“Lord Shrewsbury, I like you very well. However, as soon as my musicale is past, I plan on returning to Derbyshire, where I shall remain. I have had enough of London and the ton. I am a creature of the country. I fear we would not suit.”
She sat down, hoping now that he would leave. Instead, he paced the room, his hands gripping one another behind his back. “I, too, have an estate in Derbyshire. It is not as grand as Hanford, but it is an elegant house in the Palladian style. Would you permit me to call upon you while you are in the country?”
Since she would not be in Derbyshire unless things were irrevocably finished between her and Frank, she said, “Yes. It would be lovely to see you. I am certain that Elise and the Duke would enjoy seeing you as well.”
“Perhaps we will see each other at Devonshire House.”
“Perhaps we will.”
“Goodbye until then, Miss Edwards. I will see myself out.”
~~*
Sophie was beside herself with joy on Saturday evening when she, Frank, Elise, Aunt Clarice, and Sukey arrived at Devonshire House. She had never met the Duke, of course, and found him to be a loud and friendly man. As he stood greeting his guests in the sumptuous music room, he kissed Sukey enthusiastically on both cheeks, his eyes alight. Sophie had heard that Devonshire had entertained a tendre for the tiny lady even though she had declined his marriage proposal.
“And how does Henry Five?” he asked of the tortoise he had given her.
“You must come and visit him. It has been far too long since he has seen you. Now, allow me to introduce my special friends, who are particular admirers of Mr. Wordsworth.”
The duke cordially welcomed Frank and Sophie, kissing her knuckles as she raised her hand to his. Their party moved to find seats in the mirrored room. There were perhaps twenty chairs, but the poet was nowhere to be seen.
When they had seated themselves, Frank took possession of her hand. Sophie pulled it slowly back, looking up at him. “Remember your engagement. These people surely will.”
To Sophie’s surprise, Shrewsbury entered with Lady Melissa on his arm. If he had intended her to be mortified by the sight of her fiancé with Sophie, he was disappointed. She came over to them immediately.
“Sophie! Is this not exciting! Our favorite poet. I never thought to see him in the flesh.”
“Yes, dear Melissa, this is a treat, indeed!”
A few moments later, a hush came over the small assembly as the duke entered in the company of a distinguished-looking gentleman with a noble profile, cleft chin, and thinning brown hair. His face was set in serious lines. There was no doubt in Sophie’s mind that this was the poet.
He sat down in the chair provided for him, holding in his lap the same book of poetry that sat on Sophie’s night stand.
The duke said, “It is my pleasure to introduce the distinguished poet Mr. William Wordsworth, who has granted my humble request to honor a few of my friends with a reading of his poetry. Mr. Wordsworth …”
There followed hearty applause. Then the poet began, his voice quite ordinary but curiously moving:
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky;
So was it when my life began;
So it is now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!
The Child is father of the Man;
And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.
Sophie found that the poet’s inflection lent more to the meaning of the poem than she had supposed. “Bound each to each” clearly referred to the visual ends of the rainbow, natural piety, a reference to the evidence of God in that rainbow. And this, she knew, was the child that was the father to that Ode, “ Intimations of Immortality,” that was so dear to her and Frank.
As he began that next, Frank took her hand and brought it to his lips, then held it in his lap. She did not take it away. The world, at that moment, contained only them and the poet’s voice. Sophie’s heart was singing.
There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light …
It was not until she was leaving Devonshire House, her arm securely tucked in Frank’s, that she saw Melissa and remembered reality. After the sublime evening with Frank so near, she knew she simply could not bear for him to marry her closest friend.
{ 38 }
FRANK RETURNED home from the reading in a mixed state of feelings. The poetry had elated him, and having Sophie so near had made his blood run wild in his veins in accompaniment.
How could he possibly marry Melissa?