"I'm not attending," Alexandra said, a sparkle in her brandy-brown eyes. "Since Parliament isn't sitting, Tristan wants to stay home, just the two of us."
It wouldn't be just the two of them, of course—a marquess had a bevy of household help. But still, Juliana envied her sister's settled life. Since Almack's was foremost a matrimonial bazaar, Alexandra could afford to skip going and spend a relaxing evening at home instead. At the rate Juliana wasn't finding a husband, she wondered if she'd ever have that luxury for herself.
Corinna looked up from the petticoat she was stitching. Suspiciously. "Amanda, you'll be attending Almack's, won't you?"
"No," Amanda said. Juliana held her breath, half expecting her to blurt out that she had no need to attend given that she was already engaged. To her great relief, Amanda added instead, "Aunt Mabel isn't feeling up to chaperoning me these days."
"Is it the asthma again?" Aunt Frances sighed. "Poor Lady Mabel. I shall have to pay her a call."
"She'd appreciate that very much," Amanda said, hemming the blanket almost as crookedly as Emily.
If anything, Corinna looked even more suspicious. "But Juliana said you're going to Lady Hammersmithe's ball."
"As I tried to explain to her, I don't expect Aunt Mabel will be well enough by Saturday, either. The London air—"
"Aunt Frances can chaperone you along with us," Juliana said.
Amanda's needle slowed, not that she'd been plying it with masterful speed in the first place. "There's no point in going to the ball. No one will ask me to dance anyway."
"Oh, yes, they will." Alexandra smiled down at her handiwork. "Juliana will teach you the look."
Now Amanda's needle stopped. "What look?"
"Allow me to demonstrate." Juliana looked up from her little frock. "First you choose a man you wish to entice—"
"Entice?"
"Enticement is the objective of the look. Trust me, should you do it properly, men are guaranteed to fall at your feet."
"Are they?"
"Positively," Alexandra declared, making Juliana speculate on her sister's life with her new husband.
Jealously speculate.
Amanda looked from one sister to the other. "I'm listening."
"Excellent. First you choose a man and command his gaze." Juliana focused on Amanda, making her eyes blatantly sensuous.
The older girl swallowed hard. "And then?"
"Glance down, bowing your head a little to display your lashes against your cheeks. Then sweep your eyelids up, gaze at the man full on again, and slowly—very slowly—curve your lips in a seductive smile."
Amanda's forehead wrinkled. "Show me again."
"Watch closely." Taking her time, Juliana silently repeated the demonstration.
Corinna snickered, but Amanda and Emily both sighed. "Can I learn, too?" Emily asked.
"It's never too early to begin practicing. Amanda, give it a try."
Amanda stared hard at Juliana, closed her eyes, popped them open, and stretched her mouth into a wide grin.
It was Juliana's turn to sigh. She had her work cut out for her.
SIX
"I REALLY MUST be on my way, Aunt Aurelia." James forced his lips to curve in a smile. "You're healthy as the day you were born."
"Are you certain?" A tad plump but elegant nonetheless, Aurelia reclined on her peach-draped bed. Her entire house was decorated in peach. In fact, sometimes when James was here—which seemed to be way too often lately—he fancied he was in a peach. "My heart was paining me so," she continued. "I tell you I could barely breathe. Won't you check it one more time with that ingenious new instrument of yours?"
"If you insist." Suppressing a sigh, he opened his black leather bag and drew out the ingenious instrument, which really wasn't ingenious at all. It was simply a foot-long cylinder of wood. One end had a hole to place against the ear, and the inside was hollowed out in the shape of a cone. The thing was so uningenious, in fact, that James was tempted to kick himself for not thinking of something like it years ago. Instead, just this past March, a young French physician named Laennec had invented the instrument and christened it the stethoscope, derived from the Greek words for "I see" and "the chest."
James leaned close and placed the wider end of the instrument over his aunt's heart. Her scent wafted to him, a unique combination of camphor and gardenias, the latter applied a little too liberally. On second thought, he silently thanked Laennec for his brilliance. Without the stethoscope, he'd have to press his ear to Aunt Aurelia's potent, pillowy chest.
Her heartbeat sounded strong through the tube, the thump-thump clear and distinct. "Regular as Grandmother's clock," he assured her.
"You're certain?" She shook her coiffed gray head disbelievingly. "And my lungs?"
"Sit up, if you will." Bracing a hand on the headboard, he applied the stethoscope to her corseted back. "Breathe in," he said as patiently as he could. "Out. In. Perfect. As I said, you're healthy as a newborn babe." He dropped the instrument back in his bag and fastened the clasp. "Now I really must leave, Auntie."
She climbed from her bed and accompanied him downstairs. "You're expected in Parliament?"
"Not today. It's Wednesday." The House of Lords sat on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. "But I was expected at the Institute hours ago. Only one other doctor volunteered for the early shift today."
"I do appreciate your visit." She squeezed his hand, making his heart squeeze as well. Aunt Aurelia was a dear, even if she was a hypochondriac. In the foyer, she glanced at Grandmother's tall-case clock. "Such a shame that Bedelia hasn't returned. She'll surely want to see you, too. She had a horrid case of the putrid sore throat this morning."
Bedelia, his mother's other sister, shared the house with Aurelia. Two childless widows whose lives centered on their imaginary physical ailments.
"Tell Aunt Bedelia to gargle with salted water. I'm certain that will cure her."
"Do you expect so?" Aurelia's blue eyes looked dubious.
"Absolutely." James doubted Bedelia's throat was putrid; if her
