The Noble Life

Six

My dearest Bessie,

Please forgive me for not writing sooner. I have been in Somerset for some time now, and have experienced many things which I wished to share with you, but I have been unsure of how to express myself. Now I find myself sitting alone at my writing table in the luxurious guestroom at Broxcliffe Park, feeling perhaps the loneliest I have ever been my entire life. So I turn to you, my dear, faithful sister, to tell of some of the events which have occurred this past week, and hope in return for some of the sisterly comfort which only you can provide.

I have found Somerset itself to be a beautiful county; I am sure you would find many a pretty scene here to capture your artistic fancy. Unfortunately, as for the inhabitants of Barnbury, I cannot give the same praise. My aunt and uncle have treated me with nothing but perfect kindness and hospitality; it is the neighbours I find fault with, namely the Viscount Russell of Barnbury and his family, who reside at Wyndham Hall.

The Viscount himself behaves perfectly charmingly in company – a little too charmingly for my liking. My aunt has heard various rumours, and I myself suspect him of being a rake – so imagine our horror to find that my cousin Julia has fallen in love with him! He appears to make her exceedingly happy, and so when I tried to gently warn her against him, she became greatly vexed, and has barely spoken two words to me since. You of all people know the closeness Julia and I have always shared, so you must understand how agonising it is for me to receive her indifferent treatment.

Lord Russell has a younger sister, a Miss Eleanor Russell, who I was told is a very accomplished young lady, and very unassuming. However, I have found only the first part to be true. She is indeed a very talented musician – and I will own to you, Bessie, that I am rather jealous of her natural talent – but she seems far too interested in flirting and gossiping for my liking, and I find her conversation tedious. I fear my cousin William has become besotted with her, as, it seems, has a professor from Cambridge who is also visiting Somerset, and I am ashamed to admit that Miss Russell's ever-growing list of suitors only heightens my jealousy.

Oh Bessie, now I must tell you of the most grievous mistake I made at a ball at Wyndham Hall last night! It is almost too distressing to recount, but I know that I must tell you of my folly! I suppose I had been feeling rather miserable as I witnessed Miss Russell's attentions from Professor Lawes and Julia's attentions from Lord Russell, so when William told me how beautiful I looked, I fear my mind ran away with itself and led to all manner of dangerous fancies. My dearest, dearest sister, you cannot begin to imagine the mortification I feel as I write that I believed my cousin William to be in love with me!

Yes, in love with me! Entertain that absurd notion for a moment, if you will! Oh, how I wish I'd had you by my side last night, so that you might have put a stop to my ridiculous romantic ideas there and then. Instead I blissfully believed myself to have a gentleman admirer – and such a fine one at that – until William all but confessed his passionate love for Miss Russell before me! As you can imagine, this was simply too much to bear, and I behaved in the most unladylike manner, hurrying away without so much as excusing myself!

If only the evening's events had ended there – but alas, there was further mortification yet to come! Just after I left William, Professor Lawes asked me to dance, and I consented, unaware that he had in fact already marked Miss Russell's dance card. Imagine my shock when Miss Russell herself came to us and reminded Professor Lawes of his prior engagement, leaving him with no choice but to dance with her instead! Never had I witnessed such brash behaviour from a young lady, and one who was supposed to be unassuming at that. It was very wrong of Professor Lawes to forget his engagement, but Miss Russell really had no business behaving in such a manner, causing much discomfort for both the professor and myself.