interested gentleman with a perfunctory education.”
“I suppose you would know more about actors than us,” Ivy said, then turned bright red. “I’m so sorry … I wasn’t meaning to insult you. I just thought that, in the current circumstances, your background as—”
“Don’t upset yourself,” Lady Glover said. “I’ve never received such a bungled apology in all my life. You can’t be anything but sincere.”
“I assure you, I am,” Ivy said.
“My experience on the stage has certainly enhanced my view of this entire situation,” Lady Glover said. “The stories I could tell you!”
Ivy leaned forward, her eyes wide. She was no longer embarrassed. The red had faded away and she looked well and truly captivated.
“What was it like?” she asked.
“That, my dear, will have to be a story for another day,” Lady Glover said. “For now, I want to focus on this man and his ill-bred servants.”
“You think he has more than one such person at his disposal?” I asked, my suspicions growing again.
“Why wouldn’t he?” she asked, waving her hands dismissively. “Particularly if he’s an actor. He’d have any number of unsavory acquaintances at his disposal.”
“Surely you don’t think ill of stage people?” Ivy asked.
“Not at all,” Lady Glover said. “But there are hangers-on to be considered. People in unfortunate circumstances who seek to advance themselves on the stage, when in fact they have no talent, no beauty, and no chance at success.”
“But surely even a person like that wouldn’t be so scruffy as the man you followed?” I asked.
“He may have been in costume, Lady Emily,” she said. “You must consider every possibility.”
“She’s not at all what I expected,” Ivy said as I walked her home. “Which is not to say she’s the sort of woman with whom we should be cavorting. But I do like her—much more than I ought.”
“I had no idea you were so interested in the stage,” I said, checking my reticule to make sure the note was still in it. I’d asked Lady Glover for it so I might show it to Colin. She acquiesced to my request, but only on the condition that he return it to her himself.
“I’ve always quite fancied it,” Ivy said. “I would love to play Juliet.”
“Would you?” I asked. “How is it that you’ve never shared this with me before?”
“I think I was afraid to admit it out loud.”
“Perhaps we should stage an entertainment.”
“Don’t even think of it,” she said. “Robert would be horrified.”
“No, he wouldn’t, not if we did it at home and only for our friends. It would be perfectly acceptable.”
“But what if I really liked it, Emily? And wanted to do it again?”
“Afraid of being consumed by the urge to act, are you?”
“Yes,” she said, almost in a whisper, looking around furiously as if she were afraid someone might have heard.
“I shan’t harass you about it now, but I think we should consider it for Christmas.”
“I’m not listening,” she said. “I noticed there was yellow sealing wax on Lady Glover’s note.”
“Well done for changing the subject,” I said. “You’re right.”
“It’s identical to that which Winifred has,” she said. “I wonder if in the end, Lady Glover will prove the more acceptable acquaintance?”
“That, Ivy, would be an irony I’d love to see.”
18
Devonshire House was buzzing with energy. The duchess always had the finest musicians in London, and I’d danced and danced, particularly enjoying the waltzes I shared with Colin, his eyes locked on mine as he spun me around the floor. I’d decided to wear my favorite gown—a frothy creation of the palest blue silk damask. Garlands of pearls and crystals hung from the skirt and the bodice in elegant cascades, and flounces of filmy lace fell from my tightly laced waist into a modest train. Meg had spent nearly an hour on my hair, weaving pearls into the curls she’d formed into a coil on the top of my head. I’d refused to wear the sapphires she suggested, choosing instead a dainty diamond necklace set in platinum, fashioned in an intricate pattern that looked more like flowery lace than jewelry.
I turned the matching wide antique cuff bracelet on my wrist and looked around the crowded room, smiling when I saw Mr. Barnes dancing with the daughter of a minor noble whose family had run through its fortune. As the youngest of six girls, all hope had been abandoned that she might marry. Her dowry was nothing, and rumors had been swirling since Christmas that her mother was searching for an elderly lady in need of a companion. She couldn’t stay in her parents’ house forever. She was smiling at Mr. Barnes, who also seemed to be enjoying himself. Perhaps this would come to a happy end.
Colin, tired of dancing in the heat, had disappeared with Jeremy to play billiards. The thought of the two of them becoming friends was somewhat alarming. I was about to set off in search of them both when Mrs. Dalton appeared from out of nowhere and grabbed me by the arm.
“Please, Lady Emily, please come with me at once.”
Seeing the desperate pain in her eyes, I did what she requested with no delay, and sent a footman to fetch Colin before following her to her waiting carriage.
“It’s my husband,” she said, as soon as the door was closed behind us. “He went off to try to find Cordelia this morning and still hasn’t returned.”
“Have you any idea where he planned to go?” I asked.
She shook her head. “None. He wouldn’t tell me anything. But he did assure me he was going to keep Mr. Hargreaves abreast of the situation.”
Colin joined us, his face full of worry as he listened to Mrs. Dalton’s story. “I’m afraid I’ve heard nothing from him. Not at home, anyway. Tell your driver to take us to the Reform Club at once. We had an agreement. If he needed to contact me confidentially, he was to do so through my club, knowing it would be unlikely someone watching him would suspect anything.”
He poked his head out the window and called to the driver. “Quickly, man. You’ve never driven for so urgent a cause.”
