“A leopard can’t change its spots.”
“Are you saying he has no sense? Mama will convince him.”
“Maybe.”
Ariana understood the hesitation. Lady Langton was kind and sweet-natured, but she should have been named after the goddess of peace. She disliked all forms of hostility.
“You need a ride,” Ethel said.
Ariana almost argued, but Ethel was right. Fresh air and exercise would blow away her desperation and put her in a better state for deft persuasion. It even helped to put on her dark blue riding habit, for it was a relief from black. The princess’s death had plunged everyone into mourning, but seeing black all around only tightened the screw of her anxiety.
Ariana went down the back stairs, hoping to avoid her brother. She was not yet in a state for sweet persuasion. An hour later she returned, much calmer but even more resolved. A ride around the estate had reminded her of how far the misery could spread. Uncle Paul wouldn’t take care of anything. He’d raise rents and cut down trees for ready money. He’d neglect all repairs of drains, fences, and coppices, and especially the cottages where the farm laborers lived. There’d be no support for the church, the sick, or the almshouses.
Ariana returned to the house with stronger purpose, but plotting a more subtle course. Though she’d love to see her brother at the altar tomorrow, she could give him time to come around to the idea. True, Norris could kill himself at any moment in some sporting wildness, but it was very unlikely. Her task now was to turn his mind toward finding a bride.
As Ariana dressed in black silk for dinner, she explained her new reasoning.
Ethel said, “Bear in mind that the world’s in mourning for a wife who died trying to give birth to an heir. Could turn some men off.”
“Off women entirely?” Ariana asked skeptically.
“It has to make a man think.”
“I can’t not push him a little.”
“No, but as you say, give him time. This gloomy mood will pass and everyone will forget.” She finished fastening the back of the gown. “What ornaments?”
Ariana thought it sad that Princess Charlotte’s tragic death might fade into the mists, but it probably would be best all in all. For now, it would serve her purpose to look a little less funereal. “My amber beads and bracelet.”
Ethel fastened the triple row of beads, which sat neatly at the base of Ariana’s throat, just above the high neck of the gown. Ariana added the matching bracelet at her right wrist, and pulled on short black net gloves.
She liked to wear amber because it matched the color of her hair, which was undoubtedly one of her finer features. It was even easy to manage since it was naturally curly. Not frizzy, but with a pleasant, obliging curl, which was much easier to manage now she’d had it cropped to shoulder length and shorter around her face. Curls on the forehead were all the fashion, and she had them without resort to curling irons, thank heavens.
Unasked, Ethel had brought just the right shawl—a long Norwich one, woven in a design of black and gold.
“Thank you. Any last advice?”
“More flies are caught with honey than vinegar.”
“That’s true.”
“And it is your mother’s birthday.”
“Which I’d forgotten! Very well. Honeyed sweetness all evening. I must at least tempt my fly.”
•••
The meal progressed well enough, for Ariana was intent on being amiable and Norris gave a firsthand account of the events around the princess’s death. Ariana and her mother had received letters, but they valued his description of how London had reacted.
“I understand the princess’s doctors are being blamed,” Ariana said as the second course was laid out.
“And the queen,” Norris said, eyeing the new dishes with approval. He had a mighty appetite. “She wasn’t there, you know.”
“She isn’t well, poor lady,” their mother said, “and seventy-three years old. Her granddaughter’s death and all the traveling and ceremonies will have taxed her.”
“You fear there could soon be another funeral?” Ariana said. “We’ll all be in mourning forever.”
“Hope not,” Norris said, helping himself to venison. “Town died on the same day. The theaters closed, and most of the shops as well. The shops opened within days, of course, and the theaters later. But no one’s putting off mourning or throwing grand entertainments.”
