a whiff of scandal to her household.
She met Zenna’s bemused gaze and blurted out, ‘I must tell her about my work for Mr Harland. I cannot risk the scandal if anything came out, it would be a dreadful way to repay her kindness.’ She did not add the other consideration, which had been looming large ever since she saw Lord Arndale’s inimical stare fixed upon her friend.
If a respectable governess was not considered a suitable acquaintance for the newly wealthy Miss Grey, what would Lady Parry make of a lodging-house keeper and an opera dancer?
‘I must speak to her this afternoon,’ she said resolutely. ‘I will thank her for her kindness, but she will see that I am an unsuitable recipient of it. Better to do it at once, before she has the chance to make any further plans on my behalf.’
Zenna shook her head sadly. ‘You must do as you think fit, of course, but it is such a shame that you will not make a come-out.’
‘Never mind. Tomorrow we can start to make plans for the school—if that idea is still agreeable to you.’
‘How can it be anything else? I cannot believe my good fortune—I declare I feel as dazed as you look, Tallie dearest.’ She broke off at the sound of the front door opening. ‘That must be Mrs Blackstock. What will you tell her?’
‘Nothing yet, I think. I have no wish to embarrass our friends with the size of my inheritance, although I would value your advice about how I might help them at some point. I think perhaps tomorrow we can tell her of our plans and give notice. If she finds other tenants before the school is ready, we can always find lodgings together, or go to an hotel.’
‘An hotel?’ Zenna echoed, wide-eyed.
‘Why, yes,’ Tallie said recklessly. ‘I can afford it, after all!’
This frivolity did not last much beyond luncheon. Zenna was distractedly making lists, breaking off to suck her pen, gaze into space and then resume her scribbling.
But Tallie was imagining how disappointed in her Lady Parry was going to be when she discovered that her protégée was so abandoned as to supplement her living by posing naked.
Chapter Six
Rainbird hid any reaction he felt at Tallie’s second, unexpected, call of the day. ‘Her ladyship is At Home, Miss Grey, and has no one with her at present.’
‘Talitha! What a nice surprise.’ Lady Parry put down the book she was reading and looked up with a pleased smile as Tallie was announced. ‘Come and sit down by me.’
‘I …? think I would rather stand, ma’am.’ Tallie took a deep breath and said, ‘I am very sorry to appear ungracious, Lady Parry, but I feel I should not have accepted your kind offer this morning and I thought I should come and say so immediately.’
‘Why ever not? My poor child, stop standing there looking like a parlour maid who has broken the best Minton and sit down. There, that is better. Now, I know you must have had a shock this morning, but—’
‘It is not that, ma’am. I had not considered what a difficult position I would be putting you in.’
‘Because you have had to work for your living? If I do not regard it, be certain that Society will not— not when they learn of your family and fortune, and observe your ladylike deportment.’
‘My friends, ma’am—’
‘Your friends are more than welcome in my house, Talitha.’
‘Lady Parry,’ Tallie said with some emphasis, feeling she was being swept along faster than she wanted, ‘my only friends are a governess, a lodging-house keeper and an opera dancer. I do not believe you could have been aware of that fact when you made your kind offer just now.’
‘I have never met a governess who was not respectable and I am sure if the lodging-house in question is where you make your home, its proprietress is bound to be most acceptable.’
‘The opera dancer is her niece and lives with us,’ Tallie persisted.
‘And is she a nice girl?’
‘Very. And despite what the world thinks of actresses and performers, she is a modest, virtuous and respectable young woman into the bargain.’
‘There now, so where is the problem?’
‘You would not object if I were to continue my friendships?’
‘Certainly not. Your friends are most welcome in my home whenever they wish to call upon you.’
‘Thank you, ma’am. But not everyone will be of your opinion.’
‘By everyone, I assume you mean my nephew?’
‘Er … I …’ Tallie had no wish to tell tales or to sound in any way critical of Lady Parry’s family.
‘And which of your friends has Nicholas been viewing with that chilly eye of his?’
‘Miss Scott, the governess.’
‘Foolish boy—he has always been overprotective. And has he set eyes upon the young lady from the opera yet?’
‘I believe not.’
‘He will,’ his fond aunt prophesised cheerfully. ‘At least, he probably already has met her if she is pretty. Never mind, Talitha. Whom I allow under my roof is my decision. Once Nicholas gets to know you better he will soon cease to worry.’
‘That is not all, Lady Parry.’
‘I thought we had agreed that you would call me Aunt Kate?’
‘You will not wish me to when I tell you about the other matter, ma’am,’ Tallie said, feeling ready to sink now that the moment for confession was upon her. ‘I am not just a milliner, I have been earning my living in another way as well.’
‘I know,’ Lady Parry said calmly.
‘You know? But, ma’am, you cannot … I have been sitting for an artist!’
‘Indeed. Mr Harland, a most talented gentleman, I believe.’
‘But, Lady Parry, how could you have discovered what I have been doing?’
Her ladyship held up a hand to silence Tallie as Rainbird appeared with a tea tray.
‘Will you pour, my dear?’ She waited while Tallie handed her her cup with a hand that trembled. ‘A macaroon? No? You must not become so agitated, Talitha. I called upon Mr Harland a while ago as I am considering having my portrait painted. I observed a canvas and asked who the model was, for I thought I recognised her.’
‘He told you?’ Tallie was aghast, both at the thought that the compromising classical paintings had been displayed in the studio and that Mr Harland had been so indiscreet as to reveal her name.
‘He
