The Paid Companion | Herophine

Chapter Thirty

Josephine

Two days later, late in the evening, Josephine stood with Anne at the back of yet another cramped, overheated ballroom. It was nearly midnight and she had dutifully endured several endless dances. Her feet ached, and she was restless and anxious.

None of those things would have mattered a jot, of course, if the dances had been with Hero, but that was not the case. He had been gone all evening, just as he had been the night before, pursuing his inquiries. She wished she had been able to talk him into taking her with him, but, as he had explained, he could not smuggle her into the various gentlemen’s clubs where he went to interview the old men.

Her thoughts kept returning to the conversation with Lady Wilmington. It had occurred to her this afternoon that there was one very important question that she and Hero had neglected to ask.

A pretty young woman, polite smile frozen in place, glided past in the arms of a middle-aged gentleman who could not seem to keep his attention away from the lady’s fair bosom.

“I must say, the longer I play my part in this affair,” Josephine murmured to Anne, “the more my respect grows for the stamina and endurance of the young ladies who are being dangled on the marriage mart. I do not know how they manage.”

“They have been in training for years,” Anne said dryly. “The stakes of this game are very high, after all. They are all well aware that their futures and in many cases the futures of their families are riding on the outcome of this one short Season.”

Josephine felt a rush of sudden understanding and sympathy. “That was how it was for you, was it not?”

“My family was in desperate straits the year I turned eighteen. I had three sisters and two brothers as well as my mother and grandmother to consider. My father had died, leaving very little. Contracting a successful marriage was our only hope. My grandmother scraped together the money required to give me a single Season. I met Harold Tiffin at my very first ball. His offer was accepted immediately, of course.”

“And you did what you had to do for the sake of your family.”

“He was a good man,” Anne said quietly. “And I came to care for him in time. The greatest difficulty was the difference in our ages. Harold was twenty-five years my senior. We had very little in common, as you can imagine. I had hoped to take comfort in my children, but we were not blessed with any.”

“What a sad tale.”

“But a very familiar one.” Anne nodded toward the couples on the dance floor. “I expect there will be many similar stories repeated this season.”

“No doubt.”

And the result would be any number of cold, loveless alliances, Josephine thought. She wondered if, in the end, Hero would be obliged to make such a marriage. He had no choice but to wed, after all, whether or not he found a woman he could love with all the passion that was locked inside him. In the end, he would do his duty by the title and the family, regardless of his own feelings.

“I must say, you are right about this crowd,” Anne said, fanning herself briskly. “It really is quite a crush tonight. It will take ages for Felix to get back to us with the lemonade. We shall likely perish of thirst before he returns.”

The throng parted briefly. Josephine spotted the elaborately curled, old-fashioned powdered wig that was part of the livery worn by their host’s footmen.

“There is a servant over there by the door,” she said, standing on tiptoe to get a better view. “Maybe we can catch his eye.”

“For all the good it will do,” Anne muttered. “This lot will have emptied his tray before he gets anywhere near us.”