A Worthy Gentleman

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Mrs Hunter was proved right; if they had received a nice flow of invitations before, they were inundated with them now. When there was more than one affair on a certain night, it was only possible to attend them all by leaving one event after an hour or so to move on to the next. It became a mad social whirl and Sarah’s feet seemed to hardly touch the floor as she went from one large, prestigious affair to another. If it was not a private ball or soirée, it was a card party, masked rout or a visit to Vauxhall with a party of friends. Sarah found it exciting but also tiring, and sometimes wished for more leisure to spend with her true friends.

Mrs Hunter, however, had not stopped wearing a smile since they had been invited to a dinner and cards at Lady Mountbank’s house, for she was one of the leading hostesses of the Season, and a lady known to ignore those who did not come out of the top drawer. While the Hunters were a good county family and well respected, they were not titled and had not expected to be invited into the homes of the most influential hostesses. Mrs Hunter had hoped that the invitations to the large balls might come their way, but now they were being asked to the more intimate affairs that she had not dreamed of. It was, of course, the Duke of Pentyre’s influence, something she never failed to impress on her daughter.

‘He is taken with you, Sarah,’ she told her daughter on the morning of his own ball. ‘I dare say he is not yet ready to speak, but if you are sensible he will do so by the end of the Season.’

‘You cannot be sure of that,’ Sarah said, avoiding her mother’s gaze. She was already aware that the duke had shown her considerable favour and that because of it several rather haughty hostesses had gone out of their way to be more than kind to her. She was, as he had predicted, becoming all the rage, and could not enter a drawing room without being immediately surrounded by both ladies and gentlemen. ‘We should not take his intentions for granted, Mama. After all, he might have married before this had he wished.’

‘Gentlemen often prefer to wait to take a wife,’ her mother told her. ‘I think he has it in mind to set up his family, Sarah. No doubt he feels it is time to make sure of his heir.’

Sarah did not argue further. She had hoped that this would not happen, that she would be given time to discover if there was a gentleman she particularly liked among her new acquaintances. However, it seemed that Mrs Hunter had recovered from her disappointment that Sarah had not taken the Conte and was now set on her becoming a duchess.