“But it don’t, ma’am,” Jenny assured her, twitching the shoulders into line.“It sort of suggests it might, but it don’t.It’ll make the master’s eyes pop, for sure.”
“But I want to be respectable tonight,” Eleanor complained.
“It is respectable,” stated the maid firmly.“It’ll just give the men ideas.And that’s their problem, ain’t it, ma’am?”
Eleanor gave in for the moment.She would see what her husband said.There would always be time to change, but she didn’t have another gown suitable for the pearls.She chose a simple coiffure and only a bracelet of carved ivory by way of ornament.
Then, nervously hoping for her husband’s approval, for his admiration even, she went to tap on the door of Nicholas’s dressing room.
Clintock opened it wide for her to enter, and she saw Nicholas seated before the mirror making the final adjustments to a beautifully arranged cravat, the frills of his shirt impeding his long, skillful fingers.
Then he stood up and turned, lithe and elegant in his formal knee breeches.Eleanor, however, was concentrating on his face.First, she was reassured to see his usual good humor restored.Whatever devils had nagged him before had been exorcised.Second, he showed nothing but appreciation for her gown.
“That must be one of Madame Augustine’s works of art,” he said with a grin.“Demure with a hint of wickedness, sophisticated but with something fresh and young about it.And it could have been made for the pearls.”
He allowed his valet to ease him into a richly embroidered waistcoat and a snug-fitting dark jacket.He then chose a few fobs, a ring, and, carelessly, an enormous diamond pin for the cravat.
“Will I do you justice?”he asked with a grin, striking a pose.
Eleanor couldn’t help but laugh in a way she had forgotten, the way children laugh, just for joy.In this mood he was a delight, and she feared, if he were to ask it, she would lay her heart down for him to use as a stepping stone.Oh, it was dangerous, the way this man made her feel.
For a moment, meeting his gleaming, gold-flecked eyes, she felt she had only to reach out and she would have the moon in her hands.In a moment, perhaps in response to what he saw in her face, he faded from brilliance to a friendly courtesy.The opportunity, if such it had been, was gone.
Or almost.
He was still in high spirits.Like children, they hurried down to take out the fabulous necklace, and then spent fifteen minutes arranging it to best advantage.Finally they were satisfied with three loops lying against her skin, glowing like a pale dawn sky.He snapped on the diamond clip that would hold them together at her nape.
Her nerves, already sensitized by the busy working of his fingers against her skin, leaped when his lips played where his fingers had been.In the mirror, she could see him looking down at her shoulders.Surely that was tenderness on his face.
Then he raised his eyes to meet hers and a shadow clouded them.
Eleanor was adrift.She knew nothing of men, of how she was expected to behave even in normal circumstances, never mind this extraordinary marriage.What did he want of her?She remembered the night before he left.Did he expect her to respond as warmly now as she had done then in the heat of the wine?Was she supposed to turn to him?
But whatever had been needed or expected, the moment was gone.He moved away and rang for their cloaks.Soon they were on their way to Lord Stainbridge’s mansion.
It was hours before Eleanor had time again for introspection.There were twenty relatives gathered to inspect her, ranging from the twin’s grandfather, who clearly terrorized his daughter, Mrs.Stephenson, to a bunch of young cousins, including Mary Stephenson and her brother, Ralph.
Whenever possible Eleanor gravitated to the younger set.They were far less likely to catechize her on her life history.She was aware that Nicholas was observant of her, and she was sure he would rescue her if problems developed, but he had his own hands full in charming the older set and surviving their inquisition into his way of life.
Because she maintained a peripheral awareness of him, however, she observed a strange moment.
Fringe members of the Stainbridge clan had been invited for after dinner, and among these were two young pinks.As they entered the room Nicholas’s face froze for the merest second before he picked up a conversation with a great-aunt.
Eleanor waited eagerly to be introduced to the newcomers.They turned out to be Thomas Massey and Reginald Yates, likable enough fribbles but of no obvious significance.She could only assume there was some longstanding grudge between one of them and her husband.
This seemed confirmed when she observed Mr.Yates looking at her with what appeared to be sneering humor.When the young men went off to congratulate Nicholas, however, she could detect nothing out of the ordinary on anyone’s part.She knew her husband to be an adept dissimulator, but there could be no reason for the two dandies to hide any ill-feeling.
Her overstretched nerves must be playing tricks on her.
She was, however, to learn more before the evening was over.
Cedric Delaney, a distant cousin of the earl’s who had constituted himself family historian, insisted on taking her to see the various family portraits in the house.Eleanor found it most interesting.
The twins’ looks seemed to have come almost entirely from their entrancing mother.A bridal portrait showed her sitting beneath a leafy tree and laughing at the antics of a small King Charles spaniel.She looked very like Nicholas in his funning mood.The twins’ father, standing un-amused behind his wife, was dark-haired and rather heavy of feature.If there was any resemblance to be found in his sons it was in the earl, in a serious mood.
They came to some Holbein sketches that Cedric said were of particular interest.Unfortunately, the hanging oil lamps did not illuminate the spot, and so he hurried off to find supplementary candles.Eleanor was left alone for a while on the second floor gallery, which worked around three sides of the tall entrance hall.She discovered the hall, which raised the height of the house to a magnificent skylight, carried sound wonderfully.As she waited she clearly heard the butler’s quietly voiced instructions to the busy servants, and a few irreverent comments from them as well.
Then, as she was beginning to think she would have to give up on her guide and return below, she heard the voices of Mr.Massey and Mr.Yates.
