Guilty by Association
Meredith's Tender Awakening: Chapter 3.1
As Meredith watched through the carriage window, the houses gradually grew fewer in number and smaller as they left the bustle of London behind, until there were only fields and hedges to entertain her. The rocking of the carriage and the rhythmic clip of the horses’ hooves might have lulled her into a dreamy state if the previous day’s events had not churned her thoughts into a maelstrom.
That morning had progressed uneventfully. Meredith, her mother, and aunt, had taken tea in the upstairs drawing room. Several ladies and their daughters had left calling cards. The waves of unreality did not rock their peaceful boat until after luncheon, when the butler presented her mother with a sealed letter on a tray.
“Who’s it from Verity?” Aunt Cecily was brimming with curiosity.
Commencing reading, her mother gasped, covering her rosebud lips with a pale hand, and Meredith also grew eager to know the letter’s contents.
Holding the page to her chest, which was rising and falling rapidly, her mother flicked her eyes towards Aunt Cecily, then Meredith.
“It’s Ariadne,” she sounded breathless, but what followed knocked the breath from Meredith too. “She has tried to elope with Mr Barclay.”
“Who?” Aunt Cecily’s brows drew together, struggling to place the name.
“Our piano teacher,” Meredith, blindsided by the news, supplied.
“Did you know anything of this?”
Meredith flinched under her mother’s scrutiny, while Aunt Cecily pried the letter from her sister’s hand to read for herself.
“No Mother,” Meredith shook her head.
Yet she wondered if she should relay the conversation she and Ariadne shared before their recent lesson. She’d thought her friend’s romantic imaginings overblown, the frisson a fantasy. She’d never dreamed there were more undercurrents than she had observed. Am I terribly self-absorbed? This guilty thought crossed her mind as her mother and aunt fretted over the hows and whys of her young friend’s transgression.
“I hope her father has the sense to pay him off to ensure the scandal does not leak,” her mother said.
Aunt Cecily’s face was drawn, looking worriedly between Verity Millais and her daughter.
“I suggest we put distance between Meredith and Ariadne, to limit the damage to our girl’s reputation,” she decreed.
“You don’t think –?” Verity gulped.
“Hard to say, society loves nothing more than escalating scandalous gossip,” Aunt Cecily rubbed her brow and rose from her seat, beginning to pace.
“Meredith, go to your room, I’ll have your maids attend you. They should pack ball gowns and day dresses, walking boots and plenty of bonnets. You and I will set off for Bath first thing tomorrow morning.”
While she was brisk efficiency, Verity sat wringing her hands.
“Under my roof! That silly girl – her poor mother …”
“I’ll ring for fresh tea,” Aunt Cecily placated her sister, but she raised an eyebrow at Meredith, who remained sitting elegantly on the gilt-legged settee.
“What will happen to Ariadne?” Meredith wanted to know.
“If she was my daughter she’d be banished to her room,” Aunt Ceclily’s tone was clipped, but her expression softened at the sight of Meredith’s anguished face. “The family will probably send her to stay outside London. I assume they have relatives in the country?”
“I believe she mentioned an uncle in Hampshire …” Meredith trailed off uncertainly.
“If he’s married, that’s probably where she will go.”
Her aunt instructed the butler to bring tea and then held out her hand to Meredith.
“Come dear one, it’s not so terrible for you. Had I not promised we would take the restorative waters in Bath? The society there is quite as vibrant as in Mayfair.”
She coaxed Meredith to stand and looked her squarely in the eyes.
“The piano teacher did not … pay his attentions to you I hope?”
Verity Millais turned swiftly towards Meredith, her equilibrium rested on her daughter’s answer.
“No Aunt, I promise he did nothing beyond teaching me scales and how to play tunes by Mozart and Schubert.”
While her mother fanned herself in relief, Meredith loosed her hand from Aunt Cecily’s grip and left the room, eager to be alone with her thoughts and concerns for Ariadne.
If you’re curious about what happens next, this is just a taster. Currently on my Shake a Tailfeather tier on Ream Subscribers have access to the first 13 chapters, for just $5 /month.For a free subscription [1 month duration] leave me a comment or note to let me know you are interested.