A Change of Hearts Read online

  “It will help you forget Harry,” counselled Neisa.

  “What I am thinking of is something very different, and I can only do what I want to do if you will help me.”

  Neisa looked surprised.

  “Of course I will do anything to help you if I can.”

  She could not imagine what it could be.

  But she was feeling extremely worried about Carol. It seemed wrong for her to be so bitter and cynical.

  How could that stupid young man she called Harry have possibly allowed her to overhear him saying anything so unkind and so unpleasant?

  Although they were the same age, Neisa had lived such a very different life to Carol that she had always felt that she must protect and look after her, rather than the other way round.

  She was sure that if Carol’s dear mother and hers had been alive, they would have made her see that she must not be so sensitive about being rich.

  She must learn to recognise those men who were running after her for her money and distinguish them from those who genuinely found her attractive and delightful.

  “What I am suggesting,” Carol said rather slowly as if she was still thinking it out, “is that we change places!”

  Neisa stared at her.

  “What on earth do you mean?”

  “Exactly what I say! You will take my place and while we are staying at Denholme Park, you will be Carol Waverton. I will be Neisa Moore, the pretty girl who has no money and nothing to recommend her except herself!”

  “You must be crazy!” exclaimed Neisa. “How can we possibly do that? We could never get away with it!”

  “Why ever not? The Marquis has written that I will not know anyone in his party, which must mean that he has consulted some of them and they have all said they have never met me.”

  She paused before she continued thoughtfully,

  “There is no reason at all why they should. After all, as you must know, people in London move in their own particular circle and, as I have only just arrived, I have only met the friends of Lady Margrave.”

  “Who is she?”

  “A Peeress engaged at great expense by Papa to be my chaperone for the Season.”

  Neisa had vaguely heard that chaperones could be engaged for debutantes who were due to be presented at Buckingham Palace and invited to all the more prestigious Social balls.

  Members of the aristocracy who were poor, but at the same time had the entré to parties given by the most influential hostesses, were more than willing to undertake this service for the right fee.

  Mr. Waverton had a brilliant brain for organisation and was successful in everything he touched, so Neisa was sure that he would have chosen someone socially suitable for the post of chaperone for Carol.

  “Surely, Carol, if you are going to stay with the Marquis, Lady Margrave will have to go too.”

  “Not if we are chaperoned, as he says, by his aunt, Lady Sarah Holme. I think Lady Margrave will find more late nights rather exhausting and will be quite prepared to have a rest if I am away.”

  “But how can I possibly do what you want me to?” Neisa persisted. “To begin with I am quite certain I would look wrong and everyone would immediately be suspicious that I was playing a part.”

  “Now you are talking such nonsense, Neisa. As it happens you are much prettier, or as Papa would say, more gorgeous than I am. It is just that you are wearing those shoddy clothes, your hair is out of fashion and you need a touch of powder on your nose.”

  Neisa giggled.

  “I have always thought that cosmetics would be deemed improper in a debutante.”

  “You would be surprised what goes on in the ladies cloakrooms,” replied Carol. “And, of course, you must have my best and most beautiful gowns to wear.”

  “One thing is quite certain, Carol, you cannot wear mine or they will instantly send you to the servants hall!”

  Carol laughed.

  “I was not thinking of being quite so different from you as that. But I have some plainer gowns and, if not, we have time to buy them.”

  “Wait! Wait!” cried Neisa. “I have not said yet that I will do it. I am frightened in case I should make a mess of it.”

  Equally she could not help thinking that it would be very exciting to stay at Denholme Park and to take part in one of the fashionable house parties she had read about so often in The Court Circular.

  She had never dreamt she would ever attend one.

  “The more I think about it,” Carol was saying, “the more I think it will not only be amusing but will give me a chance to know what gentlemen say when they are not so engrossed with money.”

  “I think you are making too much of that subject.”

  “You wait, Neisa, and when you hear someone you have just met saying how very beautiful you are and how thrilled he is to meet you and that he will not sleep tonight unless you promise to see him tomorrow, you can be sure he is not thinking of you – but of the thousands of pounds you have in your bank!”

  “I just cannot believe every man is as bad as that,” insisted Neisa.

  “Well, we are going to try it out and you shall see for yourself if I am telling you the truth – ”

  Carol suddenly jumped up from the sofa and ran to the dressing table.

  “And I am going to be the demure, quiet, simple little country girl, who knows nothing about London and fortune-hunters reaching out with their greedy little hands!”

  “Just supposing,” added Neisa, “I fall in love with one of these gentlemen. What do I say if he asks me to marry him? Not that I believe for a second he will.”

  “You wait and see! I wager you will find he disappears in a twinkling when you tell him that it is all a mistake and you are not the heiress he thinks you are.”

  “I feel certain this idea is much too complicated and something we should not do – ”

  But Neisa she did not speak very positively.

  She knew that she was intrigued and it would certainly be a change from her own life.

