Read Online The Regency by Cynthia Harrod-Eagles - Free Book Online

pleased to meet my husband's rescuer,' she managed to say at last, 'and to make formal the invitation my brother Edward gave you yesterday. We will all be very pleased if you will come to Mathilde's ball on Tuesday. I was speaking of it to your mother when you arrived.'
    ‘I shall be delighted to come,' John said quickly. 'In fact, by coincidence, I had the pleasure of meeting Miss Nordubois yesterday afternoon. When I got back into town, I met her walking with Miss Keating and Tom in High Petergate, and as the Keatings are old friends of mine, they were able to make me known to her.'
    ‘ Well, then that is settled. I am so glad. You will find it quite an informal dance, just ten other couples, but all friends, I think.' She removed her fascinated gaze from John's face and looked a little defiantly at Mary Skelwith. 'I thought it only proper to call on your mama,' she added, 'as it seems by some chance we have never met before.'
    ‘ That was good of you,' John said warmly. 'I'm afraid my mother goes out very little, and as I am so much from home, life is sometimes very dull for her.' He smiled from his mother to Héloïse, and essayed a little joke. 'She must be eager for me to marry at last, so that I may bring home a daughter for her to love.'
    ‘ Nonsense! I have never said anything of the sort, John,' Mary Skelwith snapped. 'And as to the ball, I have already told Lady Morland that there is no need at all —’
    Héloïse held her breath, but John only leaned down and silenced his mother with a kiss on the cheek. 'None at all,' he said cheerfully. 'That is why it is so kind, and why I am very glad to accept, Mama.’
    The emphasis he placed on the words shewed Héloïse that they had already discussed the matter, and she wondered, rather troubled, what reason Mary had given him for not wishing to further the acquaintance. She could hardly have told him the truth. What must he imagine? Oh, what a tangled web, she thought wearily, and suddenly wanted to be out and away from here, away from this claustrophobic atmosphere of secrets and choked passions. How had John Skelwith managed to grow up so straight and fair in such inhospitable soil? She hoped he really would enjoy the dance: she doubted if he had had much simple pleasure so far in his life.
    ‘ I must take my leave of you now,' she said, rising. 'I am so glad to have met you both.'
    ‘ And I am honoured to have met you, ma'am,' John said. 'I look forward very much to Tuesday.’
    Mary Skelwith said nothing, only watched Héloïse across the room with a gaze of burning resentment.

    *
    The addition of John Skelwith's name to the list of guests for Mathilde's ball caused certain problems. To make the num bers even, another suitable young female had to be found. Héloïse applied to Mrs Micklethwaite, the attorney's wife, who knew everyone, for intelligence. She was a comfortable woman of the old-fashioned sort, mother of a large and hope ful family, pillar of society, and staunch minder of everyone's business; and after careful thought, she suggested Miss Cowey of Beverley House, or Miss Chubb of Bootham Park. Miss Chubb was already on the list, and as Miss Cowey would never go to any kind of evening party without her next sister, Miss Pansy Cowey, that left the numbers uneven again.
    Mrs Micklethwaite could offer no more help. 'You seem to have asked all the best young men already,' she complained. 'You have my Joe and my Ned, and you might have my Horace too, and welcome, but he's only just sixteen, and the likes of Miss Chubb and Miss Williams won't care to dance with a boy younger than themselves. I hardly know what to suggest.'
    ‘ I suppose I must look further afield, Héloïse sighed. 'But I did so want all the guests to be friends — apart from the officers, of course.'
    ‘Officers?' Mrs Micklethwaite asked, a little sharply.
    ‘ Three young officers from Fulford,' Héloïse explained. 'Very gentlemanly, I am assured, and recommended by their colonel,