A Study in Silks

Evelina came to a stop before Queen Victoria, and nearly forgot what to do next. Her hesitation only lasted an eye blink, but it was enough to jolt her back to the task at hand. Now came the curtsy. It had to be low, almost until her knee touched the ground, but only almost. She bowed, and the queen presented her hand to be kissed. Daughters of aristocrats received a kiss on the brow. Those who came from common stock did the kissing.

Evelina bent her head over the plump hand with its glittering rings, feeling the drift of her veil as she moved. The queen smelled of rosewater.

“The Duchess of Westlake is your sponsor,” Victoria said. “Where is your mother? I do not remember her.”

That, she supposed, should be a relief. Evelina had heard the queen reviewed the list of girls before each ceremony. She must have grown curious when she came across an unknown as the protegee of a duchess.

Evelina bowed her head, tears suddenly springing to her eyes. She hadn’t cried yet, so why, oh why was it happening in front of the queen?

She blinked hard, sternly banishing the wetness before it could fall. “I’m afraid my mother died of a fever long ago, Your Majesty.”

Victoria raised Evelina’s chin with the hand just kissed. “Poor chick. You’ve a pretty face. A difficult thing to have when there is no mother.”

“I do my best to keep my wits about me, Your Majesty.”

“We are pleased to hear it, Miss Cooper.” That thread of sharp—but not unkind—wit was in the queen’s voice now, as well as her bright eyes.

Evelina rose again, careful not to lose her balance or trip on her gown and its huge train. Then she curtsied again to the other royals. They looked slightly bemused. Her Majesty rarely spoke to the girls. Evelina finished with another, brief curtsy to the queen.

One of the gentlemen-in-waiting hurried forward to retrieve Evelina’s train and drape it over her arm. From there, with a bouquet and feathers and a deal more bowing and scraping, she had to walk backward away from the throne and successfully exit the door without turning. One did not turn one’s back on royalty.

Evelina counted her blessings that she had spent her early years studying acrobatics. She needed that good sense of balance. By the time she had left, the next debutante was already making her way forward. Evelina finally turned, to find the duchess already at her side.

“So, young lady, do you feel any different?”

No. She had expected more, and was vaguely disappointed. And yet she did feel a change, as if the twig she’d been thinking about that morning had gone over a waterfall, never to find its way back upstream, for good or ill.

But that was too complicated an answer to give, so Evelina reconsidered. “I feel that I have been granted an extraordinary privilege.”

“You have.” The duchess looked down her impressive nose at Evelina, sizing her up anew. “I will be pleased to see a bright thing like you in my drawing room.”

They were leaving the palace, moving outside so their carriage could be brought. Food, drink, and—best of all—a water closet were in their future. The breeze caught Evelina’s veil, and for a moment it blinded her.

Evelina dragged it out of the way. “Thank you. You’re very kind.”

“I knew your mother, you know.”

That startled her. “You did?”

Some distance off, a steam tram huffed by on the public roadway. The passengers hooted and waved at all the feathered girls standing about waiting for their rides.

“I’m sure the queen does as well, whatever she says. She’s giving you a chance.” The duchess’s iron-gray eyebrows drew together. “You look just like Marianne. Mind that you don’t make the same mistakes.”

Evelina’s lips parted, an angry retort coming from deep in her belly. All her grief about Gran came back, darkened by anger and too raw for politeness.

The duchess must have seen it on her face. She put a gloved hand on Evelina’s arm, quelling whatever disastrous thing she was about to say. “Don’t mistake me. I understand wanting love and happiness, believe me I do, but Society is a treacherous sea. I say the same thing to my own daughters. A young woman must find a ship that can weather the storms. Choose your husband as much for durability as for fine rigging.”

Evelina lowered her eyes. “I understand.”

The duchess smiled almost fondly, tapping her fan in an admonishing gesture. “I want you to be thinking about that at my ball tonight, because I think Society will take to you, Evelina Cooper. There will be no shortage of young men wanting to dance. Look, here is our carriage.”

And a surprise to finish off the afternoon. They got in, but there was something on the seat. The duchess picked it up, after almost sitting on it.

It was a single flower tied with a white bow. “How did this get here? There is a tag on it for you, Miss Cooper.”

Evelina raised a hand to take it, but the duchess chose to read the message first. She held it at arm’s length to focus on the writing. “To congratulate you on this auspicious day. How proud you must be to have achieved so much.”

The duchess flipped the tag over with a sniff. “Rather pompous, whoever it is. Aha, it is addressed from Dr. Magnus. Can’t say I like the fellow.”

Evelina accepted the flower as gingerly as if it had been a viper. The words were all civility, but the rose was identical to the one she had received from Nick. Somehow Magnus knew where she’d been and what she’d done yesterday. And he was here now, somewhere close, showing her what he could do.

Tension prickled across her shoulders, knotting the muscles in the back of her neck. She felt exposed in the low-cut dress, as if her magic and her past at Ploughman’s were tattooed on her skin. “I don’t like him, either.”

“That shows you’ve got some wits,” the Duchess of Westlake said crisply. “For all his fine airs, there’s something dodgy about the man. To go back to our discussion of men and ships, that one reminds me of a doomed vessel, like the Flying Dutchman. All very fascinating until you find yourself keelhauled straight to hell.”

Despite the tension cramping her stomach, Evelina had a sudden impulse to laugh. Well, then, Tobias had better start building another squid!

Chapter Thirty-three

The Duke and Duchess of Westlake’s ball, held at their grand address in Mayfair, was the first big event for the debutantes of the Season. Although most of the girls, including Imogen, would also have a debut ball hosted by their families, this first whirl on the dance floor was as eagerly anticipated as their visit to the palace earlier that day. The duchess made full use of her guest list, and her power as a hostess was formidable—few dared to refuse her summons. The cream of Society would all be there to welcome the newcomers fresh from Queen Victoria’s Court Drawing Room. And with this event, the hunt for husbands was officially on. Evelina had ached to go to the Duchess of Westlake’s ball—yearned for it with her whole heart ever since she knew it existed. But now she understood how fillies felt, carefully brushed and with ribbons braided in their manes, before being led to the auction block.

Nervous, she was waiting outside for the carriage, catching a breath of air before they were due to depart. Maybe it was a risk, but she still felt asphyxiated after the long hours at the palace. She wanted to climb something, to feel the wind from twenty feet above the ground.

Clouds deepened the dark of the sky, promising rain to come, but thankfully it had not yet arrived. Custom required debutantes to wear white for the Westlakes’ event, so Evelina stood almost immobile, her dancing shoes in a dainty sequined bag, her cloak covering every inch of the pristine white ruffles of her skirt. Somewhere in the elaborate mass of her coiffure, a hairpin was digging painfully into Evelina’s scalp.

It was her first real ball, and she was so apprehensive, her stomach hurt. She wouldn’t mind if a few spaces on her dance card went empty, but what if no one asked her at all? She wasn’t a great beauty or a great heiress.