When Camilla faltered for the briefest of seconds, Adelaide cleared her throat. “Miss Pierpont is joining my table, Mr. Wilson. But now, if you’ll excuse us, I believe that was the second dinner bell, so we should find our seats.”
After sending her a look of what almost seemed to be annoyance, Marshall inclined his head and strode away, leaving Camilla frowning after him. “I may need to have a word with Ward McAllister because I’m not certain the parvenus he’s invited this evening are gentlemen any mother would want their daughters forming an alliance with.”
“I can’t argue with that,” Gideon returned, his gaze remaining on Marshall as the man plowed his way through the crowd. “Marshall, from what I’ve observed, has made it a point to only seek out introductions to ladies of fortune, and...” He turned and caught Adelaide’s eye. “I don’t know if you noticed this, but Dudley Paulding was actually leering at your sapphires through a monocle earlier.”
“I suppose that’s better than him leering at me,” Adelaide muttered before she frowned. “But given that Marshall and Dudley seem to be singling out ladies of fortune, do you suppose either of them might not be in possession of the wealth they claim to hold?”
“Perhaps,” Gideon admitted as the chime of another bell rang out. He extended his arm to Adelaide and then offeredhis other arm to Camilla when she admitted she’d not gotten around to agreeing to dine with anyone. “You’ll, of course, dine with us.”
“I would be delighted,” Camilla said before they strolled out of the ballroom, down a hallway past gilded sconces dancing with gas flames, and into the dining room.
Adelaide took a second to appreciate the sight of tables draped in white linen, complete with chairs covered in white-satin slipcovers. Fine bone china graced the tables, while crystal goblets sparkled under the light of chandeliers, and hothouse flowers perfumed the air. An entire brigade of servers stood with their backs against the wall, their livery impeccable as they waited to serve a meal that would undoubtedly be at least twelve courses.
“Where and with whom will we be dining?” Camilla asked, inclining her head time and again to numerous guests who were gesturing for her to join them.
Adelaide nodded to a table situated at the far end of the room where Leopold, Vernon, and Edna were getting themselves settled. “I thought we’d sit with them, but if the two of you will excuse me for a moment? There are a few other guests I’d like to invite to dine with us as well.”
To her surprise, instead of arguing against her unlikely choice of dinner partners or against the notion she wanted to sit at a table that was meant for less-than-sparkling guests, Camilla gave Adelaide’s arm a pat. “Go round up those other guests. Gideon and I will meet you at the table.”
After sending her a warm smile that left her heart beating a rapid tattoo, Gideon headed with Camilla across the room as Adelaide turned, craned her neck, and set her sights on Charles, who was speaking with Lucille Codman, his first dance partner of the evening. As luck would have it, they were standing not far from the two awkward young ladies Adelaide had noticed earlier.
She was beside her cousin a blink of an eye later. “Coming?” she asked, earning a frown from Charles in return.
“Coming where?”
“To our table, of course.” She turned to Lucille. “I hope Charles secured your company for dinner, and . . .” She turned to the two ladies who were pretending they weren’t listening in on her conversation. She dipped into a curtsy. “Forgive me if this comes across as too forward, but I’m Miss Adelaide Duveen, and I’d like to invite the two of you to join our table as well.”
Both ladies’ eyes widened before one of them dipped into a curtsy. “I’m Miss Dorothy Mann, and this is Miss Marigold Welding, but wouldn’t including us leave your table with an odd number of ladies compared to gentlemen?”
Adelaide smiled. “The gentlemen will certainly be outnumbered, but I imagine they’ll enjoy that, don’t you?”
Without bothering to wait for Dorothy or Marigold to accept her invitation, Adelaide moved next to them, linked her arms through theirs, then tugged the ladies into motion, once again earning more than her share of speculative glances from other guests, something she responded to with smiles as she strolled forward. Gideon immediately rose to his feet when she reached the table.
“I’ve brought new friends,” she announced as Leopold and Vernon rose to their feet as well. After performing introductions, Leopold and Vernon hurried to get Marigold and Dorothy settled as Charles held out a chair for Lucille before taking a seat beside her.
After Gideon helped her into her chair, he leaned close to her ear. “That was nicely done.”
“Do you think it might ruin Camilla’s plan?”
Gideon leaned closer still until his lips were almost brushing her ear, eliciting a shiver from her in return, one she hoped he didn’t notice.
“I don’t believe showing others compassion can ever ruin anything,” he said quietly. “Frankly, your actions are admirable and prove you truly are an original, and you certainly should never attempt to change who you are at heart because you, my dear Adelaide, are perfect exactly the way you are.”
Twenty-Two
Over the days that had passed since the Patriarch Ball, the thought had struck Adelaide more than once that her life was turning downright peculiar, that notion reinforced by the fact she was once again having her hand kissed by a gentleman, something that had rarely happened to her over the many Seasons she’d experienced before Camilla took her in hand.
“I look forward to seeing you later this evening at the opera, Miss Duveen,” Marshall Wilson said, bending over her hand and giving her fingers a second kiss, which in Adelaide’s opinion was taking matters a little too far. “I’m sure I would have enjoyed the evening more though if you’d accepted my invitation instead of Gideon Abbott’s, a gentleman who seems to be monopolizing your evenings of late.” He leaned closer. “Everyone is wondering if an announcement is going to be made in the foreseeable future, myself included.”
Adelaide retrieved her hand. “What a thing to wonder.”
“And what an evasive response,” Marshall returned. “I suppose it’s answer enough and means I won’t bother inviting you to Delmonico’s to enjoy an intimate dinner with me later this week.”
“Dinner with Adelaide would be less than intimate, Mr. Wilson,” Phyllis snapped, bustling up to join them in the Duveen receiving room and bristling with motherly animosity. “I would, of course, be in attendance, or her cousin, Charles Wetzel, would be if I was otherwise engaged, since it would break every rule of decorum for an unmarried young lady to attend an event without being properly chaperoned.”
“I didn’t know older ladies were expected to be accompanied everywhere by chaperones,” Marshall said, settling a frown on Adelaide.
Adelaide’s lips quirked. “Just as it seems you’re unaware we older ladies aren’t exactly keen to have our advanced age pointed out to us.”
