ChapterThree
ALMACK’S ASSEMBLY ROOMS, ST JAMES’ SQUARE, LONDON
Two weeks later
‘Ithink almost everyone is afraid of the old cronies of Almacks,’ Phoebe whispered as she waited for the footman to take her card, ‘but I find they’re a bit like homemade puddings: once they’ve let off a little steam, they really are quite squidgy on the inside.’
Sophie suppressed a chuckle as she adjusted her pink satin gloves for the hundredth time since exiting the Damerel carriage.
‘Thank you, dearest sister. Now I’m going to conjure up an image of boiled suet whenever I’m introduced to any of the important matrons and patronesses!’ she remonstrated.
Phoebe grinned as she attempted to smooth out a crumple in her new oyster silk ballgown.
‘That’s not such a bad idea. It will make you wary, and wary is good in London society.’
‘Lord and Lady Amesbury of Amesbury Hall!’
The receiving line moved forwards, as the tones of the bulging-eyed footman rose above the drone of esteemed personages present.
‘The Viscountess Damerel of Damerel House, Miss Sophie Fairfax of Knightswood Manor!’ he pronounced hoarsely.
‘So howdoesit feel to be introduced as“The Viscountess Damerel”?’ Sophie asked curiously as they passed through the doors and into the crush of the main ballroom.
‘Honestly?’ Phoebe quizzed, accepting a glass of lemonade from a passing footman.
‘No, fancifully, what do you think?’ Sophie replied, with a laugh.
‘Well… a touch fussy!’ her sister returned after a sip.
‘But, you have to enjoy it a little?’ Sophie persisted, side-eyeing her sister. ‘After all, you barely waited four months before waltzing down the aisle with the viscount!’ She smiled dreamily. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever forget the flurry of snow as you left Knightswood’s Chapel in your ivory velvet pelisse, Phoebs– the one you promised to let me borrow, remember? It really was quite magical,’ she added with a sigh.
Sophie then had the long-awaited satisfaction of watching her fiercely independent sister flush the exact shade of rowan berries, just as an elegant couple paused to offer their felicitations. The result was an even rosier hue that Phoebe attempted to hide in the bottom of her lemonade.
‘First of all, calling my husband “the viscount” really does sound as though we’re still plotting his downfall beneath my coverlet,’ Phoebe replied when she could. ‘Just call him Alex, like Matilda!
‘And, as far as our wedding was concerned, it just didn’t make any sense to wait. Josephine had made such a good recovery, Aurelia had gone abroad with her parents and…’
She tailed off as a surge of deeper colour undermined her defence entirely.
‘You know, watching you marry for love has been the very best tonic,’ Sophie murmured wickedly.
‘Tonic for what?’ her sister challenged.
‘For putting up with years of declarations about how you would so much rather embrace a life of heroic adventure than marry any man, let alone for love!’
‘But Iamliving a life of adventure!’ Phoebe protested. ‘Just with rather more husband than I anticipated, which, I hasten to add, hasn’t been what I expected at all! In truth, I think Fred would call marriage ‘a right leveller’.’ She paused to tug on a length of escaped hair, and grin ruefully. ‘And yes, I do still worship the ground Mary Wollstonecraft walked upon– I just didn’t realise it was possible to be a happily married feminist!’
Sophie laughed, and placed her hand over Phoebe’s.
‘No one who’s ever known you would question your principles, dearest, and to be honest, I aspire to being a happily marriedfeminine-nanist!’
‘A feminine-a-what? I’m not sure that’s quite the same…’
‘It’s better!’ Sophie grinned. ‘I’m a firm believer in both femininity and feminism, and that they can complement each other, so why not a happy marriage of the two?!’ She leaned closer with a mischievous twinkle. ‘And do tell me if there any particular aspects of matrimony you’d care to highlight as beingparticularlylevelling,Viscountess Damerel.’
‘Sophie!’ Phoebe returned in a scandalised tone. She chuckled as Sophie fluttered her eyelashes.
‘You know I can’t!’ Phoebe continued. ‘Thomas willactually murder me if he finds out I’ve told you anything, plus you know you can’t keep a secret for love nor money!’
