Chapter 144
#<Episode 144>
Epilogue
That day was the wedding day of Miss Dora Lance and Mr. William Fairfax.
Numerous London figures flocked to the church. On the stone steps leading to the chapel, the hems of gold, light green, and red Silk Dresses fluttered in the May breeze, and gentlemen in smart suits whispered something to their acquaintances with faces as excited as the ladies.
To them, today's wedding was a grand event they had been eagerly awaiting for months. It was only natural. Today was the day the protagonist of the scandal that had rocked London society a year ago would wear a veil.
Hardly anyone sat in the chapel pews without gossiping about the matter. Even the old ladies, who pretended to be uninterested in such rumors, were thinking about it in their heads.
How could they forget? The Whitefield hunting party where the star of society had fallen from grace in disgrace.
Miss Lance was the most valuable star at that time, a fragrant flower with a promising future. Everyone expected her to snag the best groom from a prestigious family in her debut season and change her surname, and no one doubted that expectation.
Ian Dalton, the Whitefield landowner who suddenly appeared in society, was the most likely man to take Miss Lance home, nicely packaged.
But things took a strange turn. Ian Dalton invited everyone to Whitefield and gave the role of hostess to Laura Pendleton, a woman no one paid attention to. A twenty-nine-year-old spinster with illegitimate parents, no dowry, abandoned by her family, and even from a fallen family.
The situation afterward was even more interesting. Throughout the hunting party, Miss Lance followed Ian Dalton around, looking pathetically desperate. And Ian Dalton, looking ridiculously disgusted with Miss Lance, chased after Miss Pendleton.
This was a major incident that instantly dropped Miss Lance's stock to the bottom.
At the time, the engagement between Miss Lance and Mr. Dalton was considered a foregone conclusion among the people. Dozens of young ladies gossiped about the rumors they had heard in the Ball's lounge, proving their credibility by saying they had heard it directly from Miss Lance's friends.
Miss Lance's friends advertised the rumor as true by using ambiguous language that was neither affirmative nor negative to those who asked about the truth of the rumor. Miss Lance herself did not particularly deny it either.
This was no different from her directly declaring her engagement.
But, what was this? Why did Mr. Dalton publicly declare that he would protect Miss Pendleton and adorn her with the clothes and jewelry of the late Mrs. Dalton? And why was Miss Lance clinging to Mr. Dalton with a tearful face?
This created numerous speculations. Mr. Dalton was playing with Miss Lance and extending his reach to Miss Pendleton as well. No. Clearly, the desperate Miss Lance jumped into Mr. Dalton's bed, and Mr. Dalton, horrified, was pretending to be interested in Miss Pendleton to shake off Miss Lance.
What nonsense. Clearly, Mrs. Lance tried to borrow money from her future son-in-law, Mr. Dalton, before the wedding, and the groom lost interest.
Either way, these were speculations that were not good for Miss Lance. But coincidentally, around the same time, it was revealed that the Lance family's fortunes had declined to the point where they could not provide an adequate dowry for their daughter's marriage, and Miss Lance's reputation was irreparably damaged.
Miss Lance, who had been seen as a goddess in the eyes of many gentlemen, now began to be seen as a withered flower that the flower-selling girl in Covent Garden could not sell out and threw away anywhere.
Ladies of marriageable age and wives with daughters to marry off dug up the disturbing details of Miss Lance's past actions and exaggerated them to spread them around, claiming it was proof that Miss Lance was an arrogant and reckless fool.
The scandalous gossip about Miss Lance seemed likely to continue for years.
But before long, the mouths that had been chattering about Miss Lance were left agape.
The news of Miss Lance and Mr. Fairfax's engagement was heard.
Mr. Fairfax was considered a good husband in society, though not as much as Mr. Dalton. He had an unusually large fortune for a second son, and he lacked nothing in terms of appearance or family.
They rented a huge banquet hall and invited all the people of London to hold a splendid engagement ceremony. The two looked good together and seemed happy. They were a beautiful couple.
Subsequently, the truth about the relationship between Mr. Dalton and Miss Lance spread from the mouths of Miss Lance's friends.
