Free Lord Darlington's Darling by Gayle Buck

Abby with a twinge of unease. She felt wholly inadequate at preaching wisdom to the head strong beauty pacing beside her.
    “Pooh! Nonsense! Sylvan cares only that I make a brilliant match. He cares nothing for my heart!” said Lady Bethany dramatically. Tears stood on the ends of her lashes. “I am totally distraught, Abby! It is cruel—oh, so cruel!—to keep us apart like this!”
    Abby’s compassion was stirred. Though she could not imagine that Lord Darlington was quite the ogre Lady Bethany had painted him, her friend’s distress yet moved her. “I am so sorry, Bethany. If there was any thing that I could do—”
    “Oh, Abby!” Lady Bethany stopped short in the path, turning toward her enthusiastically. “There is some thing you can do!”
    Abby was taken aback, and immediately disclaimed. “I am sorry, Bethany! I could not possibly speak to Lord Darlington on your behalf. I am not on such intimate terms with him that I—”
    “Oh, I know that! Sylvan would not listen to you even if you were to speak to him,” said Lady Bethany, wav ing aside Abby’s objection. She saw that the maids were coming close, and she urged Abby to walk again. Leaning close to Abby’s ear, she said conspiratorially, “I was hoping you could give my admirer a message for me.”
    Now Abby stopped short, pulling away, a shocked expression on her face. “Lady Bethany! Of course I couldn’t do such a thing!”
    Lady Bethany tugged at her arm and drew her down the path again. “Don’t stop walking, Abby! We will cer tainly be overheard.”
    Abby obediently continued their stroll, but all of her pleasure in it was dashed. All of her thoughts were on the outrageous suggestion thrown out by her friend. “Really, Bethany, I don’t know how you could ask such a thing of me.”
    “All I wish to do is to write a small note. I just want to tell Rich—to tell my admirer that he must keep his distance because Sylvan dislikes the notion of his suit so,” said Lady Bethany, swallowing a sob. She looked pleadingly at Abby. “Do you not see, Abby? It is so unjust of Sylvan! My brother won’t even allow me to tell him that I must not think of him. He must believe I am the biggest beast in nature for acting so coldly toward him, when we were used to be such good friends!”
    “Oh!” Abby wasn’t certain that she quite under stood. However, Lady Bethany seemed sincerely distressed, and she did understand that. All too often her own preferences had been overrun by stronger personali ties than her own. The reflection that Lady Bethany was not particularly weak-willed occurred to her, but her sensitivity brushed aside logic. All of her sympathies had been aroused. “Oh, dear! I quite see how op pressed and unhappy you must feel.”
    Lady Bethany nodded, her mouth drooping in contempla tion of her blighted life. “It is very hard to bear, I assure you! When I meet my admirer’s reproachful glances, it is all I can do not to burst into tears and rush into his arms! But that would never do!”
    “No, it would not!” said Abby in strong agreement.
    “Now can you see how I have been driven to ask this favor of you, Abby? Will you not give my note to him, for my sake?” asked Lady Bethany.
    Abby felt herself wavering. She was reluctant to agree, for it all smacked of the clandestine, but she was not proof against Lady Bethany’s pleading gaze. Sigh ing, she nodded. “I trust I am not making a mistake.”
    Lady Bethany shrieked and threw her arms around her. “Thank you, my dearest of friends! I shall never ask another thing of you, I promise! Oh, Abby, how happy you have made me!”
    Abby laughed as she threw a glance backward at their chaperones. She realized it was not only their maids who were looking curiously at them, but that they were being given a few stares from passersby as well. “This is all very well, Lady Bethany, but everyone is looking at us.”
    Lady Bethany tucked her gloved hand back into Abby’s arm, “I don’t