Page 35 of His Bluestocking Bride

“Oh, it has always been a pleasure to stand up with you, Mr. Calvert.” The young miss shot him a coy look from beneath her lashes and turned fully to Ellen. “Your husband is a very fine dancer. But I am sure you know that.”

Ellen did not know that, and she realized how unlikely she would be to find out at any point soon. Married men rarely, if ever, danced with their wives.

As Miss Yardly looked like she expected a response, Ellen did her best. “Mr. Calvert is very adept at anything he puts his mind to.”

Marcus looked down at her with an expression she could not entirely read, though his smile softened.

“You see? It is as I have been telling you gentlemen. My wife is a great compliment to me in life. I go about as I always have, and now she is here to attest to my brilliance in doing so.”

A few gentlemen chuckled and Ellen tried to look pleased with the comment. Her handsome husband, who discussed books with great intelligence, who was insightful and compassionate with his tenants’ needs, seemed a different person when in company.

He introduced her to the gentlemen standing near him and she stood at his side, mutely nodding in agreement from time to time with all he said. Though he had not been in residence at Orchard Hill for years, he knew everyone in the neighborhood either from London or visiting as a younger man. Gentlemen laughed at his jokes and ladies came near to receive a compliment or two before tittering and wandering away again.

With no desire to engage in private conversation, Ellen wondered why she ever thought being married would make events easier. When she was no longer a stranger, she would be able to enjoy herself more. At least, that’s what she hoped.

It was nearly time to go in to dinner when a new face appeared near their circle and Marcus reached down to catch her hand, tugging her gently toward a tall gentleman. “Mr. Banner,” he said, gaining the man’s attention. “Please, allow me to introduce my wife to you.”

Mr. Banner smiled brightly, the expression making his humble features friendly. “If I might introduce mine as well. One moment, please.” He took a few steps to a gaggle of women, all conversing and flapping fans about with great animation, and gently took one by the arm. She returned with him, her lovely smile the friendliest Ellen had seen all night. “There now. I will go first. Darling Mrs. Banner, might I introduce my good friend, Mr. Calvert?”

Marcus bowed. “A pleasure, Mrs. Banner. I have heard a great deal about you, but I began to doubt you existed.”

She laughed. “That is the fate of one who does not go to London. No one believes we are real.” She turned to Ellen, her bright green eyes sparkling with good humor. “I understand you suffer the same fate, Mrs. Calvert. We are both in danger of vanishing all together if we do not spend more time in Society’s clutches.”

Ellen smiled hesitantly, not sure if she ought to trust this woman’s tongue to remain kind. “It is true. I have never been to London.”

“But we will remedy that soon,” Marcus said firmly. “Will you come up as well, Mrs. Banner?”

“Perhaps,” she answered. “For a few weeks. I must admit, it holds little interest for me, but my husband’s business calls him there from time to time.” Mrs. Banner gave her attention back to Ellen and reached out to touch her lightly on the arm. “Congratulations on your marriage, Mrs. Calvert. I am certain you must be a very special person and I look forward to knowing you better. Would you both come to dinner tomorrow, at my home? If you are going away to London, I must become your friend right away, lest you forget me while you are gone.”

Ellen’s outlook brightened. “That would be most welcome, Mrs. Banner.”

“Excellent.” Mrs. Banner slipped her arm through her husband’s and nodded toward a set of doors. “I believe dinner is being served. I hope you will find me after. I want to tell you all about the neighborhood.” The couple joined the small crowd going into the dining room.

Ellen looked up at her husband, some hope returning. “They seem kind.”

“They are my favorite people in the county,” he confided softly, bent to speak directly in her ear. “But don’t tell anyone else. They would become jealous and I would lose my popularity. Then where would we be?”

“Home, reading a book,” she muttered darkly, her mind on the previous conversations of the evening. But Marcus laughed out loud and then smothered the sound with his hand, earning several strange looks as people passed them to go to the dining room. She resisted the urge to smile and looked sidelong at him.

“I take it you would not mind that fate?” he asked, his humor restrained behind his eyes.

“Not very much,” she admitted. “Let us go in and see how far apart they have put us.” That was another of society’s tricks. Marry a man and never dance with him in public or sit near him at dinner again. She sighed when she saw they were nearly at opposite ends of the table. She hoped her dinner partners would at least be reasonable people.

Her hopes on that account sunk rapidly. As a new bride, and with her husband’s importance in the neighborhood, she was fairly close to the host. Two ladies outranked her, the wife of a viscount and the wife of a knight. She sat next to the viscountess.

“Mrs. Calvert, it is such a pleasure to meet the woman that Mr. Calvert finally chose to settle down with,” the viscountess remarked in a tone which suggested it was anything but a pleasure. “I have been watching him with interest for years as he flitted about the finest balls and drawing rooms of London.”

The viscountess could not be much older than Marcus; Ellen wondered at her unusual attentions to him. But the gentleman to her other side heard the conversation and broke in before she could respond.

“Yes, Mr. Calvert has always been a favorite with the ladies. I daresay, his brother the Earl is more popular, for all he is reticent in his duties to society.”

“The Earl of Annesbury still mourns his late wife. I am afraid that makes him a more romantic figure than his brother,” the viscountess agreed loftily. “Not to mention the title. Of course, with Mr. Calvert as his heir at present, I would have thought more young ladies would set their cap for him.”

Ellen remained silent as they conversed freely about her husband’s family, then chose another target in the company to aim their impolite conversation toward. She could hardly believe that people of such quality could be so rude as to discuss such private matters with each other. Ellen did not have much of an appetite, but she took what bites of the food she could.

The evening fast gave her a headache.

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