  Once the weekend was over, it would be something to look back on and laugh about.

  “You are not going to let me down, are you?” Carol demanded.

  From her cousin’s pleading voice, Neisa knew she was really worried in case she refused.

  “I promised to help you if I could and if you are certain this is what you want, then, dearest Carol, I will do my best. But you must not be angry if I fail!”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Their plan made, the two girls sat down and composed a letter to the Marquis.

  Carol made Neisa write it out on her very expensive printed writing paper.

  “My Dear Marquis,

  How very kind of you to invite me to your house party at the end of this week. I would love to come and I am sure Papa would want me to see your beautiful house.

  I thought I would bring with me my cousin, Neisa Moore, who I am sure you will like.

  She has a very dull life. Her father is the Vicar of Little Meadowfield and because he writes books they do little entertaining. In fact I am anxious for her to meet and make friends with people her own age.

  We shall arrive, as you suggest, in time for luncheon and Neisa and I are both looking forward to meeting you and seeing your magnificent horses.

  With all best wishes

  Yours sincerely,”

  “Now you can sign it,” Carol said to Neisa, “but of course with my name. I am not likely to write letters while I am there, but I might have to sign for something and if the handwriting is different, they might be suspicious.”

  Neisa gave a little shiver.

  She was feeling sure that all this deception would end in trouble if not tears.

  However, as it was amusing Carol, she did not say so – she merely signed Carol’s name on the letter.

  Then Carol suggested,

  “As there is not much time, we are going shopping.”

  “Shopping! What for?”

  “For one thing some very pretty d
resses for you. It would be a mistake for you to wear anything that did not fit you exactly and become you.”

  “But I thought I would wear your clothes, Carol.”

  “You can take my clothes as well, but I am quite determined, dearest, that you shall have some things which are specially yours and will give you, if nothing else, loads of confidence.”

  She gave a little laugh before she added,

  “And, of course, as the Vicar’s daughter I must not be overdressed and that means an array of new and simple clothes for me!”

  Once again Neisa protested, but she did not persist because the scheme was making Carol so happy.

  Carol ordered a carriage brought round and a smart fourgon arrived almost immediately, drawn by two horses.

  Neisa was interested in them and Carol told her,

  “Whenever Papa undertakes something he never does it by halves. He has kindly not only provided me with this magnificent house from which to make my debut, but has also filled the mews. I know you love horses so when we have time, we will go and look at them.”

  There was certainly no time that day.

  They roamed endlessly from shop to shop in Bond Street until Neisa found her head whirling.

  Carol was very determined that she should have the prettiest and most striking gowns available. In just a few hours they had bought what Neisa considered was a whole trousseau for herself.

  And several new dresses for Carol.

  “You shall have them all when you go back to the Vicarage,” said Carol, “because if I wear them as myself, I think those who admire me would be disappointed.”

  “But you look so lovely in them, but I cannot think why they should also want you dressed up.”

  “They will want their money’s worth, or rather my money’s worth,” Carol responded bitterly.

  Neisa realised by the time they returned to the house that Carol was really disillusioned by the men who were pursuing her for her fortune, and most especially by the young man she had overheard.

  She wondered how any man who called himself a gentleman could be so blatant about his designs.

  He might at least have pretended to himself that he was not pursuing Carol entirely for her money.

  She was so beautiful and when she was not feeling upset, vivacious and captivating.

  It seemed extraordinary to Neisa that money should matter so much.

  They had only been back at the house in Park Lane for about ten minutes when the Vicar arrived.

  *

  He was shown into the drawing room where they were having tea and Carol rose to kiss him.

  “It is so lovely to see you, Uncle Patrick. Neisa has been telling me what a brilliant book you are writing at the moment.”

  “I do hope you will enjoy it,” he replied, “but I am afraid not many people are interested in the Far East.”

  Neisa poured him out some tea and he sat down at the table saying,

  “I hope you will have time, Carol, while you are in England to come and visit us.”

  As he spoke, Neisa was thinking how uncomfortable Carol would find the Vicarage – and how difficult it would be to entertain her.

  “I would love to, Uncle Patrick, but at this very moment I want you to lend me Neisa.”

  The Vicar raised his eyebrows and Carol explained,

  “I have been asked to stay for the weekend with a friend of Papa’s, the Marquis of Denholme, and to bring a friend with me. I thought it would be lovely for Neisa to see his house, which I am told is very impressive as well as his horses.”

  “I have heard of the Marquis,” said the Vicar. “He has, in fact, some excellent horses and did very well on the turf last season.”

  “So you will let Neisa come with me?”

  “Of course, and it is very kind of you. I am afraid Neisa does not have the chance to attend balls and all the entertainments that she should be enjoying in London, but as you are well aware we cannot afford it.”

  Carol smiled at him.

  “Maybe your book will be a big best-seller and then Neisa can be a debutante in the same way as I am.”

  The Vicar chuckled, but both girls knew he thought this was very unlikely.

