Read Online Broken Harmony by Roz Southey - Free Book Online

forty, in a light-buff-coloured suit which complemented his pale colouring (he too wears his own hair in defiance of fashion) raised a faint smile at the sally of a young lady.
And from her privileged position at the head of the throng, her expression visible only to Mrs Jerdoun and myself, Lady Anne raised her eyebrows to the ceiling as if to say ‘Heaven help
me!’
    She introduced me to her guests, an honour I had not anticipated. Mr Heron cast me a frowning look but acknowledged me civilly, if curtly. Upon Mrs Jerdoun remarking that we had been looking at
the engravings of Rome, a general conversation began in which I was kindly included. Her ladyship’s guests were prepared, it was clear, to follow her lead and accept me, if not as an equal,
at least as tolerably worthy of notice. Heron particularly was generous enough to convey his personal apologies for his misunderstanding of my encounter with Nichols.
    But my attention was distracted by the servants bringing in chairs for the company and tea tables with all the necessary paraphernalia. All the chairs, I noted, were being placed at one end of
the room as if to leave the other end, around the harpsichord, free.
    A servant came in with a music stand.
    I flushed, answered one lady’s questions at random. Could Lady Anne have brought me here merely to afford her guests after-dinner entertainment? But if so, what an invidious position she
had put me in by introducing me to them as an equal. There is always a clear division between the entertainer, who is paid, and the entertained, who pay.
    But no, Lady Anne was indicating a chair, and praying me to sit down and tell her how I preferred my tea. I was to listen. Perhaps one of the younger ladies was to entertain us upon her harp;
that would be unexceptional, if trying to the musical connoisseur. One of the footmen was unlocking the harpsichord and propping up its lid, revealing gorgeous paintings of dancing nymphs. A few
songs from the young lady, then? But from the hall came the sound of a footman greeting a newcomer and a scuffle of preparation. Footsteps approached the door. I was seized with a hot premonition
of disaster.
    The doors were opened. In the space, pausing for a moment so that we might appreciate his elegance, was Henri Le Sac. He was to entertain; Lady Anne’s behaviour clearly indicated
that I was to be entertained. She could not have prepared a greater insult.
     
    10
    DUET FOR HARPSICHORD AND VIOLIN
    What was I to do? The moment Le Sac set eyes on me he would take offence, and indeed I would not blame him. Here was I, greatly his inferior in performance, set to lord it over
him as if I was one of the gentry. How could he tolerate that? Yet if I offered to play, which might satisfy Le Sac (particularly as I would be at the lowly accompanying instrument), I would set
Lady Anne’s guests against her for having the audacity to introduce them to a mere performer.
    And while I delayed and hoped to fathom Lady Anne’s motives for playing such games, Le Sac glanced round and saw me.
    For a moment he was blank-faced, then drew back in disdain. “Milady,” he said, “you desire this person to accompany me?”
    Nothing, his tone said, could possibly be less welcome. All eyes turned to me; with a frown, Claudius Heron said, “Do you play tonight, Patterson?”
    Silence. Then Esther Jerdoun said, “Mr Patterson is my guest. He came to examine some music books in my possession.”
    There was a collective sigh of relief, as if the company regarded Mrs Jerdoun as some eccentric whose will must be humoured. Only Claudius Heron continued to frown, and to look from myself to Le
Sac to smiling Lady Anne in turn. Not a man to be fooled easily and his previous mistake over the brawl must have made him wary.
    I hurried into speech. “But I would be honoured if Monsieur le Sac would consent to my accompanying him. Though I cannot of course hope to do the pieces justice.”
    So the proprieties were