“Ah, I see,” Rosalind said, laughing. “Well, it is not a housefire, so he’ll not be too put out about it, I do not think.”
“Lord Darling is supposed to be in the servants’ quarters, as he really is too young for the garden yet,” Juliet said, “but then I did find myself so lonely last evening and I brought him up. I suppose he developed a fondness for the drawing room.”
Cordelia rolled over. “Poor Jules, it cannot be comfortable to be the youngest and have everybody leave you.”
“Was it terribly dreary all by yourself last night?” Rosalind asked.
“I thought it would be, but then it was not. First, I retrieved Lord Darling, then I told Tattleton that he must fetch the footmen so we could play cards. Benny and Johnny were enthusiastic over the idea and we had a rousing game of lottery tickets.”
“Then you shall do just the same tonight,” Rosalind counseled. “Cordelia will be off to Almack’s to find her Corinthian.”
“Do you suppose he will be there?” Cordelia said.
“I cannot know ifyourparticular Corinthian will attend, as we do not yet know in what direction your heart will go, but I know of at least one Corinthian who will be there—Lord Hamill. He is a friend of Conbatten’s and my dear husband complains that the fellow never sits down. If they meet at the club for coffee at ten, Hamill has already been out ridingandin a boxing match.”
“He sounds perfection,” Cordelia said, stretching out under the blankets.
“What will you wear?” Juliet asked. “I know you have gone back and forth on the subject.”
“I have indeed,” Cordelia said, “but it occurred to me that I ought to stop worrying over it and just take Mrs. Randower’s advice on the subject. She said the green silk was the right one for Almack’s.”
Rosalind nodded. “I think you are right to follow her counsel, Cordy—our modiste is never wrong.”
Now, as thecarriage trotted through the streets, Cordelia glanced down at the gown she had selected, relying on Mrs. Randower’s advice. The shade was the deepest green, like moss in a shaded forest. Subtle embroidery of the same color created a vine and flowers motif on the edges of the sleeves. Other than that, the gown was unadorned, just as Mrs. Randower liked it.
Rosalind had increased Cordelia’s already strong faith in Mrs. Randower by mentioning that Conbatten was very approving of the lady’s designs. He was so particular with his own dress, and Rosalind claimed his valet Henri was a madman on the subject, that he must be considered an expert. Gentlemen across London, including her own brother, were always attempting to discover who his tailor was.
“I feel I have made this speech many times now,” the earl said jovially, “but I will counsel you to throw off any nerves you might have coming upon you, Cordelia. They are unnecessary, as the three sisters before you have discovered.”
“Just do not order someone to take you into supper like Rosalind did,” Darden said.
“But she ordered Conbatten to do it,” Cordelia said, “and that turned out rather well.”
“It did, but could just as easily gone terribly,” Darden said.
“I do not believe our Cordelia will have to direct anybody to do anything,” Miss Mayton said. “Her Corinthian will see that she has arrived and that his life is to be changed forever, and he will proceed accordingly.”
“Ah! You are firmly set on a sporting fellow, then?” the earl said.
“Not just any kind of sporting gentleman, Father,” Darden said. “A Corinthian! I have already told her there are not that many of them banging around. It’s very difficult to be good at absolutely everything.”
“Rosalind says Lord Hamill is a Corinthian and that he will be there,” Cordelia said. “Naturally, I cannot know if the signs of true love will strike me, but they might.”
Miss Mayton had schooled them all very thoroughly on the signs of true love so that they might recognize it when they were felled by that emotion—one felt as if one’s hair had been struck by lightning, and one was drowning but taking in more air, and one’s heart sped up though one felt well. It was so specific that Cordelia had no fear of not recognizing the condition.
Of course, she would add one more symptom. It seemed to be a family trait that one felt ill.
“Hamill?” Darden asked. “I really do not think he is in the market for a wife. He always seems too busy and he’s not said anything about it.”
Miss Mayton laughed at the idea. “Goodness, Lord Darden, do you suppose poor Hans was looking for love when he threw himself off the side of a mountain? What about Gregorio or Phillipe or the Transylvanian duke? No, they were all just going about their lives before we encountered one another and then they were quite suddenly struck.”
Cordelia nodded with enthusiasm. “Who knows, Darden—perhapsyouwill be struck by someone this evening.”
As she knew it would, this set off a paragraph of mumbling having to do with Darden being busy with his club and of course he would get to it, but it was foolhardy to pin a date on it.
Cordelia was beginning to think her brother wouldn’t pin a date on it until her father absolutely pressed the matter.
So far, the earl had been indulgent. But certainly that could not go on forever.
