Free Kitty by MC Beaton Page A

then. Very good for restoring the spirits.”
    Kitty’s spirits began to soar. She had a sudden feeling that all her nightmares were coming to an end. She followed her companion through the public rooms of the inn and out into a sunny garden at the back.
    Lady Mainwaring waited until the landlord’s wife had finished drying the rain-spattered table and then unfurled her parasol and leaned back in her chair.
    “I called to visit my old friend Amelia Henley,” she said. “I’m sorry I missed your wedding but I happen to have just got back from Rome.
    “Well—Lady Henley—after she had finished eating a whole goose, bones and all, I assure you—told me that she and your mother had made a cruel mess of your marriage arrangements and she begged me to help.
    “The whole thing intrigued me so I drove down to Reamington Hall to find your husband up to his neck in the estate books. Where was his wife? I asked. He replied that you were having a high old time with the Thackerays. Now no one—unless they have the hide of a rhinoceros—has a high old time at the Thackerays. So I didn’t say anything to him. I just rode to the rescue.
    “Now, tell me all about it.”
    Lady Emily’s honesty was patent and so for the second time that day, Kitty told her story.
    “Just what I thought,” said Lady Mainwaring when she had finished. “Look, Kitty—I may call you Kitty, may I?—I will send my coachman back to Rooks Neuk—dear God,
what
a name—to collect your baggage. You shall come back to London with me and by the time I’ve finished with you, you will be the smartest matron in town and all the young men will be at your feet.”
    “I don’t want all the young men at my feet, Only my husband,” cried Kitty.
    “You are not going to get your husband at your feet the way you are now,” said Lady Mainwaring briskly. “You have allowed yourself to be bullied unmercifully by all concerned. Now I am going to bully you, but only to put some stiffening into your backbone.”
    She looked at Kitty’s pretty organza dress. “Who chooses your clothes for you?”
    “My mama and Lady Henley,” said Kitty.
    “Choose your own always,” said her new friend.
    “Clothes that someone else has imposed on you always sit on your body as if they don’t belong to you. We will go to the dressmakers in London and you will choose exactly what you want to wear. It is no use wearing something in perfect taste if you don’t
feel
pretty in it.”
    Lady Mainwaring twirled her parasol and looked on her new friend with amused kindness.
    “The secret of social success is to do and say exactly what you want—within limits. If anyone is teasing you or being witty at your expense and you can’t think of anything witty or clever to say in your defense—don’t Be damned rude. Be extremely honest always. Nothing frightens a social crowd more than honesty. And anyone they are frightened of—they make the current fashion.
    “Care to give it a try?”
    “Oh, yes,” breathed Kitty. “But my husband. He is coming to meet me at the Thackerays tomorrow.”
    “You shall send him a loving little note,” said Lady Mainwaring. “Say you are bored with the country and have gone with me to London for a short stay. Say you will miss him, but that you appreciate that he is too busy at the moment to have any time for you.”
    A shadow crossed Kitty’s face. “You are in love with him, aren’t you?” asked her companion. “Most women are. Your husband is a very attractive man who has been spoiled by too much feminine attention.
    “You must make him run after
you.
”
    “Are you sure you are not mistaken?” asked Kitty timidly.
    “Me?” said her ladyship forcefully.
    “I, my dear, am
never
wrong.”

CHAPTER FOUR
    Lord Peter Chesworth closed the estate books with a weary sigh. An evening breeze brought in the heavy scent of lime from the old trees bordering the drive.
    He had better set out in the morning to see how Kitty was getting along.