AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Like the mousy companion. Only this morning Fanny had spoken kindly to the girl to elicit her feelings on whether she was disinclined to subject herself to the dancing lessons after being so roundly criticized on her lack of grace, if Antoinette’s opinion on the matter were to be believed.
Instead of relief that she may be granted a reprieve, the girl had burst out with a most uncharacteristic, "I enjoy the dancing lessons more than I can say!"
And if that were the case, then Signor Boticelli could be the only reason.
"Do take care not to break hearts," she cautioned her sister, but Antoinette just tossed her head. "I think Signor Boticelli is very capable of holding onto his and having what fun is to be had under our roof."
"I was more worried about Venetia."
Antoinette's brow furrowed. "But she's just the companion. Oh yes, I know we had plans for her, but if she can’t take the trouble to wear something more becoming than the drab gowns she favors, or look pleased at what I'd gone to such pains to devise, then she should have no expectations of improving her lot. Why, I put Signor right under her nose, and if she does nothing to engage him, it's hardly my fault, is it?"
"I do hear you, sister, but I fear she is what might be termed a young lady of quiet passions. I doubt she meets many gentlemen. What if she is falling in love with Signor Boticelli? I saw them gazing into each other’s eyes when I put my head around the door earlier."
"What has love got to do with this?" Antoinette stopped and stared at Fanny as if she genuinely did not know. "If Signor wants to marry Lady Indigo’s little companion, that's one thing. If he and I spend a little time together in gainful instruction, that's something entirely different."
"I just don't want to see hearts broken."
"Well, you won't!" Antoinette huffed, turning her back on her sister, before swinging around to look once more through the window and pointing with sudden energy. "If you’re so concerned, why don’t you go outside and reassure yourself with a conversation with Venetia, who I see pushing Lady Indigo by the lake right now." She turned and began to walk toward the passage. "And with Sebastian who is lurking by the trees near the walkway,” she added over her shoulder. “I'm sure he's hoping for an assignation with Arabella whom I also saw taking a turn by the lake. You're the cunning one when it comes to asking the right questions, Fanny. If you're so worried about broken hearts, why don’t you reassure yourself—and me, of course—that Arabella and Sebastian really are star-crossed lovers, and that Venetia has, in fact, no interest in her handsome dancing tutor.” She huffed out a breath, adding balefully, “To insinuate that I have any motive other than to selflessly procure the happiness of everyone within my orbit, is to do me a great unkindness!"
***
Piqued by Antoinette’s insistence that there really was something between Sebatian and Arabella, Fanny decided there was nothing more useful she could do right now than to make her way out into the crisp outdoors and, as suggested, do her own bit of intelligence gathering.
Picking up her skirts to avoid the damp grass, she made her way toward Sebastian, who was gazing into the middle distance. Fanny fancied that he looked like some lovelorn swain or poet, though she could not really ascertain at what, or whom, he was looking.
“I trust you are not bored with us already, Mr Wells?” she asked him. “And that the company is sufficiently diverting, for I see you are all alone. You will stay until the Christmas Ball?”
“Of course,” he said, turning with a smile. A very charming smile, Fanny noted that made him seem much younger than his twenty-eight years. “Other than the fact that I am honored to be in receipt of your invitation, my sister will be arriving tomorrow or the day after, and naturally I have promised her my company and support.”
“You have not promised your company to anyone else?” Fanny inquired. “Someone who would, I imagine, be very disappointed if you did not stay?”
She noticed that a degree of discomfort invaded his clear distraction. And that he leveled at her a look that suggested he suspected she understood his motivations. After a significant pause, he replied, “I can be relied upon. I just hope that someone else will be similarly inclined or prevailed upon to stay another three days. For they may not.”
A deeper frown penetrated his forehead, and Fanny followed the direction of his gaze. But all she could see was Venetia and Lady Indigo—not Arabella, who Fanny knew had caught his interest.
“If, as I suspect, there is someone here you are interested in, then I shall do all in my power to entice our visitors to remain for what is, after all, my sister’s greatest entertainment of the year at Quamby House.”
“You’d really do that?”
Fanny was surprised at his tone. While she detected a note of confusion, that was only to be expected, for naturally he’d be surprised at her perception in discovering the state of his heart, and of his motivations. But there was hope in his voice, also.
“If you so desire it, Mr Wells. Yes, I will make our current house party visitors complete captives.”
Though she said it with a degree of gentle mockery, it seemed to offer him some relief. “I would be grateful if you did, Lady Fenton.” He looked out at the flat, gray lake. “It would be a great disappointment if any of the current party were to leave before the Christmas Ball.”
***
“You were right, Antoinette. Sebastian is utterly smitten with Miss Reeves!” Fanny felt more gratified saying these words than she’d expected. She raised her arms as far as the cut of her elegant sprigged muslin would allow as she reclined on the chaise longue by the window while Fenton rested his hand on her ankle while reading a book.
Lord Quamby, who was playing whist with his Venetian personal dresser to whom he seemed to have taken an even greater shine the last day or so, raised his head to say with a degree of pride, “My wife is right on the mark when it comes to matters of the heart.” He caught Antoinette’s eye, adding fondly, “Aren’t you, my girl?” before returning his attention to Fenton and the room at large to say in more general terms, “Why, it was she who recognized Giuseppe’s talent and suitability for his new role. Not only have I never looked better, I’ve never felt better!” He patted the orange curls of his new wig with satisfaction while Giuseppe reached across to adjust his master’s neckcloth, his look of pride and acknowledgment [BH1] compensating for his lack of English competence as he said, “Hees Earlship look bellissimo, non?”
“But what of Arabella?” asked Fenton, ignoring Giuseppe’s entreaty to add his endorsement to his brother-in-law’s handsome looks. “Does she return Sebastian’s feelings?”
Fanny and Antoinette sent Fenton a sharp look, and Fanny’s twinge of concern was relieved by Antoinette’s confident, “Indeed she does! Why Fanny, you may have wondered why I was all a-bother in the passage this morning. It was because I’d come upon poor Arabella weeping. When [BH2] I asked her the reason, she said she’d just learned her father would be arriving in the next day or two to attend the ball, after all, and that he was hardly likely to approve of the man who has stolen her heart, now, any more than he did four months ago.”
“Then why not tell me so directly instead of sending me out to learn what you already knew?”
“Because, Fanny, you never quite believe me when I tell you who is in love with whom. I wanted you to elicit Sebastian’s feelings for Arabella for yourself. And now that you have confirmed that our very handsome Sebastian Wells’s feelings are in direct accord with our very flighty, but pretty Arabella Reeves’s youthful but no less intense feelings, I can rest assured that all will be well.”
