and somehow they managed to finish the waltz in hostile silence. With a curt nod to these two ladies, Ned restored his partner to her coterie and then, without a backward glance at Cassie, strode off, leaving them all openmouthed. Frances was the first to recover. Seeing her sister's distress, she came quickly to her aid, saying, "Horace has come to tell me that as his mother is feeling a trifle fatigued he is taking her home." Privately she thought it was less fatigue which motivated Lady Wilbraham than a desire to make her son cater to her every little whim, but at the moment it suited Frances to believe this fiction. "She has the right idea," she continued. "This has become a sad crush and I would just as soon leave now that we have paid our respects to the countess. Besides, Teddy seemed fretful tonight and I am worried that he has caught something from the stableboy he has been spending time with."
Ordinarily, Cassie would have recognized this last farrago of nonsense as a stratagem of the most obvious sort—Lady Frances being a practical mother and never one to be unduly dismayed by the normal misfortunes of childhood—but she was far too upset to think clearly, much less recognize the ruses employed for her protection. With a grateful sigh she acquiesced and allowed herself to return to Grosvenor Square, where she sought the sanctuary of her dressing room as quickly as possible.
Though escape from the crowds in the ballroom afforded her peace and quiet, it meant that Cassie had ample time to reflect on the entire scene that had passed and she spent a sleepless night going over and over again her contretemps with Ned. Try as she might, she could not erase the final image she had of him, his face taut with anger, blue eyes blazing as he accused her of being a bore. I am not in the least a bore, she told herself defiantly. I can discuss a vaster array of subjects than most of my acquaintances and I am truly interested in almost any topic. Well, most topics of a serious nature, she amended, remembering how insipid she found the conversation of Arabella and other damsels like her.
It is he who has changed. But irrefutable though her logic might be, she found herself wondering doubtfully if Ned might not be right. Perhaps her devotion to scholarly pursuits was making her rather serious and dull. Thus in the following weeks the two men laboring over metopes from the Parthenon in Hanover Square saw very little of Cassie. Instead, she threw herself into an orgy of activity.
It would have been too much to expect that she frequented every social event that was offered, but in her time off from serious endeavors, she took the opportunity to allay another worry of hers, which was that she had been neglecting Theodore. With this in mind, and remembering her own days in London when Frances had seen Kitty through her come-out, she inveigled Freddie and Nigel into taking her and Teddy to Sadlers Wells, where they spent several delicious hours under the spell of Grimaldi. The famous clown was a good deal older than he had been when Freddie and Cassie had last seen him perform, but his antics were as amusing as ever, and Teddy was enchanted.
Watching him as he sat enthralled, Cassie realized that it had been some time since she had done anything for the sheer pleasure of it. True, she loved the work she was doing with the comte. It was intriguing, challenging, and rewarding, but there was always a purpose behind it. Reflecting further, she became more conscious of the fact that everything she did in her life had some well- conceived reason behind it. Even the more frivolous activities of her come-out were for a purpose
and became, therefore, duties which she felt it incumbent upon herself to fulfill. Thus she had found herself at balls and routs conscientiously asking herself if she had taken adequate advantage of each event to expand and enlarge her acquaintance, never giving a thought to enjoying herself. In fact she had, on the
Ordinarily, Cassie would have recognized this last farrago of nonsense as a stratagem of the most obvious sort—Lady Frances being a practical mother and never one to be unduly dismayed by the normal misfortunes of childhood—but she was far too upset to think clearly, much less recognize the ruses employed for her protection. With a grateful sigh she acquiesced and allowed herself to return to Grosvenor Square, where she sought the sanctuary of her dressing room as quickly as possible.
Though escape from the crowds in the ballroom afforded her peace and quiet, it meant that Cassie had ample time to reflect on the entire scene that had passed and she spent a sleepless night going over and over again her contretemps with Ned. Try as she might, she could not erase the final image she had of him, his face taut with anger, blue eyes blazing as he accused her of being a bore. I am not in the least a bore, she told herself defiantly. I can discuss a vaster array of subjects than most of my acquaintances and I am truly interested in almost any topic. Well, most topics of a serious nature, she amended, remembering how insipid she found the conversation of Arabella and other damsels like her.
It is he who has changed. But irrefutable though her logic might be, she found herself wondering doubtfully if Ned might not be right. Perhaps her devotion to scholarly pursuits was making her rather serious and dull. Thus in the following weeks the two men laboring over metopes from the Parthenon in Hanover Square saw very little of Cassie. Instead, she threw herself into an orgy of activity.
It would have been too much to expect that she frequented every social event that was offered, but in her time off from serious endeavors, she took the opportunity to allay another worry of hers, which was that she had been neglecting Theodore. With this in mind, and remembering her own days in London when Frances had seen Kitty through her come-out, she inveigled Freddie and Nigel into taking her and Teddy to Sadlers Wells, where they spent several delicious hours under the spell of Grimaldi. The famous clown was a good deal older than he had been when Freddie and Cassie had last seen him perform, but his antics were as amusing as ever, and Teddy was enchanted.
Watching him as he sat enthralled, Cassie realized that it had been some time since she had done anything for the sheer pleasure of it. True, she loved the work she was doing with the comte. It was intriguing, challenging, and rewarding, but there was always a purpose behind it. Reflecting further, she became more conscious of the fact that everything she did in her life had some well- conceived reason behind it. Even the more frivolous activities of her come-out were for a purpose
and became, therefore, duties which she felt it incumbent upon herself to fulfill. Thus she had found herself at balls and routs conscientiously asking herself if she had taken adequate advantage of each event to expand and enlarge her acquaintance, never giving a thought to enjoying herself. In fact she had, on the
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