Lady Ellingham and the Theft of the Stansfield Necklace: A Regency Romance by Miriam Rochester

allow you to leave but let it be a lesson to
you not to grace a single man’s doorstep unaccompanied.’
          ‘Believe me sir,
I need no lesson,’ she snapped.  ‘This is a singularly unusual circumstance and
I shall not be repeating it!’
          ‘Well make sure
you do not,’ he replied.  He watched her as she abruptly turned and walked
indignantly down the street.  Her manner, bearing and deportment declared her
very much a Lady and he was certainly curious as to who she was. There was no
clue to her identity beneath her heavy veil but he had the vague impression
that he had met her before.  ‘Ah well,’ he sighed to himself.  He was not so
much of the rake that society had proclaimed him to be, more was the pity.  Sometimes
however he wished that he were, for it would have gone far to satisfy his
curiosity.  He had to admit that life was certainly full of surprises.
           As Felicity left
Thorndale in Green Street, her heart was pounding.  She walked with dignity
down the street but as soon as she turned the corner she ran like the wind down
Park Lane and did not stop until she reached Upper Brook Street.  Lady or not,
she did not care who was watching her.  If Thorndale opened the package
straight away he would be sharp on her tail and there would be no getting away
a second time. He would want to know everything and then she would be undone.
          Alex looked at
the package in his hand and returned into the house to put it on the hall table
but his curiosity got the better of him.  His outing could wait for a moment
until he opened it.  He broke the string and removed the brown paper wrapping
to discover the familiar black velvet pouch he knew so well.  He opened it and
to his consternation, the Stansfield necklace dropped out sparkling luminously in
his hand. ‘Good Lord,’ he cursed under his breath and looked up.  He hurriedly stuffed
the necklace into his pocket and ran back out into the street.  He ran in the
direction that the unknown Lady had taken and rounded the corner but she was
not there.  His eyes scanned the perimeter of Hyde Park but all he could see
were a couple of people walking their dogs. Thorndale cursed in frustration for
she had completely disappeared.  He should have succumbed to his baser
instincts and never have let her leave.  It was the second mistake he had made
in just a week. ‘I must be going soft in the head,’ he thought to himself as he
turned and walked slowly back to the house. He remembered the note and opened it
hoping that it would enlighten him but it revealed nothing.
          He should have
been happy and he did feel a sense of relief to have the necklace back in his
possession, but he could still not be satisfied. The whole thing was a mystery
and he did not like mysteries.  His mind was racing and the more he thought
about the mysterious Lady in grey, the more he had the feeling that he had met
her before, but he could not for the life of him put a finger on it.  

Chapter
8
     

Lady Lancaster’s Ball
     
         Saturday had
arrived and it was the night of Lady Lancaster’s ball. Felicity decided to wear
a gown of white crepe with a low sweetheart neckline and puffed sleeves. The
skirt fell to her feet in three gathered tiers and decorated with small cerulean
blue silk rose buds. To finish the look she wore a pair of three quarter length
white heavy laced evening gloves.  Sarah was putting the finishing touches to
her hair, which she had styled into ringlets and decorated with cerulean blue
flowers to match the gown.  ‘You look very fine Milady, if you do not mind me
saying so, just let me place this one last flower here.’ Sarah stood back to
admire her handiwork.
         Felicity gave an
absent smile, she was secretly wondering if Lord Alex Sheraton would be there. 
She had mixed feelings about his presence. His strange behaviour on the
doorstep only served to heighten her curiosity and her awareness