As everyone knows, Miss Lance was introduced to Mr. Dalton through Miss Pendleton. But neither of them was interested in each other. Mr. Dalton liked Miss Pendleton, and Miss Lance liked Mr. Fairfax.
The two men and women who had fallen into unrequited love often met and shared their concerns. They seemed so close that they caused misunderstandings. They could not actively clarify to protect each other's secrets, and that was why the rumors of their engagement spread.
Then, why did Miss Lance chase after Mr. Dalton at the hunting party?
There was a reason for this as well. Miss Pendleton, realizing Mr. Dalton's feelings, thought he was too good for her and rejected his proposal. But Mr. Dalton did not give up. Eventually, Miss Pendleton asked Miss Lance for help, asking her to dissuade him from approaching her.
That's how the situation was resolved. Mr. Dalton became a romantic who proposed to Miss Pendleton, not caring that she was in a worse situation than himself, Miss Pendleton became a sensible lady who had met a great suitor by a near-miraculous stroke of luck but humbly stepped back, Miss Lance became an innocent lady who ran around trying to help her friend and ended up being slandered, and Mr. Fairfax became a hero who saved a lady in a difficult situation from a crisis.
People generally accepted this situation as a dramatic romance. But some who called themselves keen observers insisted that this was all a story pieced together later.
In any case, the rumors surrounding the four men and women were a hot topic that did not let people's mouths rest until today, the day of the wedding.
The chapel, filled with the scent of fresh flowers, was as bustling as a marketplace due to the voices of people gathering in groups of twos and threes to gossip. Some admired the fact that Mr. Fairfax had paid for all the money spent on the engagement and wedding, while others lamented that Miss Lance would have married a richer and titled man if she had been wise.
However, the people who had been chattering for a while had to shut their mouths because the person next to them poked them in the side.
Mr. Dalton and his wife had arrived at the entrance of the chapel.
The chapel became quiet. Everyone's eyes turned to the entrance of the chapel.
The two walked slowly down the aisle. Mr. Dalton, dressed in a neat brown suit and wearing a top hat, was as handsome as he had been when he first appeared in London society.
But the person who truly captured people's attention was Mrs. Laura Dalton, who was arm in arm with Mr. Dalton.
A light sky-blue Silk Dress with rich wrinkles. A ruby hairpin adorning her elegantly styled reddish-brown hair. A dazzling diamond necklace sparkling around her neck. White silk gloves embroidered with vine patterns in gold thread.
The old maid Laura Pendleton, who always fixed her hair with a hairnet, wore plain dresses, and sat in the corner to fill the numbers, no longer existed.
Only the beautiful and noble woman, Laura Dalton, the one and only mistress of the prestigious Dalton family, was there.
People scanned her appearance with their eyes. The gentlemen were simply admiring how beautiful she was, but the ladies were much more sensitive to detail.
They noticed that the sophisticated line of the dress Laura was wearing was the work of a French tailor, and they recognized that the jewels shining on her body were rare items that were hard to find even in London society in terms of workmanship and size. Above all, the diamond wedding ring adorning her finger was the size of a royal wedding gift.
Some women felt jealousy, some felt admiration, and some felt hope.
The Daltons, as if unaware of the pouring gazes, calmly took their seats. And they leaned towards each other and talked quietly. They were a decent and friendly couple.
People turned their eyes away from them and talked about their marriage in small voices that the Daltons could not hear.
Ian Dalton and Laura Pendleton had married in May of last year. It was a quiet ceremony attended only by family and Miss Pendleton's friends.
People also made various speculations about their marriage. It was the inevitable aftermath of a hasty marriage that skipped the engagement ceremony.
In society, it was a principle to have an engagement and then hold a wedding after as long as possible, in order to avoid giving the impression of an inevitable marriage due to pregnancy.
What was the rush to get married, people wondered. Some people insisted that it must be pregnancy. But no news of a child being born in Whitefield was heard. And today, looking at Mrs. Dalton's appearance, she was not pregnant.
In one corner of the chapel where the music box and organ were located, a middle-aged Viscount, the only man among a group of middle-aged women, chuckled.
"The husband must have been in a hurry. He wanted to share a bed with his pretty bride as soon as possible."
His wife, the Viscountess, chimed in.
"I agree. I didn't know she was so pretty before."
