Ignoring my counterquestion, Lord Dalgliesh stated:
‘He danced with you tonight. He singled you out, in fact. All the other young ladies he danced with were ladies introduced by his host or ladies he could not help dancing with without giving offence. You on the other hand… You danced with him without being introduced. You had to have met before. Where was that? What happened?’
‘I do not recall. I think I might have met him at some other party or in the street, maybe.’
Damn! Why couldn’t I keep my voice steady? Maybe it was the way he was blocking my way out of the niche. It was bloody annoying! More than annoying, actually. It started to be slightly worrying.
‘Most young ladies,’ Lord Dalgliesh observed, leaning a little closer, ‘would remember their first meeting with Mr Rikkard Ambrose.’
He still wore his charming smile, and to anyone listening, his questions might have sounded like nothing but idle curiosity. Yet I didn’t think that anything about this man was idle. Still he was blocking my way.
‘Well, I have a very bad memory,’ I snapped. ‘Especially for people I don't care to remember! Now step aside, please! My aunt will be leaving, and I have to join her.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘Miss Linton…’
‘Step aside, I said!’
For one moment he hesitated - then stepped back, giving me just enough room to pass.
‘You’re an intriguing young lady, Miss Linton.’ His eyes were sparkling like moonlight on cold steel. ‘I will look forward to meeting you again.’
Ha! When hell freezes over!
‘Until then, My Lord.’
Keeping my back ramrod-straight so I could always look him in the eye, I gave a quick curtsy. Then I marched away at a measured pace and, using the fact that Lady Metcalf was just saying goodbye to a large group of burly army officers, ducked past her and out of the ball room.
Only when I was in the hallway and he couldn’t see me anymore did I start to run. The slaps of my shoes sounded harsh on the marble floor, and servants stared at me as I rushed by, but I didn’t care. Some instinct told me to get out of there as quickly as possible.
I stumbled out into the cool night air. Fog from the river Thames was wafting towards me. Yet neither the clammy moisture nor the cold air did anything to clear my mind. A thousand questions where whirling around inside my head. Only they weren’t the same ones as a few hours ago, when Mr Ambrose had entered the ballroom, that hag on his arm.
Had Mr Ambrose really been interested in Lord Dalgliesh, not his beautiful partner? What did the lock in the envelope mean? Where did it come from? And why, of all people in the ballroom, should Mr Ambrose have been looking at me?
I hurried over to the coach, which had already been brought to the door by the driver, and hurriedly climbed up the steps. I needed a quiet place, shut off from all the noise of the ballroom. A place where I could think.
I sank onto the seat and breathed a sigh of relief. Alone, finally!
Then I looked up - and saw Wilkins sitting on the opposite bench. A rose and an enormous sunflower were sticking out of his tortured buttonhole, and he had a dreamy expression on his face which I immediately mistrusted.
‘Ah, Miss Lilly,’ he said, smiling at me with a smile like a seasick baboon. Or, maybe, like a man in love. It was difficult to tell the difference sometimes. ‘How fortunate that you are the first to arrive. I wonder if I might have a word with you. It is about your sister, Ella.’
Woes of Love
I eyed Wilkins cautiously. ‘What about my sister Ella?’
‘I… I have confession to make.’ He pressed a hand to his heart, either overcome by his feelings or having a heart attack. Unfortunately, the chances for the latter seemed slim. ‘A secret that I have borne in my heart for a long time but now must reveal to somebody, or else my heart will burst.’
Well, things are looking up. Maybe the chances aren’t that slim after all.
‘I see,’ I said.
He had obviously hoped for a response like, ‘What is your secret? I’m dying to know!’ or something equally dramatic. When I didn’t oblige, he floundered. But soon enough he found his voice again.
‘I have chosen to confess my secret to you,’ he whispered conspiratorially. ‘If for now you promise you will reveal it to no living soul.’
‘Go on.’ I waved my hand. ‘I promise I will reveal it only to vampires, ghosts and other members of the undead community.’
‘Um… good. Very well, then.’ He took a deep breath. ‘I… am in love. I am in love with your sister, Miss Ella Linton.’
My left eyebrow rose about a millimetre. ‘You don't say.’
Again he had apparently hoped for a more dramatic reaction. But he seemed to cope well with the disappointment, more than ready to supply all the necessary drama himself. He leant forward so far that the sunflower almost fell out of his buttonhole.
‘The reason I tell you this,’ he said, whispering, ‘is that throughout the entire time I have had the pleasure to know your sister, I have noticed you have taken a most lively interest in the progression of our relationship. You have always been there, trying to help me…’
What?
‘… and although your failed attempts at furthering conversation show how innocent you are, how inexperienced with romance, they are greatly appreciated.’
This man definitely could never be allowed to marry my sister! There was insanity in his family! There had to be! Me helping him?
‘Miss Lilly,’ he said in a fatherly manner, which might have worked better if he hadn’t been just about three years older than I. ‘I am a seasoned man of the world. I have no problem with striking up a conversation with your sister on my own. Have no fear. What you hope for is true: I am indeed pursuing your sister. I am so deeply in love with her I can hardly express it. Soon, after an appropriate courtship, I will ask her to be mine, and your sister Ella will marry one of the most eligible bachelors of London.’
He pressed my hand.
‘Have no fear. Soon we shall be family.’
Argh!
~~*~~*
Somehow I managed the ride home without getting hysterics. The situation was far more dire than I had imagined. My only consolation was that Ella still wasn’t aware of the fact. But as we rode towards home, even that consolation began to disappear. The love-struck smiles which Wilkins sent in Ella’s direction at regular intervals could hardly be misinterpreted, even by one as innocent as she. In addition, Wilkins had begun to suggestively wink at my little sister. Since he did this repeatedly and without great talent, he looked like somebody desperately trying to get a fly out of his eye, but still, she probably got the message.
The others were no help either. Lisbeth was sad because nobody at the ball had danced with her, Gertrude was quiet, Maria and Anne were shooting angry glances at Ella, and my aunt was still making hints about how well Lord Dalgliesh and I seemed to be getting along. It was only Sir Philip’s presence that stopped her from pestering me for the date on which our engagement would be announced.
Finally, we stopped in front of my uncle’s house and alighted from the coach. Wilkins didn’t remain sitting, but got out after us.
‘Do you wish to come in for a minute, Sir Philip?’ My aunt enquired sweetly. She was always sweet to prospective nephews-in-law. The rich ones, anyway.
‘No, madam. I wouldn’t wish to inconvenience you.’
‘It would be no inconvenience at all, I assure you, Sir.’