But at least he wasn’t overconfident and flirtatious.
Julia expected Mr. Dinklage to ask her to dance, but the three of them simply stood awkwardly looking at each other. The music was starting, and Julia wanted to dance, and with Mr. Dinklage. If she were to get to know him, she must dance with him at least once.
She gave Mr. Dinklage a crooked smile. His eyes grew bigger, and he swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing. Finally, she resorted to asking, “Mr. Dinklage, do you dance?”
“Y-yes, Miss Grey, though perhaps not very well.”
“I’m sure you dance well.” Well enough. The music was starting. Couldn’t he take a hint? She gave him her best sideways glance, well aware that Felicity was staring at her as if she had just sprouted horns.
“Would you do me the honor of dancing with me, Miss Grey?” he said.
I thought you’d never ask. “It would be my pleasure.”
He led her onto the floor. Out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed Mr. Langdon but refused to look at him.
Mr. Dinklage’s dancing was as halting and hesitant as the way he walked and talked. During the course of the dance, they said very little to each other until Mr. Dinklage said, rather breathlessly, “You look beautiful tonight, Miss Grey.”
“You are very kind.”
When the dance ended, Julia excused herself. Mr. Dinklage bowed politely, and Julia went to join Felicity, who was standing nearby.
Julia grabbed her friend’s hand, and they moved away from the crowd so they could talk privately.
Julia told her about Sarah being sent away to be a governess elsewhere and her plea to Julia to find someone to marry.
Felicity frowned and shook her head. “I do not like to think of you throwing yourself away just because of what Sarah Peck said.”
“I am not planning my wedding just yet, Felicity. I doubt his mother would look favorably on the match.”
“If she doesn’t, you can comfort yourself in the fact that you are far above him in appearance, talent, sense, and manners.”
“But none of those things matter as much as having a few thousand pounds to my name, which I do not.” Julia smiled in an attempt to make light of the situation. But Felicity of all people understood Julia’s situation. She was the eleventh child of twelve, and though her father was a successful attorney from a family of landed gentlemen, Felicity would have very little in the way of a dowry. Her prospects were almost as slim as Julia’s.
Two of Phoebe’s cousins on her mother’s side, Thomas and Walter Atwater, approached them and uttered the usual pleasantries. They were not particularly attractive, but they were young and unattached, and so Julia was glad when Mr. Walter Atwater asked, “Would you do me the honor of dancing with me, Miss Grey?”
“It would be my pleasure.”
He led Julia onto the floor while his brother asked Felicity.
As they stood waiting for the dance to begin, just behind her she heard Mrs. Wilhern say her name. As her aunt was a little hard of hearing, she was talking in her loud, matter-of-fact way.
“Julia is a seemly sort of girl. It’s a pity that she has attracted no eligible suitors, but if she does not marry, she will make a fine governess. She has less than three hundred pounds that her father left her, and I don’t know who marries a girl with so little.”
A fiery blush crept into her cheeks. Should she try to catch her aunt’s eye to make her stop talking? Her aunt was not one to notice a subtle hint. Julia could only pray as Mr. Atwater led her through the motions of the dance. Unfortunately, instead of stopping, her aunt continued to speak loud enough that Julia could hear every word.
“Phoebe quite dotes on her, and I’m afraid we failed to make sure of a proper distinction between Julia’s situation and her cousin’s. Phoebe’s rank, her fortune, and her rights are quite above what Julia can expect. Perhaps we shirked our duty to impress upon them both a consciousness of Julia’s lower station. But Phoebe is such a headstrong girl and never liked to hear anything of the kind, and we indulged her.”
By now, Julia wanted to run from the room, but Aunt Wilhern’s voice droned on.
“I’m sure Phoebe won’t need a companion anymore once she gets married. And goodness knows Mr. Wilhern and I have no need of her. We will try to find a suitable position for Julia. The family to whom she goes will be fortunate, since Julia can instruct in all the usual academic subjects, as well as music. She practices every day and is quite the proficient at the pianoforte and the harp.”
Julia couldn’t bear to look her dance partner in the eye. Of course, he could not have failed to hear every word.
Julia finally saw who Mrs. Wilhern had been speaking to—Mr. Hugh Edgerton and his mother.