‘I’m sure.’
‘There’s just one other thing. When Eduardo realised it was you wearing my costume all evening, he started saying some very peculiar things. And now I’m worried your father is going to be so mad about it he’ll send the lot of us packing.’
‘Good heavens, no! Your troupe is central to most of the entertainment over the next few days. We need you to keep the younger ones busy with rehearsals for the play, during the day, as well as continuing with your musical items for the rest of the family at night. Besides which,’ she added, thinking of the hostilities simmering between Nick and Papa, Nick and his wife, and all the aunts in varying, fluctuating combinations, ‘if we were left to our own devices, someone would be strangling someone well before twelfth night.’
‘Well, good.’ Nellie sighed. ‘That’s good.’
A sudden horrid thought struck Julia. ‘You...you haven’t told anyone what you saw, in the orangery, have you? When you said, about Eduardo—’
‘No, no, nothing like that. He just got worried because of some liberties he said he took with you, without knowing who you were, is all. I won’t
never
tell what I saw in the orangey. Don’t you worry about that.’
Nellie’s gaze flicked to the bottle of lavender water, then back to her reflection in the mirror. ‘I see a lot of things you gentry don’t expect anyone to see.’ She shook her head and clucked her tongue. ‘Which I suspect you’d all blame on the mistletoe anyway.’
‘I wasn’t the only one misbehaving last night?’
Nellie grinned. ‘Lawks, no. You wasn’t the worst-behaved neither,’ she said, lapsing into her rather less-refined accent.
‘Really? How...? I mean... But...’
‘Well, put it this way. Neither of you was married, was you? Not hurting anyone else with what you was doing.’ She shrugged.
‘Oh. Oh, my goodness.’ Though she was a little shocked by what Nellie implied she’d witnessed, for the first time that day, some of her guilty shame lifted. She’d felt wretched that her plan to force her father to allow her to marry David had gone so badly awry. But at least she hadn’t ended up with someone else’s husband in the orangery. Her stomach hollowed out. How dreadful that would have been. She truly couldn’t have lived with herself if that had happened.
Which wife had betrayed which husband, though? She ran through the various family members, and the local gentry who’d been at the ball last night, a swirl of disquiet eddying through her. Such things happened at house parties like this. All the time. Because marriages in her class were generally arranged for financial or dynastic reasons, rather than for love, which was why she’d been hoping never to have to make such a match herself.
* * *
What could be taking her so long in the withdrawing room? Alec pulled out his watch, and glared at it, then back at the door through which she’d vanished more than a quarter of an hour before.
He wouldn’t be a bit surprised if there was another exit to the room. He wouldn’t be a bit surprised if she’d sneaked out of it, to escape him, and further some nefarious scheme she was hatching.
After last night, he wouldn’t be surprised by anything.
‘Do you have to stand there glaring at the door?’ The plaintive voice drew his attention to the speaker.
‘Lizzie!’
‘Nobody dare visit the ladies’ retiring room,’ she continued, ‘because it means getting past you first.’
‘Never mind what I’m doing standing here, right now. Where the devil have you been all day? And yesterday?’
‘Avoiding you, of course,’ she replied with an impudent smile.
‘You admit it then? You have something to hide? I knew it. What have you done? And more importantly, where is the man in the case?’
‘Oh, that,’ she replied with an airy wave of her hand. ‘Oh, there was never any man.’
‘Never any man? Then why...?’
‘Well, it was the only thing I could think of to
‘There’s just one other thing. When Eduardo realised it was you wearing my costume all evening, he started saying some very peculiar things. And now I’m worried your father is going to be so mad about it he’ll send the lot of us packing.’
‘Good heavens, no! Your troupe is central to most of the entertainment over the next few days. We need you to keep the younger ones busy with rehearsals for the play, during the day, as well as continuing with your musical items for the rest of the family at night. Besides which,’ she added, thinking of the hostilities simmering between Nick and Papa, Nick and his wife, and all the aunts in varying, fluctuating combinations, ‘if we were left to our own devices, someone would be strangling someone well before twelfth night.’
‘Well, good.’ Nellie sighed. ‘That’s good.’
A sudden horrid thought struck Julia. ‘You...you haven’t told anyone what you saw, in the orangery, have you? When you said, about Eduardo—’
‘No, no, nothing like that. He just got worried because of some liberties he said he took with you, without knowing who you were, is all. I won’t
never
tell what I saw in the orangey. Don’t you worry about that.’
Nellie’s gaze flicked to the bottle of lavender water, then back to her reflection in the mirror. ‘I see a lot of things you gentry don’t expect anyone to see.’ She shook her head and clucked her tongue. ‘Which I suspect you’d all blame on the mistletoe anyway.’
‘I wasn’t the only one misbehaving last night?’
Nellie grinned. ‘Lawks, no. You wasn’t the worst-behaved neither,’ she said, lapsing into her rather less-refined accent.
‘Really? How...? I mean... But...’
‘Well, put it this way. Neither of you was married, was you? Not hurting anyone else with what you was doing.’ She shrugged.
‘Oh. Oh, my goodness.’ Though she was a little shocked by what Nellie implied she’d witnessed, for the first time that day, some of her guilty shame lifted. She’d felt wretched that her plan to force her father to allow her to marry David had gone so badly awry. But at least she hadn’t ended up with someone else’s husband in the orangery. Her stomach hollowed out. How dreadful that would have been. She truly couldn’t have lived with herself if that had happened.
Which wife had betrayed which husband, though? She ran through the various family members, and the local gentry who’d been at the ball last night, a swirl of disquiet eddying through her. Such things happened at house parties like this. All the time. Because marriages in her class were generally arranged for financial or dynastic reasons, rather than for love, which was why she’d been hoping never to have to make such a match herself.
* * *
What could be taking her so long in the withdrawing room? Alec pulled out his watch, and glared at it, then back at the door through which she’d vanished more than a quarter of an hour before.
He wouldn’t be a bit surprised if there was another exit to the room. He wouldn’t be a bit surprised if she’d sneaked out of it, to escape him, and further some nefarious scheme she was hatching.
After last night, he wouldn’t be surprised by anything.
‘Do you have to stand there glaring at the door?’ The plaintive voice drew his attention to the speaker.
‘Lizzie!’
‘Nobody dare visit the ladies’ retiring room,’ she continued, ‘because it means getting past you first.’
‘Never mind what I’m doing standing here, right now. Where the devil have you been all day? And yesterday?’
‘Avoiding you, of course,’ she replied with an impudent smile.
‘You admit it then? You have something to hide? I knew it. What have you done? And more importantly, where is the man in the case?’
‘Oh, that,’ she replied with an airy wave of her hand. ‘Oh, there was never any man.’
‘Never any man? Then why...?’
‘Well, it was the only thing I could think of to
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