“Really?” asked Olivia in surprise. “Our cook makes something similar with elderflowers, but that isn’t inebriating.
“I do love that elderflower drink,” added Jocelyn. “I’d forgotten all about it.”
“I must get the recipe,” said Lady Leighton. “I do like the tingly, sharp taste of the bubbles.”
The evening had started well. It was almost time to take their seats for the performance.
He found himself standing close to Olivia. She smiled at him, and he wondered what those dark blue eyes reminded him of. He suddenly realized she was speaking to him, and he had been miles away, thinking only about her eyes.
“Do you know this opera, Lord Hatfield?” Olivia had been asking him.
“The opera? It’s my favorite,” Marcus replied. “So many operas are serious. I love the music of Mr. Purcell, as you know,” reminding her of that day in the woodland glade. “But his operas are so tragic and sad.”
“You’re right,” she agreed. “Beautiful but so sad.”
“This opera has comedy. Mozart produced a masterpiece with the Marriage of Figaro or more correctlyLe Nozze di Figaro. We have an Austrian Theater group performing here in London, and this is their opening night.”
He did not mention that he had sponsored the performance and brought the company to London for a week.
“Will they sing in Italian?” she asked him.
“Indeed,” he answered.
“Then I shall welcome your translations of the Italian. I know French and Latin, but not Italian,” Olivia informed him.
“I’ll be glad to. It’s a comedy and a love story. Susannah, the heroine, evades seduction by aCount Almaviva. The music is superb,” explained Marcus.
As they walked to their box, one of many lining the sides of the auditorium, he found Lady Cressida Lantham, and her mother, directly in his path.
She curtsied as he passed, and he knew he needed to acknowledge this friend of his mother.
“Lady Lantham, Lady Cressida, what a delightful surprise,” he said. “I did not realize you enjoyed opera.”
Lady Cressida’s voice, high and tinny, seemed to always grate on his ears. He had been captivated by her classical beauty, when he had first met her, but she had an unfortunate tendency to ask question after question and laugh in a high-pitched style.
Here we go,he thought as he saw her open her mouth. Before Lady Cressida could speak, he continued, introducing her to his party. He noticed that when he introduced Olivia, the other woman’s eyes had narrowed, and seemed almost black in the lamplight in the corridor. Something made him think of a lizard basking in the sun, ready to pounce on a butterfly, but he pushed the thought away. He must miss Italy more than he realized.
Olivia, who had been walking with him to their box, stepped backwards, leaving him alone with Lady Cressida. He smiled, and tried to feign an interest as she asked him question after question about Mr. Mozart and his opera. She continued asking if he would be attending a ball later in the week? He noddedabsently, glad when Lady Leighton joined him, and suggested they take their seats.
As they made their way up the grand staircase, he decided to suggest to Olivia that they conspire to let Lady Jocelyn and Colin sit together for the performance. She nodded her agreement, and it clicked suddenly that Olivia’s eyes resembled cornflowers in a meadow on a summer’s day.
“It’s so beautiful,” gasped Olivia as they entered their box and he saw how she looked around the theater with delight.
“We have a good view of the stage from here too,” Marcus added.
“I can’t believe how high up the ceiling reaches. It’s like those pictures of the Pantheon in Rome,” continued Olivia.
Marcus looked at her with curiosity. “You’ve seen paintings of the Pantheon?”
“Yes, I’d like to visit it one day. I doubt I ever shall, but it must be an amazing spectacle.”
“It is indeed,” he told her.
“You’ve been there?”
“Yes, many times. I lived several years in Italy and though my villa is near Florence in Tuscany, I’ve been to Roma many times.”
“How exciting,” she almost whispered. “To see the sights of ancient Rome.”
