Before the Season Ends (31 page)

Again she retreated to her chamber. Harrietta had earlier set her hair with papers and left them to be taken out later. She had time, therefore, to be alone, though the household hummed with the extra commotion of preparations. Mrs. Bentley, moreover, wanted her niece to get plenty of rest. Little did she realize she was causing Ariana to lose sleep instead.

Ariana opened her Bible numerous times only to find she was too distraught to take comfort there. But she prayed. If her mind wandered, she brought it back and prayed more. Eventually she got to that place of feeling herself in God’s very presence, and she confessed all that was heavy upon her heart. She detailed every last bit, keeping back nothing. Her love for Mr. Mornay was put out and despaired upon, yet she did not sense a whit of condemnation for it from the Lord.

Eventually, upon opening her Bible yet again, her eyes fell upon these words from the epistle of 1 Peter: “
Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
” Prayer again followed but more easily, now. It had been laborious to take her deepest feelings before the Lord, but how rewarding a labour! She felt a renewed sense of God’s love for her. It was just what she needed, and she was filled with gratitude. She had ever been in His hands, and was still so now. What He allowed, He allowed for a purpose. It was not for her to control her aunt, not even her spending; it was not for her to control her life. That was the Lord’s prerogative. Finally, she felt amply reassured. God cared about her. He would take care of her.

She fell into an exhausted sleep. The tensions of the past week had taken their toll. She wasn’t awakened until her aunt sought her out two hours before the guests were expected, to begin her personal preparations.

The response to Mrs. Bentley’s invitations was so great she was concerned there would be a crush. Every hostess infinitely preferred a crowd to its opposite, but a crush was another matter: important members of the
ton
must not suffer. Mrs. Bentley did her best, therefore, to encourage guests to roam a suite of rooms in addition to the newly polished ballroom and supper room. Wooden tables draped with linen, holding large bowls of negus or lemonade, staffed by a servant, were placed throughout the rooms in hopes of offsetting too great a crowd in any one of them. Of course a card room was set up, with plenty of seats around the walls for the dowagers, who would delight in watching and gossiping.

Ariana’s mind, when her aunt bade her get dressed, was not on accommodating the guests. As she washed in a warm bath she reaffirmed her resolve to trust the evening’s events to God. She endured the quick plunge into cold water with a prayer on her lips, and found, by the time she was being dressed and fussed over, that she was actually beginning to look forward to the night. All of her acquaintance would be there, and she would have friends about her. Really, there was nothing to dread.

It helped soothe her spirits when she was attired. A girl could hardly remain gloomy when sporting a beautiful new evening dress. The second modiste had outdone herself with a splendid confection of a gown. It was exquisite white satin, trimmed at the bust, the quarter-length puffed sleeves, and at the hem. The gown had a lower décolletage than her other gowns, a high but slim train gathering in the back, and was embroidered with white and gold thread.

She wore three-quarter length white satin gloves with gold-threaded satin buttons on the sides, and matching silk-satin slippers on her feet. Her hair was curled into dozens of tight ringlets, as opposed to the simple chignon she often favoured; and in front, her head displayed a diamond-studded tiara, wider than the modest specimen she had worn
to past events. The stunning ornament was said by Aunt Bentley to be a relic from her heyday, which the lady had happily resurrected for the occasion, as well as an eye-catching gold filigree collar necklace with a large twinkling diamond in its centre.

Mrs. Bentley helped with the dressing as usual, fussing and complaining, and feeling that a great deal of pokes, prods, and pulls on the fabric were necessary. Ariana was used to this, and withstood it admirably. When it was finished, the older lady stood back to survey her niece. She made no comment at first, but bade Ariana turn round, slowly. When the aunt looked again at her charge, she came forth with a rare full smile.

“A triumph, my dear. Indeed, a triumph.” She paused and made a little frown. “Breathe not to a soul the name of the modiste, for I intend to make her my own, and I do not want half the
ton
hankering there and making her prices go up provokingly. And there is one more thing necessary,” she added, “and I know just what to use!”

Mrs. Bentley disappeared toward her own chamber. In a minute she was back carrying a shawl made of fine gauze silk, gold-threaded in an intricate design around the edges in a wide margin. She draped this artfully across Ariana’s arm and around behind her, to the other arm.

“Now you have the elegant look. I daresay you will have offers made to you tonight!”

Ariana resisted the temptation of letting this remark disturb her. Instead she repeated to herself,
He cares for me. He will take care of me. He cares for me. He will take care of me!

