‘Shh, girls!’ said Lady Keswick in penetrating tones. ‘The piece is about to begin, and I have a great dislike of people chattering when they should be paying attention.’
Amelia saw very little of the play, and could hardly have said afterwards what it had been. Shakespeare? Sheridan? Though it was a foolish conceit, she felt as though the younger Lady Thornfalcon’s eyes were burning into her across the auditorium as the woman sat, assessing every tiny detail of her own dress and appearance, and finding each one of them wanting. She had thought her cornflower-blue silk gown and simple pearls quite pretty, and suitable for the occasion, but now all at once, she doubted herself and found them sadly dowdy. Blue was Lavinia’s colour, and suited her so much better.
There was no possibility, she thought, of intercourse between the two boxes during the interval, since ladies did not generally roam about the theatre, and that was a mercy. She had already seen enough of Lord Thornfalcon’s painfully correct manner towards his sister-in-law to be confident that he had no intention at all of making his way across to see her. Such an action could only serve to light a fire under the rumours that were already circulating, to the edification of all observers and the delight of the Friends of Lavinia, some of whom were no doubt present tonight. But she had underestimated the widow, as she soon realised.
A friend of Lord Thornfalcon’s lounged in from an adjoining box as soon as the curtain had come down, and was presented to her: a Mr Jeremy Gastrell. He was a slight, rather carelessly dressed gentleman in his early thirties, with a mobile, comical sort of a face; he rather resembled a friendly frog from a children’s storybook, and she liked him instantly, even before he said, ‘I am a little acquainted with your elder brother, Lady Amelia – we were at Oxford together. It is good to see that he has left his Buckinghamshire fastness and comes into society more now that he is married. It cannot have been good for him to stay so solitary, and he can only be congratulated on finding such a pearl of a wife despite never exerting himself in the least in the matter. I should find it hard to credit if you told me now that he had attended an assembly or a party and met her there, like any ordinary person might. But then he has always been an enigmatic sort of a fellow.’
Amelia smiled at the accuracy of this. ‘Sophie is a distant cousin of ours,’ she explained. The wonder of it was that it was even true, though the relationship was very tenuous indeed. ‘She came to stay with our grandmother to keep her company and converse with her in French, and Rafe was instantly taken with her. So you are quite correct, sir; he did not even need to leave the house in order to find a bride.’
‘You see! I knew I was right. But I am very happy for him.’
The gentleman, whose manners were very easy and confiding, was enquiring politely about the health of Amelia’s little nephew when another visitor arrived. Rather to her surprise, she heard Mr Gastrell make some exclamation of disapprobation under his breath, and when she saw that the new arrival was the person who had been pointed out to her as Lavinia Thornfalcon’s cousin, Mr Wilkinson, she thought she knew why. This was confirmed when she caught her companion’s eye. Gastrell gave her the ghost of a wink and said very low, and outrageously, ‘It seems we have a spy come in our midst, ma’am. I am sure I can speak freely to you, for you have the air of a sensible person, or indeed you would hardly be here in company with the Thornfalcons.’
‘You think his cousin sent him…?’ Her voice also was pitched little above a whisper.
‘Of course she did. I assume you are not at all acquainted with the lady? You cannot be, or she would hardly have needed to send her lapdog over here, wagging his little tail, to sniff out what you are about.’
Mr Wilkinson did indeed have an air of being on a mission, and was plainly anxious to be presented to her. He was currently conversing with her hostess and Lady Keswick, but kept shooting little glances in Amelia’s direction.
‘She must know who I am without asking, even though we have never been introduced. I find most people do even though I have never exchanged two words with them,’ Amelia said with a touch of asperity.
‘Well, you are in the same case as my poor friend Marcus, then. But why are you here? That’s the question she’ll want answered.’
‘Miss Thornfalcon is a friend of mine,’ she told him repressively. ‘I presume a young lady is allowed to have friends, if her guardians find them unexceptionable, without first seeking her sister-in-law’s approval. It seems to me that such loosely connected persons as she might with advantage mind their business.’
‘You presume altogether too much,’ he said, shaking his head comically. ‘And as for minding one’s business, it must be clear enough what her business is. You are not at all the sort of person Lavinia wishes to be spending time in the Thornfalcon household, I assure you. But here he comes to speak to you and earn his juicy bone. Bow-wow, little doggie!’
She was struggling to suppress giggles as Lady Thornfalcon said, ‘Lady Amelia, may I present Mr Wilkinson to you? He is a distant connection of our family by marriage.’Not nearly distant enough just now, her expression said.
