He shook his head. “You won’t find any in Bexleyheath, my lady.”
Brilliance wasn’t ready to give up. “Is there a larger town not too far away?”
“Indeed, my lady. Dartford would have what you seek.”
“Could I give a footman coin enough to purchase sheet music?”
“That is unnecessary, my lady. Lady Twitchard has instructed that all her guests’ needs be taken care of. If you write down what you seek, I will handle it directly. By tomorrow at the latest.”
“This is the most accommodating house party I have ever attended,” Brilliance told him, earning a satisfied nod from the head of the household staff before she left him.
Charades were as difficultas ever she found them.How was anyone supposed to make sense of the riddles?Brilliance made suggestions to her handsome partner, but invariably Lord Hewitt gave his own answers for their team. And he was usually correct!
Embarrassingly, she’d even forgotten the answer to the riddle Ms. Austen had made famous by putting in her acclaimed novelEmma. Their hostess read it aloud.
“Myfirstdoth affliction denotes, which mysecondis destin’d to feel. And mywholeis the best antidote for that affliction to soften and heal.”
“Isn’t it something about sponge cake?” Brilliance asked, which engendered hearty laughter, not only from Lord Hewitt but from all those within hearing. Lady Georgiana was loudest of all.
Brilliance’s cheeks heated, but upon learning the answer waswoman, she laughed, too.
“Woeplusman,” Lord Hewitt explained.
Brilliance shrugged.A woman was nothing like a sponge cake except for being soft in places.Ms. Austen hadn’t given the answer either. Maybe she hadn’t known. In any case, the rest of the riddles might as well have been in French, the way all the complicated rhyming confounded her.
Expectedly, she did no better with the second riddle that was purportedly easy for its plain language:
“Myfirstis an animal most useful have you vermin, mysecondis an article of speech as common as the first letter, mythirdshould be used every day lest you give an appearance of dishevelment, and my whole is a place for the dead.”
“Something about mice and a hairbrush,” she guessed.
“Very close,” Lord Hewitt said encouragingly. He even winked at her, which she appreciated.
“Cat-a-comb,” Martine called out a second later.
Brilliance leaned close to Lord Hewitt, breathing in his clean smell. “I am sorry you have such a wretched partner.” Fortunately, he didn’t seem the least bothered by her incompetency.
Brilliance supposed she should forgo charades in the future along with painting and fishing.
She sighed, wanting to contribute to the evening’s entertainment. Before the next charade was offered, she told the gathering, “I know a funny jest. What smells the most in a chemist’s shop?”
“The nose,” Lady Georgiana responded, sounding utterly bored. A few people chuckled, nonetheless.
“Why, yes,” Brilliance said, “but you were supposed to letmegive the answer.”Had Lady Georgiana spoiled her joke on purpose?
On the other hand, when it was time for a pantomime charade, Brilliance successfully made Lord Hewitt guess both an umbrella and a walking stick. Acting was always easier than solving riddles.
Feeling redeemed, she didn’t mind when their partnership came in fourth place for points earned. And the evening concluded even more delightfully with cucumber salad and stewed duck for supper, one of her favorites.
The following day, after a mid-morning game of croquet, which was so close to pall-mall Brilliance didn’t know why anyone bothered changing the name, she followed the other guests to the shaded back terrace for lemonade. Lord Hewitt had been behind her team, of course with Lady Georgiana stuck to him like pitch, and finished their round later. Thus, Brilliance had procured an extra glass and was keeping an eye out for him when Lady Twitchard’s butler approached her.
“I have secured the musical score you requested, my lady.”
“Have you? How wonderful.”
“It is in your room,” Mr. Ramsey added.
“Thank you!” Thrusting her half-empty glass into his hands as well as the one for Lord Hewitt, she rushed to the main staircase.