  Then as if he had just thought of it, he proposed,

  “I think Neisa had better stay with you until Friday. It will not be worth her coming home for just two days and perhaps you could lend her some clothes – ”

  He was being practical as usual.

  “Don’t worry at all. Neisa can wear my clothes. It’s very lucky that we are the same size and it would be an unnecessary expense to send her things to London.”

  The Vicar looked relieved.

  Neisa felt a little guilty when she remembered how many gowns Carol had bought for her, but at the same time it was a new excitement she had not expected and she was very grateful.

  “Now I must be getting home,” the Vicar said as he drank his cup of tea. “It takes three hours and I have just remembered that the choirmaster is coming to see me this evening.”

  “I have an uncomfortable feeling, Papa, that he is going to tell you the choir must have new surplices. When I looked at them on Sunday I realised most of them were in rags. I was aware that Mr. Weston was thinking the same.”

  “It is something we certainly cannot afford at present. In fact there are quite a number of items we need to provide before we can think of new surplices.”

  “I will give them to you,” offered Carol. “I was wondering what you would like for a gift, and I feel, Uncle Patrick, that you would rather have surplices than a pretty piece of objet d’art!”

  The Vicar laughed as if he could not help it.

  “That is certainly true, but I cannot allow you to do anything for us when you have not even seen the Church.”

  “Well, when I do come and see it, I would rather it looked presentable than in rags. So do stop being proud, Uncle Patrick – buy your surplices and send me the bill. It will only be one of the many that I am expected to pay at the end of each week!”

  The Vicar was slightly embarrassed, but at the same time grateful.

  Neisa knew how much he disliked anything shoddy around him especially in his Church.

  “I think, Papa,” she suggested to make it easier for him, “you must accept Carol’s kind gift, because actually she is planning something most interesting and unusual and if it succeeds, it will be her thank-offering.”

  “In that case, Carol, my dear, I can hardly refuse. But thank you, thank you very much indeed and may whatever you are planning be the success you want it to be.”

  “I sincerely hope so too,” responded Carol.

  The Vicar rose.

  “I must leave you – and you are quite certain that it will not be a bother to have Neisa to stay with you without her belongings?”

  “I am thrilled to have her and she can quite easily find everything she needs here.”

  The two girls walked to the front door with him and kissed him goodbye.

  He climbed into the rather disreputable old gig that was waiting outside.

  As he drove off, Carol murmured,

  “What I ought to give him is a really smart chaise. How can we let him drive all the way home in that rickety old buggy which looks as if it might fall to pieces at any moment?”

  “I think it is good for you to see how the poor live,” replied Neisa. “When you compare Papa’s gig with your smart carriage we drove in this afternoon, you will not be so contemptuous of your money, but will realise just how useful it can be.”

  Carol laughed.

  “I love you when you preach to me. I know you are thinking I am ungrateful, but just wait until you hear how everyone will talk to you when you are pretending to be me in a quite different voice from the one they would use to you now.”

  “I still don’t believe you, Carol.”

  “Well, you will, and I, for the first time in my life, will hear people speaking to me in an ordinary voice and behaving in an ordinary way.
”

  Neisa did not reply.

  “Now let’s both go upstairs,” Carol suggested, “and make ourselves comfortable. You realise that, although you are in London, we cannot go to any parties tonight or tomorrow just in case we meet people who we might meet again at the Marquis’s?”

  Neisa looked puzzled and Carol explained,

  “If they saw you as you, they would think it very strange when later they are told you are me.”

  Neisa laughed.

  “Now I understand and it was very stupid of me not to grasp it. But if you want to go to a party, Carol dear, I shall be perfectly happy here in this lovely house.”

  “I would much rather be with you, Neisa, than at one of those parties where the young men are counting up my many millions.”

  “I refuse to believe all men are that dreadful.”

  “Well, you will be surprised at how money changes what would appear to be the most charming and delightful gentleman into the grabber and grasper of every pound he can get his greedy fingers on!”

  Neisa did not answer her, as she thought that it was a great mistake to go on talking about money.

  Instead she turned the conversation to the past and things they had enjoyed when they were children.

  *

  They retired to bed early and the next day Carol insisted that they went shopping once again.

  Although Neisa protested, she could not help being thrilled.

  Carol bought them both the most entrancing hats that the vendeuse said had just arrived from Paris.

  Also they had both forgotten that Neisa would need new shoes that were smart, fashionable and high-heeled.

  They had luncheon alone because, as had happened last night, Lady Margrave was still suffering from a cold and a headache – she had sent a message to say that she intended to stay in bed.

  “You don’t know what a relief it is to be without her,” Carol told Neisa. “She can only talk about the smart people she knows and is determined to procure a Duke for me before the Season is over!”

  “Have you ever met a Duke?” enquired Neisa.

  Carol shook her head.

  “They don’t seem to be as impoverished as other gentlemen and therefore they are not hanging around me.”