Part 10 (2/2)
Swan suggested a reason for this when he said, ”It's my belief he don't care to let one of his sisters lord it over t'others while he's stuck in the same house!”
Sarah found it painful to watch Adam doing the pretty to three eligible young ladies. She frequently reminded herself that she had never had any real hope of him seeing her in a romantic light. It was ridiculous to dread the ball.
She devoted considerable thought to the matter and at last worked out why this ball was different from the many she had enjoyed. Adam used to be the unreachable G.o.d. She had been grateful for the least sign of attention from him. Now he was revealed to her as a human being with human failings. As such, he was in theory more accessible to her, yet in practice she had no greater expectations from him than she had ever had.
She tried to be satisfied with his friends.h.i.+p.
The evening of the ball arrived. Sarah put on her new gown and examined her reflection in the looking gla.s.s on her dresser. It was impossible to see herself from head to toe at one time, but by tilting the mirror she studied herself bit by bit, starting at the bottom.
Her white silk dancing slippers were veterans, but Mrs. Hicks had refurbished them so that the wear scarcely showed. Nellie had carefully pressed the skirts of the new gown and there was not a wrinkle to be seen. The neckline was lower than she had thought. She tugged at it nervously, then put on her gold locket with the miniatures of her parents. That would distract attention from the alarming expanse of bosom visible above the brief bodice.
Her face-well, there was nothing to be done about that. Her coiffure, all wrong for the frivolous dress, was another matter.
She opened her chamber door and called, ”Mrs. Hicks!”
The housekeeper hurried up the stairs, followed by Nellie, and they all crowded into the little room.
”Oh miss, if you en't pretty as a picture!” marvelled the maid.
Between them, they succeeded in fastening her hair in a knot on the crown of her head, from which loose ringlets fell to her shoulders. It felt a bit unstable, but Sarah was pleased with the effect. She took up her gloves and the gold net reticule she had extravagantly purchased to match the gown, and went down to the parlour.
Jonathan was waiting, handsome in his black coat and black silk knee breeches.
”Beautiful,” he exclaimed. ”I hope you are ready to leave or we shall be late to dinner.”
To Sarah's relief he did not comment on her decolletage. By the time Gossett ushered them into the drawing room at Cheve, she had forgotten it, secure in the knowledge that her brother would not let her make a cake of herself. She paused in the doorway as the butler announced their arrival.
Adam was talking to a distinguished-looking gentleman in his mid-thirties. They both glanced towards the door as the Meades' names were p.r.o.nounced. An expression of startled admiration crossed Adam's face as he saw Sarah. He said something to his companion, who answered with a nod and followed him across the room.
Adam's blue eyes were warm as he took Sarah's hand and bowed over it. ”Miss Meade, Lord Lansdowne has asked to be presented to you, but before I allow him that privilege I mean to secure my own position. May I request the honour of the supper dance?”
”I shall be delighted, my lord.” Her voice was prim but her eyes glinted with amus.e.m.e.nt at his formality.
Once introductions were concluded, the marquis stood talking to Jonathan for a few minutes, while Adam drew Sarah aside.
”Gold becomes you,” he said. ”You should wear it more often.”
”Can you picture me in the kitchen making gingerbread all bedecked in gold?”
He smiled. ”Perhaps it would be impractical. After all, the gold in your eyes should be enough for any man.”
The depth of sincerity in his voice took Sarah's breath away; she could not think how to answer. Then Lord Lansdowne interrupted.
”Do you not agree, Cheverell? Oh, I beg your pardon, I see your mind is on beauty, not politics, this evening. Miss Meade, allow me to steal you from your admirer for a moment. I should like to make you known to my wife.”
Sarah found the marchioness a friendly, unpretentious young woman and remained by her side until dinner was announced. As the highest ranking lady present, Lady Lansdowne was taken in by Adam, while her husband escorted Lady Cheverell. Sarah was pleased to find herself seated between Mr. Swanson and the squire of the next village, an old friend.
Jonathan was sitting opposite her, with Miss Davis at his side. Lydia was dressed in white c.r.a.pe embroidered with silver thread, a silver fillet in her fair hair. As she chatted with the vicar, her ethereal loveliness was enhanced by the unwonted animation of her expression.