‘Lady Amelia is a new friend of mine,’ Helena said, as Amelia dropped a correct curtsey and Mr Wilkinson bowed, goggling at her all the while as if he had been tasked with memorising every detail of her appearance and manner and found the task arduous. ‘And what is so particularly pleasing is that Lady Keswick, her aunt, whom I see you know, is a friend of Mama’s of many years’ standing, so that we may all be comfortable together. Is that not a pleasant coincidence, sir?’
‘Oh, quite, quite,’ replied Mr Wilkinson rather fatuously. ‘Here’s to friendship, what? Auld lang syne, and all that. Should auld acquaintance be forgot? I should dashed well think not.’
It seemed from the contortions of his face that he might be inspired to burst into song in illustration of his point, in case they had failed to understand his literary reference. To forestall that unwanted eventuality, Mr Gastrell said, not unkindly but most firmly, ‘I think I hear the orchestra tuning up in anticipation of resuming. We shall not trespass on Lady Thornfalcon’s hospitality any longer, shall we, Wilkinson?’ And he bowed himself, and his reluctant companion, out of the box, with another sly wink at Amelia as he left.
‘I see my old friend Jeremy has been charming you, Lady Amelia,’ a deep voice said near her ear, making her start. ‘I might have imagined from the way you had your heads together that you had known him since you were a child in short petticoats, and confided all your schoolroom secrets to him, had I not long experience of his ability to make one feel rapidly at ease in his company. It is an extraordinary skill, and one few people share. Certainly, I do not, as our first meeting must have made you all too aware.’
Amelia could not doubt that Lavinia would be observing them closely from the other side of the theatre as they spoke, and if the woman had been jealous at her own mere presence, she would not care at all to see her conversing with Lord Thornfalcon in such a civil manner. But had he not the right, even the duty, to be ordinarily polite to one who was his guest? Who was this woman who thought to control the actions of a man to whom she could have no real claim? Unless, of course, there was some intimate connection between them of which Amelia knew nothing. She should not be so naïve as to ignore that possibility, since Lord Thornfalcon had, unsurprisingly, not shared any secrets with her, except for saying that he did not mean to marry. And if that were still entangled in some fashion, how would Lavinia react when it became clear that her wild suspicions of Amelia were not, in fact, without foundation?
‘I liked Mr Gastrell very much,’ she said with a fair assumption of ease. ‘He knows my older brother quite well too, he was telling me. That’s quite a rare thing, for Rafe had not been used to mix in society at all until he inherited the title.’
‘And who can blame him for wishing to stay at home in peace?’ he said with emphasis.
She could not be comfortable, she found, conversing with him under such close observation. Their situation was more awkward already than she could have imagined. ‘It is time we took our seats,’ she warned him. ‘This has been enough, surely, for a first attempt, sir. It is too soon for your attentions to grow any more particular.’ Indeed, she feared very much that others than Lavinia were watching them now, and taking note. She could almost feel the first faint stirrings of interest from the people around her.
Lord Thornfalcon moved away in obedience to her words, but as he went, he said, for her ears alone, ‘Come, Lady Amelia, you will find yourself obliged to be braver than that before we are done, and endure a great deal more. And,’ he added barely above a whisper, so that she almost thought she might be mistaken in what she heard, ‘so shall I!’
9
Marcus found that the proposition that had been put to him by Lady Amelia, and his acceptance of it, had improved his state of mind a little, and gave him the sensation of having won a precious breathing space. This was in one sense an illusion, of course. He knew that Lavinia would make him pay, one way or another, even for the young lady’s innocent presence in his mother’s box at the theatre. But their opportunities for private conversation were limited now, and even Lavinia was not so far lost to all sense of propriety that she would appear at his home at midnight, banging on the door to demand to know what he was about. He was sure he might expect her soon enough in a slightly more orderly fashion, accompanied by the child she used so often as her excuse for visiting, though once they were alone in his chamber, she would no doubt commence flaying him alive. Yet on this occasion, her very unreasonableness worked against her; since he might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb, he suggested to his sister that they call upon Lady Amelia later that afternoon and ask her to come walking in the park with them, as it was a fine day.
‘You really are resolved to go through with this?’ Helena asked him with a slight frown. She had put on her best green velvet pelisse and matching bonnet, and accompanied him out of the house without protest, but she seemed uncertain now.
‘I am determined to do it,’ he said. ‘And if I am, I do not see whyyoushould suddenly experience doubts. It seems perverse of you, Nell. You were a great enthusiast for the plan just a day or two ago.’
‘I was, and I remain so. I do believe it has a chance of success. But I saw Lavinia’s face last night; she was quite furious, though she concealed it, and as yet you have done nothing really to make her so angry.’
‘Do you think I am a coward?’ They’d never discussed the matter in such plain terms before; perhaps it was time.
