possibly,’ she agreed, before her eyes strayed once again to the fearsome creature peering down at her from its glass cage. ‘Do you happen to know anything about kestrels, grandfather? Is that one up there?’
He followed the direction of her gaze. ‘No, that’s a sparrow hawk. That’s a kestrel, up there in the cabinet on the end. They’re both birds of prey. Why do you ask? And why all this interest in birds all of a sudden?’
‘Oh, no reason really.’
‘In that case, if there’s no purpose to your incessant questions, you can go away and leave me to continue with my studying. And get off my desk, child! You’ll make a mess of my papers!’
‘Ha!’ was all the response he attained from his undutiful granddaughter, though she did as bidden and went over to the door. ‘By the by, you haven’t forgotten that it’s the party tonight? I’ve instructed Budd to lay out your evening attire.’
‘No, of course I haven’t forgotten!’ he responded testily. ‘Now go away, child, and talk to that pretty friend of yours, and leave me in peace.’
‘I would willingly do so if she had returned from the Hall. All the same, Grandfather, consider me gone.’
As Sarah was kept busy at Deverel Hall for much of the day, Emily was not destined to see her again until that evening, shortly before they were due to set off for the party, when Sarah, having managed to get herself ready remarkably swiftly, and appearing as if she had spent hours over the task, entered Emily’s bedchamber.
For a few moments Emily studied her through the dressing-table mirror, where she sat adding the finishing touches to her own toilette. She had never seen her friend so charmingly attired. The pink silk enhanced her fair prettiness, and the few fashionable touches added by Sarah herself were so skilfully incorporated into the ensemble that anyone might be forgiven for supposing that the gown had come directly from some famous Bond Street modiste.
‘You look lovely, Sarah,’ she announced, wondering what Charles himself would think when he saw his staunch supporter so fashionably dressed. ‘Where did you acquire the silk shawl?’
‘Lady Deverel presented it to me just before I left the house, and this new pair of evening gloves. She said they were a little something for all the hard work I’d done. I felt so guilty taking them. After all, she did very kindly purchase the material for my new dress.’
It would have afforded Emily the utmost pleasure to voice her opinion of that lady’s so-called benevolence. However, given the fact that if Sarah attained her heart’s desire, Lady Deverel would become her mother-in-law, she refrained, and merely remarked that Drusilla’s attire undoubtedly cost a great deal more.
After donning the pearl necklace and matching earrings that had once belonged to her mother, Emily rose from the chair, revealing that her own appearance left nothing to be desired. From the arrangement of her dusky locks, which young Amy, although by no stretch of the imagination a competent lady’s maid, had managed to arrange in a simple yet pleasing style, to her satin slippers, she looked every inch the fashionable young lady.
‘That blue silk certainly emphasises the colour of your eyes,’ Sarah remarked. ‘You look stunning.’
Emily flashed her a rather mischievous smile. ‘Well, we must do our poor best to offer Drusilla a little competition, mustn’t we? We cannot have her monopolising all the beaux.’ She took a moment to study her overall appearance in the full-length mirror. ‘I amaze myself sometimes,’ she admitted. ‘Six years ago, I didn’t give a hoot how I looked, but now I wouldn’t dream of leaving the house less than perfectly groomed. I doubt any of my old Hampshire neighbours would recognise me now.’
‘I think perhaps one of them would,’ was the soft rejoinder.
Emily was not slow to detect the change in her friend’s demeanour. ‘Why, you’re looking very serious all of a sudden! Whatever’s the matter?’
For a second or two Sarah appeared to find the toes of her soft pink slippers of immense interest, then she said quietly, ‘When I was over at the Hall today, I discovered that Charles had returned the previous afternoon with a friend of his from London…Lord Hawkridge.’
Only for an instant did Emily check before sliding her fingers into her long evening gloves. ‘I have been acquainted with the Deverels for almost five years, and yet I never realised that Charles knew Hawk. Dear me. Life is full of surprises! Grandfather, I do not doubt, will be delighted to see him.’
‘And you?’ Sarah prompted gently.
Emily’s shrug of indifference was not wholly convincing. ‘I suppose our paths were bound to cross again sooner or later. The aunt I visit in Brighton each summer is planning to take her eldest daughter to London next spring, and was hoping I would join them. I felt that, if I did go, I would be certain to bump into Sebastian at some point. The meeting has come a little earlier than expected, that is all. Come, let us repair downstairs. We don’t want to leave Grandfather waiting.’
Throughout the short journey to the Hall, Emily was acutely aware of Sarah’s keen regard. And how clever of her not to be fooled! she mused, desperately striving to maintain at least the appearance of the self-possession that she was far from experiencing.
She could quite easily, she supposed, have feigned a sore head and declined to attend the party at the last moment. But that was a coward’s way out, and it simply wasn’t in her nature to behave like a frightened child and run away from unpleasant situations. Added to which it stood to reason that, as he was in the area, Sebastian would pay a visit to the house sooner or later, if not to see her then at least to pay his respects to her grandfather. Surely it was better to come face to face with him this first time, after so many years, in a crowded room, where she would be obliged to exchange a few brief words, and could easily escape by mixing with the other guests, than go through the agony of seeing him alone, where the strain of attempting to hide her continuing regard for him might prove just too much even for her? She wasn’t so foolish as to suppose that it would be easy to keep those more tender feelings well hidden, especially from someone who had never evinced the least difficulty in reading her moods, but she knew she must endeavour to make the attempt.
Their arrival at the Hall coincided with that of several other neighbours, and they had perforce to await their turn before alighting at the impressive front entrance. The Restoration mansion looked as fine as it had on those occasions years before when Sir Augustus and Lady Deverel had entertained lavishly. Emily could fully appreciate now why her friend had been absent for much of the day, for there seemed to be a vase of flowers, beautifully arranged, and exuding the most delightful fragrance, on every available table in the spacious hall; and many, many more, she swiftly discovered, were decorating the large salon where the party was being held.
For a few brief moments she was able to set aside her own concerns as she stood in line to greet the host and hostess, and noticed Charles’s eyes widen a fraction when they fell upon Sarah. The Dowager Lady Deverel, standing beside her handsome son, greeted each member of the party graciously, and even Drusilla, looking positively radiant in a dazzling creation of white gauze over satin, was prompted to remark upon the elegance of both Sarah’s and Emily’s gowns.
‘Would I be correct in supposing that Drusilla has been warned to be on her best behaviour this evening?’ Emily remarked in an undertone, as they quickly moved away from the entrance in order to allow the next party of guests to greet their host and hostess, and her grandfather had made directly for the masculine company to be found in the room set out for cards.
Sarah
