she had intended to say, or if it were intrusive.
Rose broke the suspense of the moment. “Without the effects, how would I know it was real, not just the medium telling me what she thought I wanted to hear?” She made a casual little gesture of dismissal. “It isn’t what you would consider entertainment without all the sighs and groans, and the apparitions, the bumps and glowing ectoplasm and so on!” She laughed, a brittle sound. “Don’t look so serious, my dear. It’s hardly church, is it! It’s only ghosts rattling their chains. What is life if we can’t be frightened now and then . . . at least of things like that, which don’t matter at all? Takes one’s mind off what is really awful.” She swept one hand into the air, diamonds glittering on her fingers. “Have you heard what Labouchere is going to do with Buckingham Palace, if he ever has his way?”
“No . . .” Emily took a moment to adjust from the profoundly emotional to the utterly absurd.
“Turn it into a refuge for fallen women!” Rose said in a ringing voice. “Isn’t that the best joke you’ve heard in years?”
Emily was incredulous. “Has he actually said so?”
Rose giggled. “I don’t know . . . but if he hasn’t yet, he soon will! When the old Queen dies, I don’t doubt the Prince of Wales will do that anyway!”
“For heaven’s sake, Rose!” Emily urged, glancing around them to see who might have overheard. “Keep a still tongue in your head! Some people wouldn’t know sarcasm if it got up and bit them!”
Rose tried to look taken aback, but her pale, brilliant eyes were shining and she was too close to hilarity to carry it off. “Who’s being sarcastic, darling? I mean it! If they haven’t fallen yet, he’d be just the man to help them!”
“I know, but for heaven’s sake don’t say so!” Emily hissed back at her, and then they both burst into laughter just as they were joined by Mrs. Lancaster and two others who were aching to know what they might have missed.
The ride home in the carriage from Park Lane was entirely another matter. It was after one in the morning but the street lamps lit the summer night, making the way clear, and the air was warm and still.
Emily could see only the side of Jack’s face closest to the carriage lamp, but it was sufficient to show a seriousness he had hidden all evening.
“What is it?” she asked quietly as they turned out of Park Lane and moved west. “What happened in the dining room after we left?”
“A lot of discussion and planning,” he replied, turning to look at her, perhaps not realizing it cast his face into shadow. “I . . . I rather wish Aubrey hadn’t spoken so much. I like him enormously, and I think he’ll be an honest representative of the people, and perhaps more importantly, an honest man in the House . . .”
“But?” she challenged. “What? He’ll get in, won’t he? It’s been a Liberal seat for as long as anyone can remember!” She wanted every Liberal to win who could, so as to put the party back in power, but just at this moment she was thinking of Rose, and how crushed she would be if Aubrey failed. It would be humiliating to lose a safe seat, a personal rejection, not a difference of ideas.
“As much as anything is certain, yes,” he agreed. “And we’ll form a government, even if the majority isn’t as large as we’d like.”
“Then what’s wrong? And don’t tell me ‘nothing’!” she insisted.
Jack bit his lip. “I wish he would keep some of his more radical ideas to himself. He’s . . . he’s closer to socialism than I realized.” He spoke slowly, considering his words. “He admires Sidney Webb, for heaven’s sake! We can’t take reform at that pace! The people won’t have it and the Tories will crucify us! Whether we should have an empire or not isn’t the point. We do have, and you can’t cut it loose as if it didn’t exist and expect to have the trade, the work, the status in the world, the
Rose broke the suspense of the moment. “Without the effects, how would I know it was real, not just the medium telling me what she thought I wanted to hear?” She made a casual little gesture of dismissal. “It isn’t what you would consider entertainment without all the sighs and groans, and the apparitions, the bumps and glowing ectoplasm and so on!” She laughed, a brittle sound. “Don’t look so serious, my dear. It’s hardly church, is it! It’s only ghosts rattling their chains. What is life if we can’t be frightened now and then . . . at least of things like that, which don’t matter at all? Takes one’s mind off what is really awful.” She swept one hand into the air, diamonds glittering on her fingers. “Have you heard what Labouchere is going to do with Buckingham Palace, if he ever has his way?”
“No . . .” Emily took a moment to adjust from the profoundly emotional to the utterly absurd.
“Turn it into a refuge for fallen women!” Rose said in a ringing voice. “Isn’t that the best joke you’ve heard in years?”
Emily was incredulous. “Has he actually said so?”
Rose giggled. “I don’t know . . . but if he hasn’t yet, he soon will! When the old Queen dies, I don’t doubt the Prince of Wales will do that anyway!”
“For heaven’s sake, Rose!” Emily urged, glancing around them to see who might have overheard. “Keep a still tongue in your head! Some people wouldn’t know sarcasm if it got up and bit them!”
Rose tried to look taken aback, but her pale, brilliant eyes were shining and she was too close to hilarity to carry it off. “Who’s being sarcastic, darling? I mean it! If they haven’t fallen yet, he’d be just the man to help them!”
“I know, but for heaven’s sake don’t say so!” Emily hissed back at her, and then they both burst into laughter just as they were joined by Mrs. Lancaster and two others who were aching to know what they might have missed.
The ride home in the carriage from Park Lane was entirely another matter. It was after one in the morning but the street lamps lit the summer night, making the way clear, and the air was warm and still.
Emily could see only the side of Jack’s face closest to the carriage lamp, but it was sufficient to show a seriousness he had hidden all evening.
“What is it?” she asked quietly as they turned out of Park Lane and moved west. “What happened in the dining room after we left?”
“A lot of discussion and planning,” he replied, turning to look at her, perhaps not realizing it cast his face into shadow. “I . . . I rather wish Aubrey hadn’t spoken so much. I like him enormously, and I think he’ll be an honest representative of the people, and perhaps more importantly, an honest man in the House . . .”
“But?” she challenged. “What? He’ll get in, won’t he? It’s been a Liberal seat for as long as anyone can remember!” She wanted every Liberal to win who could, so as to put the party back in power, but just at this moment she was thinking of Rose, and how crushed she would be if Aubrey failed. It would be humiliating to lose a safe seat, a personal rejection, not a difference of ideas.
“As much as anything is certain, yes,” he agreed. “And we’ll form a government, even if the majority isn’t as large as we’d like.”
“Then what’s wrong? And don’t tell me ‘nothing’!” she insisted.
Jack bit his lip. “I wish he would keep some of his more radical ideas to himself. He’s . . . he’s closer to socialism than I realized.” He spoke slowly, considering his words. “He admires Sidney Webb, for heaven’s sake! We can’t take reform at that pace! The people won’t have it and the Tories will crucify us! Whether we should have an empire or not isn’t the point. We do have, and you can’t cut it loose as if it didn’t exist and expect to have the trade, the work, the status in the world, the
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