“Put the cook on notice,” Lady Agatha said, “instructions will be incoming shortly!”
Mrs. Robinson looked round the room. “Is this really the most comfortable arrangement, I wonder?”
“Ladies!” Percival said, though it might have been closer to a shout than a said. “We really are quite fine as you find us.”
“Fine, Lord Harveston?” Lady Agatha asked. “Isfinereally what you were going for?”
“Precisely what I was going for,” Percival said. “The salon members are very used to this set-up, and they should not like to experience any changes in it.”
Lady Agatha and Mrs. Robinson looked at each other. It seemed as if the same idea was occurring to them both. They nodded knowingly.
“Say no more, Lord Harveston,” Lady Agatha said.
“Our dear Lady Rawley did not take into consideration the state of your membership and we failed to remind her of it. That must be laid at our door, I’m afraid.”
“How did we not think of it?” Lady Agatha wondered.
“Think of what?” Percival asked, though he was rather afraid to hear any more of these two ladies’ thoughts.
“Our dear Lady Rawley has mentioned that creativity and imagination will not be your people’s bailiwick, as it were,” Lady Agatha said.
“Of course we shouldn’t wonder if these people would be thrown off by any sort of change,” Mrs. Robinson said. “Our dear Lady Rawley did mention that scholars have an unfortunate habit of becoming very rigid. I daresay she is right.”
Percival pressed his lips together. Their dear Lady Rawley had begun as a thorn in his side, but she was speedily becoming a battalion’s worth of swords in his side.
“Well!” Mrs. Robinson said to Lady Agatha. “We are here now and it would seem entirely silly to leave and come back again. I suppose we ought to have some wine and ponder literary questions?”
“Let’s do,” Lady Agatha said approvingly. “I’ve finally got my hands on a copy ofThe Dreadful Doings of Dembric Daleand I can tell you it is masterful.”
The ladies set off for the sideboard. Makepeace stared at their backs and it was probably fortunate that he could not shoot arrows out of his eyes, else they’d both be dead on the carpet.
Quietly, Percival said, “I am going above stairs to change clothes. Have a footman run up a brandy. A large one.”
*
Cordelia had notbeen certain what one ought to wear to a salon and Miss Mayton had not had any ideas on the subject either, but for the notion that widow’s weeds were very convenient as one did not have to decide.
On the one hand, Darden had explained to her that the evening was likely to be peopled by dry and dusty types who spent their lives with their heads in books. He did make an exception for Lord Harveston, the host of the salon, as he said that gentleman was exceedingly learned but was not always throwing it in people’s faces. He was a member of the YBC and forever helpful with thorny problems around the budget.
On the other hand, this would be Cordelia’s first encounter with Lady Rawley and her troupe of actors. She wished to make the best impression possible. Her aunt had written the lady that Cordelia was in fact a skilled actress and now she would discover what Lady Rawley thought about it.
In the end, it had been Juliet who had swayed her selection of a dress. Her sister had rightly pointed out that while she would meet nobody interesting at the salon, anything could happen on the way there. Perhaps she would be descending from her carriage and her Corinthian would trot by—instantly taken by the sight of her and demanding of onlookers to know the name of the lady. Perhaps they would throw a shoe and he would gallantly come to the rescue. The fates were at their work and absolutely anything might happen.
She had chosen a deep blue silk, very plain in its decoration but fitted to perfection. Cordelia felt the color did something for her hair, as did the family’s modiste. Mrs. Randower said her hair was a very forward sort of color and must be managed carefully lest it present itself too loudly.
The shade was a deep and vibrant auburn and one did not pair that color with a pastel. White was fine for a day dress, but they would not venture into anything approaching a pastel yellow or pale blue for gowns. It would look clownish and Mrs. Randower could not entertain the idea of any of her dresses appearing so.
Lady Rawley’s carriage had arrived after a quarter hour of Cordelia’s pacing in the great hall and a quarter hour of Juliet and her aunt telling her that her nerves were for nothing. She was a lovely and talented actress and anybody must be pleased to make her acquaintance.
She’d taken a deep breath and followed Miss Mayton to the carriage.
Settling themselves in, Lady Rawley said, “How pleased I am, Miss Mayton, that you have agreed to join us. And of course, Lady Cordelia, it was an added delight to understand that you were not without your own interest in treading the hallowed boards.”
“Indeed, my lady, I am most interested,” Cordelia said. “My sisters and Miss Mayton have praised your theatricals to the skies.”
“We are simply delighted to receive you,” Lady Rawley said. “We have never had a young person playing in the troupe and I have a notion that it must add a certain charm.”
There. She’d said it. Cordelia Bennington was officially a member of the troupe.
