Chapter 8
Lydia Barrow provided Catherine with the excuse that enabled her to live alone. She was not a relation; in fact, no one really knew where she had come from. On the very day Catherine bade her governess goodbye, Lydia had arrived, carrying one small valise.
Catherine was aware that the staff gossiped about her companion’s origins. Lydia spoke well, but a little too carefully. She was a little too proud in front of the staff, a little too brusque in her requests. The staff knew when someone was hiding her discomfort.
But Catherine did not care. Lydia’s presence made it possible for her to live at Wansdyke without brother or father or husband.
Mutual friends had introduced them in town. Lydia was the daughter of a lady of quality, the result of a scandalous affair with a duke. A
