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When Elinor was shown into Angelica’s bed chamber she was ushered to the window seat and Martin proffered the glass of lemonade with a flourish. She bowed her head in thanks. Angelica sat at her dressing table. ‘Well, how are you, Miss Elinor?’ She cocked an amused eyebrow as Mary started to brush out her long hair.

‘I’m missing you, and Mary too.’ The girl took a sip of her drink. ‘Your house is so much more fun than mine.’

‘When I stayed with you I thought your house was so peaceful and secure. You see, we all want the opposite of what we have.’ Angelica had stood up so Mary could remove her day dress. She stood in her chemise with her pretty French stays laced over the bodice.

‘Miss Leigh, are you getting dressed for Cousin Charlie’s ball tonight?’

‘I am, but it’s a secret between us. I can only go because I’m going in disguise.’ Angelica gave the girl a mischievous smile.

‘I don’t think Papa is going. Lady Linus certainly is not. I heard her tell Miss Stafford she disapproves of the behaviour encouraged by the wearing of masks. People thinking themselves anonymous and free from censure leads to all kinds of wickedness.’

‘So Mr Asprey trusts his sister and nephew to treat his house well in his absence?’ Angelica’s voice was teasing but disappointment made her heart lose some of its buoyancy. She heard the clock on the Grosvenor Chapel strike two and shivered at the passage of time. How fervently she hoped that Mr Digby had been successful in the escape plan for her rascally father.

Her anxious reverie was broken by Elinor’s voice. ‘Miss Leigh, what costume are you wearing tonight?’ Angelica turned to meet her candid gaze.

‘I shall be the Fairy Queen wearing a fairy dress brought back from Paris by my mama.’ Mary had brought it out from the dressing room and in the afternoon sun it seemed to dance, a smoky blue with scintillas of silvery light.

The girl sighed. ‘Oh, that’s beautiful. You shall be the belle of them all.’

Mary slipped the gown over her mistress’s head and Angelica stood before them transfigured. She marvelled at how a beautifully made dress could make you feel so alluring and, judging by the expressions on the faces of the two young women in the room, transform your appearance too. After a moment, Mary became businesslike again. ‘Now, sit down, Miss Angelica. I must disguise your hair and pin it in a style that suits.’

Elinor Asprey had finished her lemonade and walked to stand beside Mary to watch her dressing Angelica’s hair with blue powder. ‘You will look like a creature from a fairy world.’ The young girl seemed transfixed. ‘Lady Linus says that disguise is the work of the devil. What can she mean? When you are acting a part, Miss Leigh, you are pretending to be someone else, are you not?’

Angelica met her eyes in the looking-glass. Her question had been serious and needed a considered reply. ‘Yes, that’s true. But pretending to be other than you are to entertain is very different perhaps from what Lady Linus may dislike. Have you spoken to Miss Stafford? Might she suggest Lady Linus is referring to Lucifer, disguising himself as the serpent in the Garden of Eden?’

‘I think Lady Linus is a serpent disguising herself as a good woman in order to marry my father.’ The girl’s face in the mirror had turned mulish.

Angelica swivelled in her seat to face her. ‘Elinor! That’s a very disobliging thing to say. Why so?’

The young girl hung her head. ‘I’m sorry, Miss Leigh. That was not kind but it’s just that she’s affectionate and helpful when she’s with him. But when he’s not there she’s so prosy and opinionated in her fancied judgement. She disapproves of so much that is fun.’

Angelica took her hand. ‘Are you very upset about the idea of your father marrying her?’

‘Yes. I will have to run away if she comes to live in our house.’

‘Oh, Miss Elinor, I do understand. It all looks so bleak when you feel you have no sway over your own life. But you must trust your father to know what’s right for him, and for you too. Have you spoken to him at all about your worries?’

‘No. He’s working so hard I barely see him. When you were living with us, I sometimes heard him laugh. I even heard him whistling while he was getting dressed one morning. All this has gone. Now it’s only frowns and silence.’

‘He’s trying to shepherd very difficult reforms through Parliament, you know. He might just be burdened with that. Things will get better.’

Elinor threw her arms around Angelica and buried her face in the bodice of her beautiful dress, muttering, ‘I wish you’d marry him, Miss Leigh. You’d make us all so happy.’

Angelica was shocked. She lifted the girl’s face and met those troubled blue eyes. ‘Come now, my dear. You know your father’s reputation is of utmost importance in his work. I’m afraid as an actress I’m not an ideal wife for him. Your father cannot afford to give his enemies ammunition to use against him.’

Elinor Asprey’s head drooped and a tear splashed onto Angelica’s hand. Her heart was touched by this lonely, sensitive girl. ‘You and I will always be friends and you can come and see me any time, you know. I’m sure your father would never object to that.’

‘If he marries Lady Linus I want to come and live with you.’ Elinor’s voice had become determined.

‘Let’s see what happens. I’m sure it won’t be as bad as you imagine.’ But Angelica found her heart clutched by the thought of Mr Asprey marrying. Why? she wondered, when all good sense suggested he could not be hers. She was shocked by the possessiveness that overbore all her pragmatic knowledge of how the world was ordered. If she could not marry him, she did not want him marrying anyone else. She felt her face flush with shame and confusion at the selfish thought.

Mary had been working on Angelica’s hair and had plaited and pinned it into a romantic confection of waves and curls, her natural bright colour obscured beneath an ethereal bluish tint. ‘You do, in fact, look a picture, Miss Angelica.’ Mary stood back and admired her mistress and her own handiwork.

Elinor gasped, her eyes wide. ‘You look like a goddess from the night sky,’ the young girl said, suddenly overcome with shyness. ‘How can anyone be so beautiful?’

For the first time, Angelica looked closely at herself in the mirror and did not recognise the vision gazing back at her. The dress was cut low over her pale breasts, the neckline edged in silver filigree lace. The blue-grey satin fell from a high waist and the overlay of silver gauzy lace created an illusion of shifting starlight. The Parisian modistes had perfected a way of slightly stiffening the hem so it stood out from her ankles and rippled when she moved. Angelica was delighted with her reflection and gratified by how her blue-tinged hair obscured her identity. She walked through to the dressing room and picked up the Venetian mask, put it on and re-entered the room. Elinor clapped and laughed at the sight of her. Angelica was gratified that no one at the Duchess of Arlington’s party would recognise her, of that she was sure.

They heard the knock on the front door and Martin’s voice greeting Miss Stafford. Elinor rose reluctantly from her perch on the window seat and Angelica removed her mask to accompany her down the stairs to her governess.