But her aunt shooed her away as Mr. Milton offered his arm, leaving Arabella and Grace to follow. Suspiciously enough, Aunt Belle seemed to make it up the stairs without issue, although she did appear to make a bit of a show of it whenever they reachedthe landing, where she saw an elderly gentleman whom she apparently wished to speak to. Waving to an usher, she spoke to Grace.
“Follow this man to the Smyth box, while Mr. Milton escorts me to speak with an old friend of mine, will you?”
“Yes,” Grace said, just as Mr. Milton spoke.
“It was a pleasure to meet you, Miss Sharpe. You as well, Miss Scott.”
“The pleasure was ours,” Arabella said before quickly grabbing Grace’s arm and turning to follow the usher. “My goodness, what a handsome gentleman!”
“Arabella, hush,” Grace said, glancing around. “You mustn’t speak so loudly.”
“I cannot help it. I’m so excited. To finally be around so many people instead of being kept away in Glencoe. It’s so refreshing to meet new people, isn’t it?”
Grace nodded, unsure, as they were led to a heavy red curtain. The usher pulled it back and let them enter and Grace couldn’t help but gasp. It was breathtakingly beautiful. With massive red curtains covering the stage, gold painted filigree walls, and rich, green velvet seats, it was the most decadent theater she had ever been to.
“Oh, my goodness, it’s beautiful!” Arabella said excitedly.
“Yes, it really is.”
Not moments later, Aunt Belle entered the suite and they each took their seats, just as the show was about to begin. It was an Italian opera calledAdelia, in which the daughter of a duke’s bodyguard is suspected of having relations with a nobleman. Arabella and Aunt Belle were very obviously enraptured by the tension of the play, showcased by Aunt Belle, whose opera glasses were unmoving from her eyes, although she did turn around a few times, as if searching for someone in the audience below. But even that couldn’t hold Grace’s interest. As muchas she tried to pay attention, she couldn’t seem to care enough about it, as her mind continued to wonder about things she didn’t want to wonder about.
Such as the exact color of Dr. Hall’s eyes.
It was mortifying, to be sat in a dark theater, ignoring all the hard work of the singers and actors, and only being able to concentrate on trying to figure out if the doctor had gray eyes with a bluish hue or blue eyes with gray streaks.
“My dear,” Aunt Belle said suddenly, shaking Grace from her thoughts.
“Yes?”
“I need you to, um, go fetch my medicine from the carriage.”
“Medicine? What medicine?”
“My pain relievers. Dr. Barkley gave them to me and I feel the draft in this building is causing my leg to ache.”
“Pain relievers? Aunt Belle, why didn’t you tell me you were taking such things?”
“Do not argue with me, my dear, just go get them.”
Grace frowned as Arabella leaned toward them.
“Surely one of the ushers can do so?”
“No, no,” Aunt Belle said. “I want Grace to do it.”
“Why?”
“Because. If you are going to be a doctor, you must learn to be called away from whatever it is you are doing at any given moment to perform your duties,” she said. “Now, go on.”
Grace sighed, unsure what sort of lesson Aunt Belle was trying to teach her at that moment, but as she wasn’t much interested in the opera, she left without arguing.
Walking down the hallway that led to the staircase, Grace noted the quiet peace of being in such a large space alone.
Well, almost alone.
There, in the middle of the staircase, halfway from the landing on both sides, was Mr. Milton, staring up at the chandeliers. Tilting her head, Grace stilled as she reached him.
“Mr. Milton?” she asked, as he turned. “What are you doing out here?”
