Page 45 of The Deceptive Earl

Charity could see that she must do so. She cleared her throat and swung her arm wide to offer entry into the townhouse. The pair of gentlemen strode by her as if nothing were out of the ordinary. She realized that her father’s trousers were quite wet from the knees down, and he was nearly dripping on the foyer floor. Aside from that, he smelled of whiskey.

Lady Charity had sent for the doctor as soon as she had returned home from the park. Due to that preemptive measure, the physician was currently taking his leisure in her father’s rooms. Charity sent a servant to retrieve the man immediately that he might inspect her father’s condition. She invited the gentlemen to sit in the parlor.

Once her father had taken his seat upon the couch, his weariness began to take hold. As his brain struggled to continue the delusion, he grew more and more confused. Eventually, his eyes drifted closed and his head fell back to the seat as he fell into dreaming.

“Doctor Porter,” Charity approached the physician with concern, “will he be alright?”

“I believe so,” Doctor Porter replied. “What he needs now is rest. He has had a trying and confusing day.”

Charity nodded and directed the servants to put the Earl to bed. She could not help but think that she was incredibly lucky that her father had been found and returned unharmed, and she owed that luck to Lord Wentwell, who had found him and brought him home. No matter what she thought of him, Lord Wentwell had gone out of his way to help her and she was grateful.

“No more excursions without proper help,” the doctor added before he made his exit.

Charity nodded, suddenly exhausted from the day’s events. She sank back on the coach and asked, “Where was he?”

Lord Wentwell explained how he had found her father. “He had removed his shoes,” Lord Wentwell confided. “I believe he may have chosen to bathe in the fountain if I had not found him.”

“Lud!” Charity rubbed her forehead. She had the beginnings of a headache.

“In any case, he is home now,” Lord Wentwell said.

How her Father had gotten to that fountain, such a distance from the park, Charity might never know. She was thankful that Lord Wentwell had been able to convince Lord Shalace to trust and follow him, and that he had returned her father to her. She was about to express her gratitude when the door to the hall burst open without warning and Lady Shalace stormed in to glare at the pair of youngsters sitting proud as you please alone in the parlor.

Wentwell stood immediately, but the damage was done.

“What is the meaning of this?” Lady Shalace cried. “I came back as soon as I heard. Mrs. Thompson warned me, Lord Wentwell had reduced another lady to tears at the concert, and then, she saw you with my husband;my husband, was seen off gallivanting with this… this…” she did not seem to have the proper word to describe Lord Wentwell; for any word that she chose would be an insult, and Charity’s mother knew well enough to keep her tongue around a Peer even when she was enraged.

Instead of continuing the tirade, she turned on her daughter. “I wondered where on earth you had gone to, Charity, and now!” She turned towards Wentwell. “How dare you enter my home uninvited, and sit with my daughter unchaperoned. Next your mother will have disparaging words for my daughter, saying she wished to catch an earl. Well, I can tell you right now, that is not so. You will not ruin my daughter, Wentwell. You will not.”

“Mother please,” Charity began, but Lady Shalace waved her off.

She was fully the Countess now, and there was no stopping her. She turned briefly to Charity. “I thought you should have know better,” she snapped. “Go to your room at once.”

Charity had no intention of leaving until the matter was settled. “It is not what you think,” Charity said, but her mother would not be contained.

“Mother!” Charity began. She stepped forward, ready to defend Lord Wentwell, but she felt his touch at her elbow. When she turned her head, a slight shake told her that he did not wish her mother to know the truth of his heroism. Charity was confused by this. The truth would do wonders for his reputation but he seemed to want the opposite.

Lady Shalace lifted a finger and shook it under The Earl of Wentwell’s nose as if he were a boy instead of an earl. “You may be an earl, but you are also but a fledgling in the ways of theTon,” she said. “I know their collusions, and my husband is an earl, more advanced and prominent than you are. Do not think you can best me. You cannot. If you think to breathe a word of this, a single word, you will not be able to dig your way out of the scandal I will pour upon your head. Earl or no.”

“Lady Shalace,” Lord Wentwell began in an all too convincing tone, “I have come to apologize for my gallivanting, as you call it. You see, the concert was quite a bore, and I, as is my nature, longed for a small adventure. I met with the Earl, and am afraid your husband does not hold his liquor as well as he might have once done.”

“Liquor!” Lady Shalace threw a look at Charity who gave her the briefest of nods. She watched her mother’s countenance relax if only slightly. Her mother believed that Wentwell only thought her husband was drunk. Things were not as bad as she thought. Charity knew drinking was not the best pastime, but it was also not something which would keep her father from his earldom. It was an obsequious and virile endeavor which abounded among the gentlemen of theTon. Her father would not be looked down upon for imbibing.

Lord Wentwell looked shamed faced. “I did bring the Earl home, but he is quite in his cups, as I am sure you heard.”

“Oh,” her mother said, the wind taken from her sails. She shot another look at Charity, as if to say, how much does he know? Does he truly think your father was drunk?

“I was only informing the Lady Charity of the incident,” Lord Wentwell continued. “I am afraid we took flight without notifying Lady Charity. In fact, I did not know she was left alone, unescorted. I assure you, she has spared me no lash of her tongue.”

“I should hope not!” Lady Shalace spat! “To leave my daughter like that. The shame! On her own as well! You have removed a lady’s chaperone from her care! If she had not been wise enough to return to our home she might have been ruined!”

“But I am not,” Charity said.

“That remains to be seen, young lady,” her mother snapped. Charity knew, now that Lord Wentwell had explained he only saw The Earl of Shalace drunk, and not in any way indisposed, she supposed that her mother would soon vent her spleen upon her for losing him. “Good day, Lord Wentwell,” her mother said haughtily, effectively dismissing the man.

“I will take my leave now,” Lord Wentwell agreed.

“That is right,” Lady Shalace said. “Take your leave and do not darken my door again. You bring nothing but trouble and rumor in your wake.”