Laughing at one of Swan's witty comments, Sarah glanced round the table to see what Vanessa and Catherine were wearing, for she had not noticed them in the drawing room. Lady Catherine was in her favourite blue, with a mult.i.tude of ribbons and knots and bows. Vanessa's gown was an unusual shade of pale lilac, calculated to bring out the colour of her eyes. Sarah had not consciously chosen her dress with the same end in view, but she wondered now whether Adam might suspect her of having done so. Had he been teasing her with his pointed reference to the gold in her eyes?
After dinner, more guests began arriving, and soon the musicians struck up the opening cotillion in the larch-bedecked ballroom. Adam again partnered Lady Lansdowne.
Leading Sarah into the set, Jonathan commented, ”Wise man. He does not want to raise the hopes of any of the three by any distinguis.h.i.+ng attention. The first dance is practically a declaration.”
”So that is why you chose to stand up with me,” said Sarah, her rallying tone concealing her chagrin, ”and why Adam asked me to take supper with him.” He looked at her with sympathetic understanding but did not contradict her. Mr. Swanson confirmed her suspicion when she took to the floor with him for the second dance.
”Poor Adam had the deuce of a time trying to decide in what order to take his three damsels without either encouraging or disappointing them. In the end he settled on strict formal precedence: Lady Catherine, Miss Brennan and then Miss Davis, whose papa is a mere baron. Lady Edward is most displeased.”
”Because she is his eldest sister and her protegee is last on the list?” Sarah managed to laugh.
The last vestige of her joy in Adam's compliment vanished when she overheard him telling Vanessa that her eyes reminded him of violets drenched in dew.
Beside that extravagant description, his simple words to Sarah seemed commonplace.
The supper dance was a country dance. Sarah was glad that the figures often separated her from Adam, for she was afraid he might guess her hurt. When they came together, he was noticeably ill at ease and their usual comfortable camaraderie was missing.
All too soon the orchestra played the final cadence, set down their instruments and straggled from the ballroom in search of refreshment. The guests followed suit, in the opposite direction. Adam and Sarah made their way toward the supper room.
”I noticed you stood up with Lord Lansdowne,” he said, carefully casual.
”He is a good dancer and a fascinating conversationalist.” Her words sounded stilted to her own ears. ”Lady Lansdowne, too, is charming.”
”I am glad you like them. I mean to do more in Parliament in future, and he will sponsor me. It is all very well founding charities, but they can touch so few people. The government must be moved to act in favour of the unfortunate on a large scale. But this is no topic for a ballroom. Sit here, and I shall bring you something to eat.”
He had led her to a table for two in a comparatively quiet corner. By the time he returned, she had composed her mind and was determined to behave with her normal cheerfulness. She was no child, to allow a pa.s.sing disappointment to spoil the entire evening.
He, too, was more like his usual self. ”I brought you some chicken and mushroom vol-au-vents,” he announced. ”I remember you making a pig of yourself on them the first time you came to a ball at Cheve.” He poured champagne from the bottle on the table.
”1 remember,” she agreed reminiscently. ”That was the time you ate too much syllabub and Jonathan had to hurry you into the garden before you disgraced yourself.”
”There are some aspects of the past that are better forgotten. Here's to the future.” He raised his gla.s.s to her and she sipped from her own.
Their eyes met over the sparkling liquid and she lowered hers in confusion at the seriousness in his.
”Dash it!” Glancing round the noisy room, Adam ran his fingers through his hair, ruining the effect Wrigley had struggled to achieve. His forelock flopped back over his forehead. ”There are too many people here by half.”
”Surely there are not above a hundred.” Sarah chose to return the conversation to polite normalcy. ”Your mama was happy to have so many accept, though London hostesses often invite several hundred, I collect.”
”They do, and I do not mean to boast, but I have had as many as a dozen caps set at me in a single evening, so why should a mere three put me out of temper?” Adam grinned at her.
”You are too high in your own conceit. Lydia is by no means setting her cap at you. On the other hand, Miss Susan Fielding and Lady Amalthea Trent are both pouting because you have not asked them to stand up with you.”
”I cannot dance with everyone. My sisters will have three fits if I do not give their favourites two apiece. What do you think of them, by the way?”
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