“Ah, it sounds very like when I returned to Transylvania and encountered the duke on the Borgo Pass, where we were both taking the air. He was so changed!”
Miss Mayton sighed. “It was ever so disconcerting. Though, how was I to know he’d been wasting away for me all those years and would eventually throw himself off the highest point of Bran Castle and be impaled by one of his own flagpoles?”
“You could not have known it, Aunt,” Beatrice said. “Sometimes, when I look at Van Doren now, he seems a different person altogether, just like your Transylvanian duke did. Though, he is not wasting away. He is going in the opposite direction, he is becoming more. Somehow.”
Miss Mayton nodded. “I must admit, Lord Van Doren is turning out to be a deal more popular than I had imagined he would be. Lord Darden says that there are at least two ladies who have very determinedly set their cap in his direction.”
Beatrice felt a little sick at the thought. Though she could not list all the facts against it, Van Doren should not marry. At least, not anytime soon.
“Lady Clara and Lady Mary,” she said. “At first, I could not understand it. What did they see in Van Doren?”
“Precisely my thoughts too.”
“But now, I think I can,” Beatrice said slowly. “Being in Town has given me some…distance, I suppose. I almost look at him as I had done, years ago.”
“Oh goodness, you did trail him around back in those days,” Miss Mayton said. “I still remember when he announced he would no longer answer to Matthew. Your sisters were so teasing over the idea, but you backed him on it and insisted it must be Van Doren. You were ever so impressed with it.”
“Of course, those days are long past,” Beatrice said softly.
Her aunt patted her hand. “He is a handsome devil, I’ll give him that. But, he will only be suited to a lady that does not require any passionate feelings. I hope Lady Mary and Lady Clara know it. As for you, there is a tortured gentleman out there somewhere.”
“Yes, but when will I discover who he is?” Beatrice asked. “I hope I am not to end the season still wondering about it.”
“I cannot imagine he will hold out that long. In the meantime, Lord Darden’s plan goes along swimmingly. He’s putting it about that Conbatten is included in your line of admirers. The girls and I were so very amused when he mentioned it this evening.”
“Hmm,” Beatrice said, “I wonder if Conbatten would be amused by it, though. There really is not the slightest spark between us.”
“Of course there is not,” Miss Mayton said. “He is not your tortured gentleman.”
“No, that particular duke is not tortured at all,” Beatrice said, laughing for the first time all day.
“Sleep, my dear,” Miss Mayton said. “Tomorrow will be sunnier for you. Do not forget, we have the Bloomingtons’ masque on the morrow. I am told it is one of the events of the season. I am certain your gentleman will be there and I was also thinking—might he dare to be closer to you while masked?”
“He might well do,” Beatrice said, intrigued by the possibility. “Darden has arranged my costume—I am to go as Beatrice fromMuch Ado about Nothing. Darden says it is so clever to go as a character named the same as myself and he has been told the tortured gentleman is both an admirer of witanda devotee of Shakespeare. He thinks it might very well prove too tempting and prompt my gentleman to speak. I am to see if someone as yet unknown to me, and likely dressed as a Shakespearian character too, requests an introduction.”
“It is a thrilling idea. Perhaps all will be revealed on the morrow.”
Her aunt kissed her forehead and left her to dream of the tortured gentleman standing nearby Shakespeare’s Beatrice, preparing to speak.
*
Tattleton drank hisale and sent his staff to bed. Then he poured himself a generous glass of brandy from his own private stock. Sundays used to be so regular and calm.
Of course, that was before he’d been dragged into Lord Darden’s lunatic plot.
Where did the lord think it was going? He could not be certain, though he could be certain that it was ongoing—the talk of Conbatten this night had been all for Lord Van Doren’s benefit.
Had Lord Van Doren seemed the least affected by it? He thought not. As far as he could see, Lord Van Doren’s interest had only been piqued when Lady Cordelia had acted out Desdemona. That, he was fairly sure, had been interest in whether or not she’d start another fire.
Tattleton had been on tenterhooks himself, ready to race for a sand bucket.
Lord Darden had approached him after the family had retired and let him in on a new scheme. Not that he wished to be apprised of it!
Apparently, Lady Beatrice was to present herself asMuch Ado About Nothing’sBeatrice at Lady Bloomington’s masque. Lord Van Doren was to go as Benedict, her lover and sparring partner. Neither knew of the other’s costume.
Lord Van Doren had told Darden he did not know where to even rent a costume for a masque and Lord Darden said he’d take care of it.
Lord Darden believed this might prompt them both to see what Shakespeare’s Benedict and Beatrice had eventually discovered—for all their bickering, they were meant for each other.
