A truer word was never spoken. ‘And you?’
‘I do. An adventurous female of dubious morals? I’ll put her in my next book!’
Chapter Thirty-Four
‘Is this how you feel on a first night?’ whispered Jacob, as he waited in the wings with Dora. His stomach was churning and he simultaneously felt hot and cold, his body confused as to whether it wanted to fly away or stay and fight.
‘Oh, no, that’s much worse,’ she told him. ‘This is a picnic in the park– a few songs, no complicated scenery changes, same costume throughout.’
The dining room had been turned into a concert hall, Henry’s study sacrificed as the Green Room. Through the crack in the doorway they could see that the audience was gathering, excited by an unexpected invitation in the doldrums of the summer in London. Professional gentlemen outnumbered the gentry, comprising of the civil servants, merchants and stockbrokers who could not afford to take months off to visit estates outside the capital, but it was a respectable gathering nonetheless, nothing that betrayed the hastiness of the organisation. Thornbury was there with what looked like his superior, the First Senior Clerk to the minister. The latter had a wild head of brown hair as if he had stolen all that was lacking fromthe bald pate of his underling. Slightly stooped, with glasses perched on the end of his nose, he was peering at the list of songs Eliza and Jane Austen had painstakingly copied out, there being no time to involve a printer. Ben Knighton was there too, thrilled to have scored an invitation to an exclusive event. When Countess Vorontsov entered, leaning heavily on the arm of Miss Petrovna, Thornbury ushered her to a seat in the front row. From the serious expression on his face, Jacob guessed he was commiserating with the lady on the injury her husband had sustained two nights before. In the row behind her, Jacob spotted the blond-headed Swedish envoy– he looked annoyed by the delay before the auction, tapping his programme restlessly on his knee– and the sour-faced Prussian, who sat like he was on horseback, his spine not touching the seat.
Jacob could feel Dora’s breath on his cheek. He turned and snatched a quick kiss. It reminded him of the first time he had been close to her, in a stable in an innyard in Kendal. Long before he fell in love with her, he had been keenly aware of her presence as a woman.
She kissed him back. ‘Everyone here that you wanted?’
‘Except the French. We must have them here for this to work.’
‘It is possible Percy will send someone to bid in his stead.’
‘True. We will only know when we retire for the private auction.’
‘Have you agreed with Henry how that will go?’
‘I have. They’ve been told to bring sealed bids and there will only be one round of bidding. Thecomte’s report goes to the highest bidder, no matter the identity. Henry is making out he is bound by the terms of the will. Percy will see this as an opportunity to snatch it from his enemies. He’s going to wedge himself in somehow, but I’m not certain in what manner.’
‘Then they have to make their best bid from the outset and not hold anything back?’
‘Yes, it isn’t really about the money, though that is an interesting sideshow to the evening.’
‘What is it about then?’
‘The bidding process is about accommodating Count Vorontsov who would have been here otherwise. He has sent his wife with his bid, and one cannot imagine her managing anything as complicated as deciding whether to up her bid or not.’
‘Miss Petrovna could.’
‘She could, but he has decided he doesn’t trust her.’
‘Wise man.’
Henry came to the front of the room and greeted his guests. His sister took her place at the piano as she was accompanying the first few numbers. On Mrs Austen’s prodding, she had volunteered that she was competent enough to play for the comic songs but would surrender her place to a true professional when they reached the more operatic part of the evening.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for accepting our invitation for this evening of music from the stage. I’m sure you will share with my wife and me the thought that August can be a month that is devoid of private entertainments, whereas, in the autumn, you will be showered with invitations. We decided, therefore, to bring our favourite people together’—he smiled expansively at the company before him—‘and share with them some of our favourite songs. I’m thrilled to say some of the Theatre Royal’s most experienced performers were available, as well as some new talent recently arrived from the northern circuit, so you will be delighted, we hope, by this blend of the novel and the familiar. But that is enough from me. Ladies and gentlemen, prepare to be comically entertained by Hugo Ingles and Goliath Renfrew!’
Hugo and Ren entered from opposite sides and bowed to the company. There was a ripple of laughter at the name for the little man. No wonder Ren had dropped it for his nickname. That joke must have worn thin years ago.
They embarked on an easy bantering conversation, casting themselves as two London gents hitting the town’s most popular places, using their little story as a cue for their song. Jacob waited long enough to find that his employees could indeed carry off a merry caper or two, before retreating from the doorway.
Dora was putting the finishing touches to her appearance, fastening pearl earrings and a necklace borrowed from Eliza. She met his eyes in the mirror.
‘O ye of little faith!’
He smiled wryly. ‘I know, I know. This isn’t my area.’
She settled the pendant just above her cleavage where it would drive the red-blooded men in the audience wild with desire– or him at least. ‘If Hugo and Ren barged into your hospital and demanded to operate on a patient, I would understand your hesitation; but all of us have been doing this for years.’
‘Some of us longer than others,’ quipped Susan, darkening her eyebrows with a charcoal pencil.
Jacob stood behind Dora and ran his finger down the chain, pleased to see she shivered at the ghost of a touch. ‘You look beautiful.’
