𝐑𝐔𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐒

Chapter 17

"I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO SAY," Mrs Frederica Fleming responded with a meek turn of her lips, after her nieces finished telling her all that they thought she needed to know—and that consisted of the gentlemen's introduction through their cousin Adam Seymour that day at the Southampton county fair, all the way to Lady Diana Beaumont meeting him in his office, leaving out the undignified argument he had presented because they did not want to further petrify their aunt.

They also left out the times the girls had met the gentlemen before the fair and after the office encounter—the ball introduction the ladies had gotten with Lord Buxton, that fated countryside walk they had engaged in with Lord Algernon as an added accomplice and that awkward confrontation they had all had when the ladies had been on their way to the Brockenhurst estate.

The last thing they wanted was their aunt to get the wrong idea. They were all huddled in Mrs Frederica Fleming's appointed guest room at Brockenhurst, while the boys ran around, engaged in a game that merely consisted of chasing after each other as carefully as possible so as to not receive a scolding from either their mother or their elder cousins. Lady Alicia Kirkpatrick had, upon thinking, come to the conclusion that if their aunt had already met Lord Buxton and Lord Algernon that day at the county fair, along with the rest of her family, than she would've been on mostly the same page as Diana and Alicia. And now that she thought about it, goodness knows where Uncle Arthur and Aunt Frederica had wandered off to that day, but then again, both of them could use the few minutes they managed to get to themselves, so the lady shrugged and let it go.

"Don't worry Aunt Frederica," Diana spoke with a confident smile. "You do not have to face either of them, Lord Buxton's only here because of Frank and his interest in the men's business. That is all. We promised to make sure you have a good time here in the open air and we intend to keep that promise." 

"I can have Aunt Agnes arrange separate lunches and dinners for all of us, we needn't spend even a second in their company," She added in determination. 

"Thank you girls, for thinking of me amidst this strange ordeal," Mrs Fleming finally spoke, her tone small and calculating as she took both of her nieces' hands and squeezed them in hers to assure that she was just fine. "But I would very much like to converse with him, instead of showing both the gentlemen my back."

Lady Diana Beaumont and Lady Alicia Kirkpatrick looked at their aunt in confusion—she seemed perfectly content with the idea of her husband's patronizing employer being under the same roof as her for the coming three days, and neither of the ladies were sure they had expected such a reaction. 

"Perhaps if I can strike up a proper acquaintance with Lord Buxton, it would be beneficial for Arthur," Their aunt spoke up then, hope twinkling in her eyes.

Her nieces, however, looked far from unsure as they exchanged glances with each other. It was so astounding to Diana, how moments sometimes proved how different her only uncle's wife was from all of her other aunts. She and Alicia had always thought of it as a good different, and just when Diana assumed she had perhaps seen all of Frederica Fleming's good qualities and her unjustly pure nature, her aunt would always shock her with something more every time.

Mentally, Lady Diana Beaumont tried to put herself in her aunt's shoes. Would she, a wife tired of her husband being away all the time with nearly not enough pay to compete with his efforts, a house and three children to take care of, be wanting to strike up a cordial acquaintance with her husband's employer? The very man whose absence could cure more than half of her worries? No, Diana would rather give him a piece of her mind than allow him her good opinion. But then again, Aunt Frederica was the wisest person she knew, and Diana was not.

"I dare say, that man does not deserve any good opinion, let alone yours, Aunt Frederica," Alicia spoke, making her sentiments at her aunt's wishes clear.