Max grinned, though it was a little strained. ‘My butler will enjoy that, no doubt. I think he’s developing a fondness for you already.’
‘It will do him good. It is too easy to become set in one’s ways as one grows older. This is a folly I have avoided.’
‘I shall be sure to tell him you said so.’
Schiavi laughed. ‘Perhaps not, since it would be convenient for both of us if I am admitted without delay next time I call.’
‘Thank you,’ Max said, getting up to shake his hand. ‘I know you’re not doing this for me, but… thank you. I had thought there was no possible solution to my problem, and I’m still not certain there is, but maybe there is a little hope, and that is precious.’
The old man replied more soberly than was his wont, ‘Allegra is my chief concern, of course, but I confess a sneaking sympathy for your situation. My own father carelessly damaged so many lives… but let us not speak of it. I have a great deal to do, and must set about it immediately.’ And with that he was gone.
47
‘Allie! Allie!Allie!’ Allegra, who had passed the last few days in a state of frozen misery, could not conceive why her sisters were out of the schoolroom at this hour, or what they had to tell her that was so excessively urgent they must come bursting into her chamber, yelling. Doubtless it was nothing of any great importance to anyone but them. Perhaps they had seen an interesting dog, or a man passing by in a curious hat. They were suchchildren. She set down the book she had been pretending to read and looked up at them wearily from where she was lying huddled on her bed. She had retreated here in search of a little privacy, but that was not to be had in this madhouse.
They were breathless, all three of them, having run up the steep stairs like a herd of wild horses, and no doubt when Miss Macintyre caught up with them, they would be in a great deal of trouble for behaving in such an unladylike fashion. That was some small consolation.
Bianca recovered first. ‘There is a new gentleman…’
‘A very handsome gentleman,’ Cecilia added, panting.
Bianca nudged her, not delicately. ‘I got here ahead of you, soit is my tale, and besides, I saw him first. He is at the door. Well, I suppose he has gone now, because he wasn’t asking to be admitted, just leaving you a letter. You, Allie! We saw him from a long way down the street – I have very good eyesight, you know – and we abandoned Miss Macintyre, who had taken us for a very dreary healthy walk, and ran like the verist hoydens to see if we could be in time to meet him on the steps, which we did.’
Beatrice chipped in, ‘We didn’t speak to him first. We didn’taccosthim. I expect we will be accused of having done so, but we didn’t need to. He looked at us and he smiled…’
‘He has a very nice smile…’ This was Cecilia. ‘And a deep voice.’
‘And he said, in his deep voice, “I can see that you must be the younger Misses Constantine, for you resemble your older sister enormously. Good day, ladies; I am very pleased to make your acquaintance.” And he took off his hat and bowed to us, a proper bow.’ Beatrice did a passable impression of a gentleman’s tones, and his flourishing obeisance.
‘AndIsaid, because Cicietta and Bea could only gape at him like stupid fish, “Except you must have observed that we are taller, sir, even me, and I am only nine.” And then I curtsied, thoughtheydidn’t.’
‘He laughed at what I said, because I am indeed excessively amusing, whatever Bea says, and I thought he might be going to hand your letter to us, we could see your name on it, or I could, but instead he gave it to Polly and asked her to give it to you. And then we ran upstairs to tell you, before Miss Macintyre catches us and gives us a thundering scold. But I don’t care, because it will be worth it. It’s so exciting, and just like a book.Clarissa, probably.’
Long before this, Allegra had rushed to her window and heaved up the sash, leaning out – also like the verist hoydenrather than a demure young lady in her second Season – to see if she could catch a glimpse of a tall gentleman with a broad back passing away down Great Russell Street, perhaps even glancing back with a wistful look. Nothing.
She turned back to her sisters. ‘Did any of you happen to catch the gentleman’s name?’ They were all shaking their heads regretfully. She would feel sick, if it turned out to be not him after all. Sir Harry, perhaps, or Lord Milton. But it couldn’t be Lord Milton, she realised with quickening heartbeat, because her sisters had seen him on a previous occasion, and would remember, trust them for that. ‘Tell me quickly, what did he look like?’
‘Dark,’ Cecilia said dreamily. ‘Amber eyes, of a shade I don’t think I’ve seen before. Velvety amber eyes. Very tall and broad and fashionable. Curling hair.Crisplycurling hair, I would say.’
Nobody would describe Sir Harry as dark; he was pink as an English ham. And his pale hair did not curl even slightly, let alone crisply. Whatever colour his eyes were – she had not had any occasion to observe – they couldn’t be amber or anything like it. Only one man…
‘Perhaps he is foreign.’ Cecilia was still speaking. ‘He looks foreign. Like a hero in a book.’
‘Oh…’ Allegra breathed, ready to believe it at last, and picked up her skirts and ran headlong down the stairs. Her sisters were at her heels, and the house shook.
A short while later, once more alone in her chamber, Allegra looked down at the letter she held, and allowed herself to feel the first faint stirrings of hope. She had read the extraordinary note a dozen times and still could not quite allow herself to believe it. Could her grandfather really have found a means to allow Max to be free of the horrible burden he carried, so that they could be together? It seemed impossible, because she knew that Mr Severin had not shared his secret with anyone but her, so SignorSchiavi could not be in possession of the full facts. But Max seemed to believe that there might be a chance of it, nonetheless.
Maxhad written,
My love, my dearest,
Your revered ancestor proposes that he finds a suitable man who can be persuaded – presumably by financial means – to declare that he is my father, and that my mother was some humble woman of his acquaintance.
I confess I still have doubts as to whether such an amenable and plausible person is so conveniently to be discovered here in London, but your grandfather seems to feel no anxiety on this or any other matter, and I find myself inspired with a curious feeling of trust in him. I am not sure if he has told you all this already – I was so overset when he came to see me that I forgot to ask – but I could not let the day pass without knowing you were in possession of the full facts, just as I am. I do not ask you formally to marry me now, Allegra. I hope to be able to do that soon, in person, with you in my arms and my lips close to yours. But I hope, I now have some fragile hope…
I wish I could have seen you alone and spoken with you, but that seemed unwise. I need not tell you to burn this letter so it does not go astray. Before we are married, and after, I will write you a hundred more, a thousand, with words of love and desire that scorch the page and bring an adorable blush to your cheeks, and then I will kiss them, and do a great deal more. But not quite yet…
Her mother had come in while she was reading, and stood looking at her. The door was securely closed and they were alone; it was safe to speak. ‘My grandfather has been to visit Mr Severinand proposes a solution to his problem. You know I cannot tell you what that is, and my grandfather too remains in ignorance, but he has realised that it pertains to Mr Severin’s parentage.’ She told her the rest from the letter, all she felt she could, and Leontina listened with concentrated attention.
