sense of the ridiculous, which endeared her to her family, did not have the same effect on