“I will see you anon, my lady.”
With a nod, she wandered in the opposite direction toward the players. Cousin Frances was already swinging her mallet with gusto, and Delia hoped she could simply watch.
Yet Lady Osbourne was upon her like a flea on a hound. How unlucky — not every group had started already. She could still be squeezed onto the last team! To that end, without any choice she set aside her precious sketch pad.
“Where have you been?” Lady Miriam, also in the last group, asked. “I lost you and looked everywhere. That’s why I’m stuck in this sad collection of leftover guests not chosen by other players.”
“Is that what we are in?” Delia felt a little better knowing those around her were in the same boat. “But you were the one who wandered away from me, not the other way around,” she pointed out. Besides, if Lady Miriam had wanted to find her, she had only to return to the place she’d left her.
“I kept walking,” the lady insisted. “I didn’t realize you had dropped to your knees to worship a weed. By the time I noticed your absence, I could no longer see you.”
What a charmer!
“At least you have this group,” Delia said, turning away. She couldn’t help glancing back toward the stable.Would Lord Perish do his duty?He didn’t.
Despite knowing she wouldn’t win, Delia managed to enjoy herself, not being a total disaster at pall-mall as she’d feared.
The light lunch, however, was another matter. The chaperones, including Frances, disappeared to their own dining hall. Without assigned seating, guests paired up rather speedily. Even Lord Crenshaw ignored her to snag the arm of a lady with a full figure who, by all appearances, hadn’t purchased enough fabric to cover it all.
Edging toward the door, Delia bumped into Lady Osbourne coming in.
“There you are. I have been meaning to ask if you would give a brief talk on the flora of Great Britain.”
Delia blinked unable to speak.
“Not today, of course,” Lady Osbourne added. “I have blocked out some time for us to enjoy entertaining lectures at week’s end. I plan to ask Lady Miriam to talk about lace as her family imports it, and Lord Devenport knows a great deal about America, having traveled to the former colonies recently.”
Still, Delia couldn’t breathe, so she coughed and tapped her chest.
“You would be doing me a tremendous favor,” Lady Osbourne continued. “I noticed during the pall-mall tournament you had a sketch pad. Thus, not only could you lecture, you can also show your drawings. I’ll put you down for one o’clock on Friday, shall I? Enjoy your lunch. You’re going in the wrong direction, by the way.”
With that, her hostess spun Delia around and nudged her back into the dining room. Everyone who was already seated watched her entrance. A small army of footmen were lifting upeach of the platters and tureens in the table’s center, serving directly onto the guests’ plates.
Delia was able to duck behind one of the servers while looking for an empty chair.
Suddenly, her arm was taken ahold of. Lord Perish had arrived. He led her around the table where they found two seats.
“You missed the pall-mall,” she said.
“So unfortunate,” he quipped. “On the other hand, perhaps as retaliation, I was ordered to give a talk on horseflesh.”
“You, too?” she asked, feeling better about it. “I am to speak on England’s flora.”
He laughed, which eased her mind still further.
After dining together, Lord Perish naturally ended up in the same carriage with Delia and Frances for the short trip into Bath. The guests’ conveyances entered from the south, over the old bridge, before stopping on Stall Street near the famed Pump Room next to the abbey.
All three of them had been there previously. Therefore, they didn’toohandaahat the classically designed houses from the previous century, nor at the fine façade of the theatre. Delia had been to assemblies at both Bath and Harrogate when she was merely seventeen before being presented to the queen and, therefore, before she could attend a London event.
Even then at the smaller balls, she’d been uncertain of her place, docilely trailing her mother. As one of the exclusive guests from Lady Osbourne’s manor, however, Delia felt a modicum of belonging. Besides, without her parents pressing her to be a sparkling debutante, witty and vivacious, she could wilt if she wished.
On one side of her, Frances took in their surroundings, having last been to Bath on her wedding trip with Mr. Stallwell. On Delia’s other side was Lord Perish, a man who plainly didn’t care tuppence for what anyone thought, nor did he seem theleast judgmental. Therefore, rather than wilt with worry, she blossomed in their good company.
Moreover, Frances gave them a little space by chatting with another chaperone. Delia and Lord Perish pointed out things of interest to one another and kept up a steady stream of talk, never in want of a topic, as they meandered around the city.
“Everyone,” Lady Osbourne said from her place at the head of the sprawling group as if she really were a shepherdess, directing her flock. “You must all sign the subscription books with the Masters of Ceremonies atboththe Lower and the Upper Rooms. If you’re unfamiliar with the custom, it assures when we return for a ball, which we will, then you shall be accepted. Simple as that. Woe betide you if you insult the masters. We shall meet in three hours outside Sydney Gardens where the carriages shall retrieve us.”
Having been given their charge, the guests separated, most going to the closer Lower Rooms before heading to the Upper Assembly Rooms on Bennett Street.
