The Reverend Alder would merely have shaken his head. ‘Vestis virum reddit,’ he would have said, quoting his favourite Roman writer, Quintilian.
Clothes maketh the man. We all wear uniforms, Sebastian thought.
In his army days, his uniform had been scarlet with buff facings. Now it was a well-cut jacket and satin breeches.
‘When your lordship returns to London, we will be able to have some proper tailoring,’ Pierce said, still primping the cravat.
‘What’s wrong with these clothes?’
‘A quick job, my lord, hardly worthy of you.’
‘It looks fine to me,’ Sebastian said in a clipped tone that Bennet would have instantly recognised as a warning not to push Sebastian Alder into doing something he did not wish to do.
Pierce retired to the chest of drawers and returned with a diamond pin that he affixed to the fine linen folds of the cravat before allowing his master to escape.
The driveway to Fairchild Hall, home of Lady Kendall, had been lit by flares, and the front of the old house was brightly illuminated with red silk lanterns. Connie, leaning from the window, exclaimed at the show. Even Sebastian, alighting from the coach, had to admit that the effect had been carefully stage managed to give the visitors a sense of expectation.
They were met in the flagged front hall by a flunkey who took their cloaks and indicated the wide doors to the right from where the sound of music and laughter issued. Sebastian glanced down at his sister, dressed in a pretty pink gown, borrowed from Fanny. Her new pearl necklace graced her neckline, and her dark blonde hair had been swept up into a sophisticated knot, set off with pink ribbons and a white feather. If this was Fanny’s work then he owed the girl his thanks. Connie looked beautiful.
He offered her his arm and she accepted it, her face flushedand her eyes sparkling with excitement. Her fingers tightened on his arm for a moment and he patted the gloved hand.
‘Lord Somerton,’ the footman intoned. ‘Mr. Alder and Miss Alder.’
A sudden hush fell on the gathering as all eyes turned to the door. Lady Kendall, dressed in a green satin gown with a matching turban topped by a green feather set in place with an emerald the size of a quail’s egg, disengaged herself from a group of guests and came forward.
Sebastian heard Connie whisper. ‘Oh, my!’
Lady Kendall extended her hand. ‘Lord Somerton. Welcome to my home.’
He bowed over the proffered hand and presented Connie and Matt. Connie curtseyed and Matt, resplendent in clothes borrowed from Freddy, seemed completely confident as he bowed to Lady Kendall. Isabel and, he grudgingly admitted, the Lynchs had done a fine job in preparing two youngsters straight from rural Cheshire for their new life. He felt inordinately proud of his siblings.
Across the room, Harry Dempster raised a hand in greeting before being drawn back into conversation with a woman in a scarlet dress. Matt looked around at the gathered crowd. Fans fluttered like a rabble of butterflies as his brother’s gaze scanned the room.
Sebastian smiled and leaned in to whisper, ‘You seem to be attracting attention, little brother.’
Matt cast him a cheeky grin and, taking Connie’s arm, sallied forth. Lady Kendall tucked a small, gloved hand into Sebastian’s arm and led him into the room.
‘Your brother and sister are quite charming, Lord Somerton.’
‘Thank you,’ he replied. ‘It was kind of you to invite us.’
‘Not at all. I am sure you and your brother are everything the mothers of the county would wish.’
‘And what is that?’ Sebastian asked.
‘In your case, a title and no inconvenient wife,’ Lady Kendallreplied, ‘and your brother has a handsome face and, it is hoped, a generous allowance from your lordship.’
Sebastian laughed. ‘The young rogue has to earn it first,’ he said. ‘I am packing him off to university.’
Lady Kendall raised a delicately arched eyebrow. ‘Really? Is that something he wishes to do?’
‘Yes. He has a talent for mathematics but I was never able to...’
He stopped, feeling the embarrassment rising to his face. He couldn’t bring himself to say, ‘never able to afford the cost’.
Lady Kendall took two glasses of champagne from a tray and handed one to Sebastian.
‘May I claim a few minutes of your time in private, my lord?’
