Chapter Seventeen
“Chinup, my darling, I am here with you.”
They were entering the theatre, and Milly’s stomach was fluttering as she took in the colorful guests in the foyer.
“I should not have let you persuade me.”
“But you love the opera, darling, and look beautiful. I must say, you have also perfected that bored expression on your face. Another thing that has changed over the last four years.”
“Pardon?” Milly dragged her eyes from a gaggle of women who were all chirping like a nest of chicks and trying not to look at her.
“You have changed a great deal, Millicent. Before, you could not hide your expressions. Now, I rarely see them.”
“Oh well... yes” was all Milly came up with by way of an answer. She had changed; who would not in her circumstances?
“Good evening, Lady Mowbray.”
A elegantly dressed couple had approached. Milly searched her memory for their names.
“You remember my niece, my lord. My dear, let me introduce you to Lord and Lady Pembroke.”
The man bowed deeply as the lady curtsied. Milly responded.
“Good evening,” she said, forcing a polite smile onto her lips.
“I am glad your health has improved, Lady Millicent. We are pleased to have you back among us.”
“Thank you, my lord.”
They chatted briefly about nothing, and it was all commonplace and polite, and then they left.
“There now, that was not so bad.”
“No, it was not.” Milly sighed. However, she hated the lies she must tell, and be forced to live. Another black mark on her father’s soul.
The real problem was that she just wasn’t sure she wanted to bother with this charade anymore. The need to see and be seen. The rules that governed her every move. The people who seemed polite to her face, but would not be so behind her back.
“Come, we shall go and find the Ellsworth box now.”
She placed her hand through her aunt’s arm and followed. It was as they approached the stairs that she felt someone looking at her. Searching, she found a man some distance away. Tall, with gray hair, his eyes were focused intently on her. Dragging hers away, she continued on.
There was something unsettling about that look. Something dark and menacing. Shaking the thought aside, Milly realized that entering society once more was more unsettling than she had thought it would be, if a strange man’s eyes upset her.
“Ah, here we are. Good evening to you all.”
As her aunt greeted the inhabitants of Lord Ellsworth’s box, Milly stood to one side. She saw his brothers, Mr. Haddon and Mr. Charles Haddon. And Lord and Lady Thurston, and of course Joseph.
“Good evening, my lady.”
“My lord.” She dipped into a curtsy when Joseph greeted her.
“You look beautiful.”
His words had not been spoken loudly, and she doubted any but Milly heard them. Simple, often-spoken words, and yet when delivered by him, in that deep voice, they made her shiver.
“Thank you. You also.”
He wore a black jacket across his broad shoulders, and his waistcoat was black and silver. Every inch the earl, she thought.
