Free Time After Time by Elizabeth Boyce Page A

will arrive the day after tomorrow. That lovely Albright girl you were speaking to at the Mortimer assembly is coming with her sisters, isn’t that grand?”
    “Who?”
    “You know, the pretty one with the white blond hair and big blue eyes.”
    “There were several young ladies of that description at the Mortimers’.”
    “Yes, well, she’s coming here with her sisters.”
    “Thank you, Mother, but I prefer to choose my own future.”
    “Will it hurt you to try, for once, to be less than the wrath of Satan to me? I’ve invited that cabal of warlocks you met at Eaton, too. So you see, Hugh, I’m not unreasonable.”
    “Ha.” He strode away, flipped his coat tails, and sat at his desk.
    Lady Davenport hesitated in the doorway, then cleared her throat and marched to the front of the desk.
    “You are a Peer of the Realm now. It’s time you realized that titles demand respectability. You are no longer free to dally with servant girls.”
    Clenching his teeth, Hugh took out a piece of stationery, wetted the tip of his quill, and dated the top of a letter.
    Not about to be dismissed, she took a paperweight and slammed it on the desktop. “I want you to know that the Mortimers’ maid, Hortense, has been dismissed.”
    “What?”
    “Your actions have consequences, Hugh.”
    “You have ruined that woman’s life! Your actions caused the consequences.”
    “If ever a woman deserved dismissal … It is time you were married. Every eye in society is waiting to see you settled.”
    Hugh bolted from his chair. “I’ll be damned if I’m going to marry to satisfy that lot,” he roared. Coming around the desk, he backed his mother toward the door. “You and the rest of your bloodsucking crowd can roast in hell! I will not marry some palsied cull to make you happy.”
    “It is for your own good,” Lady Davenport blurted as she retreated from the room. The door slammed behind her.
    In the hallway she fanned herself, trying to calm her nerves. After a few deep breaths she cracked the library door. “You will be civil to the Albright girls, won’t you?” she said.
    Hugh glowered. “Good heavens, I’m not an animal.”
    “That could be debated. But you won’t spend all your time with the servants, will you?”
    “Mother, I’ll do my best, but that’s as much as I’ll guarantee.”
    “Excellent. Thank you, dear.” She closed the door.
    • • •
    Ellie had hoped to slip quietly into the house and tell Claire to tell their mother that Ellie would be at Aunt May’s until the running of the Haldon Gold Cup. However, with her first footfall on the front steps to the Tudor mansion, an excited baying of hounds erupted. The dogs hurled themselves at her as she opened the door. Their toenails beat a wild dance on the marble, and she received an instant coating of saliva, paw dirt, and hair.
    “You’re home!” Peggity said from the top of the staircase. “Ellie, we have the most wonderful news.”
    “Let me tell her. Let me tell her,” squealed Snap. Peggity swept down the stairs, but Snap beat her by sliding down the banister.
    “The Davenports want us to play with them!” Snap said.
    “What’s this?” asked Ellie, picking up her little sister and kissing her rosy cheek.
    “The Davenports have invited us to a house party,” explained Peggity. “Snap may visit.”
    “Are you in earnest?” Ellie said.
    “Dear, you’re home,” cried Lady Albright, sailing into the front hall. She wrapped her daughter in a warm hug.
    Lord Albright apparently heard the ruckus, and barged through his study door, his favorite black cat clinging to his shoulders. “Ah, Ellie, I’m glad you’re home. Come, dear, I must show you a most marvelous book I just received.”
    “Papa, I have to tell you about Mr. Lank. He’s in league with … ”
    A cloud passed over her father’s face. “There’s no need to discuss it further … ”
    “No darling, there isn’t,” said Lady Albright, slipping between Ellie and her