At exactly half past nine the guests began to arrive. Ariana stood beside her aunt receiving them, and no one could have guessed she had ever dreaded the evening. More than one young lady and gentleman whispered urgently to one another that she was looking “shockingly well!”

“She is like an altogether different angel,” declared one besotted young man, who was certain Ariana was an heiress. “In the past, a cherub, and now, a seraph! An exquisite seraph!”

Many others felt similarly. Mr. Mornay had been precisely on the mark when he suggested they all thought she was an heiress. Those who had looked into her family and found only the evidence of modest gentry living, were stumped.

Ariana dressed in the first order of fashion, and with exquisite taste. That, plus the fact that the Paragon chose to keep company with her often, and the quality of this ball, the furnishings, the house, the food—it all shouted
wealth.

People had long understood that her aunt was rich, but no one suspected that anyone, not even a rich relation with no children of her own, would finance a young lady to the degree that Ariana had been.

While greeting guests, Ariana was startled when Miss Worthington, for once ignoring her mama’s conversation, instead settled an unnerving little smile and knowing look upon Ariana. It was uncannily familiar to Mr. Mornay’s expression of understanding, and for a moment she just stared at the girl stupidly in return. What could it mean?

She decided to ignore the chit—she had no time to do otherwise, in any case, with a roomful of guests to mingle among. A few admirers flocked around, but Ariana found herself searching for that tall, dark head. Where was Mr. Mornay? The dancing would soon begin, and she would be hard-pressed for time once it did.

She took a seat to rest and was soon in the midst of friends and hopeful admirers. While she listened to the light banter around her, there came a sudden change in the atmosphere. The young bucks began to scatter; others moved off in pairs. Looking about, she was pleased to find that the source of the disruption was Mr. Mornay.

He had approached Ariana, and when he saw her his countenance changed swiftly and to an unexpected end. All in his path quickly strove to be out of it. Ariana herself gulped involuntarily as her admirers
vanished in every direction, for she, too, caught a glimpse of that formidable face.

Mr. Mornay bowed stiffly, and just looked at her with distaste. In fact, he seemed to be growing angrier while she watched. Miss Herley had dared to stay by her friend’s side to this point, but he looked at her now scathingly, and without a word, managed to send her away as well. Ariana was clinging to her arm, hardly knowing it until Miss Herley firmly but gently removed her arm from Ariana’s grip.

“I am sorry, my dear,” she said in earnest, “but I must give Mr. Mornay leave to speak with you.”

“Lavinia!”

“Really, dearest; but I shan’t be far.”

Ariana realized it was inevitable. “Very well.”

Now it was just the two of them. In such a crowd, and yet Ariana felt suddenly alone with a frightful man she could hardly reconcile with the man who had been so kind of late.

“Come to your feet, so I can see you better.” So this was his greeting! She rose.

“You see what your presence does; all the young men have quite abandoned me!” She smiled bravely, but he did not return it. There was none of the friendliness about him she had come to know, nor a jot of the warmth he had displayed toward her at their last meeting. Ariana was rediscovering what had seemed so frightful in him when they first met. Even silent as he was now, he could be vastly intimidating.

At length he began. “I am astonished by your appearance; it is unlike you to wear the fashion to such an extreme.” He motioned at her tiara, at the beautiful shawl draped about her, at the collar necklace.

“These aren’t
mine!
” She wanted to explain that her costume had been chosen for her, that her aunt had decided upon it all, and that it wasn’t her fault.

“And does that signify? You are shamefully overdone, or should I say (with a pointed look at her décolletage) underdone?” His eyes blazed with reproof. “Particularly, for one who has no desire to mislead
anyone regarding her situation. Or am I mistaken in that? For I see your aunt has invited every unwed blue blood in England!”

Ariana gasped at his hurtful remarks. She had not assembled the guest list aside from a few names. Nor had she bespoken the gown, or wished to. But his words stung so that she found herself defending it.

“I grant it is not my usual style, but no one else is shocked by it, and I daresay it is not…immodest! I have received, on the contrary, countless compliments!”

“People in these circles would compliment a cock if it wore an ostrich feather!” he declared.

Ariana stood speechless for a moment. She waved her fan rapidly over her face.

“You are utterly disheartening, sir! I will not subject myself to this.” She would have turned on her heels, but with a lightning-quick grasp he took her arm and walked beside her.

“Society is no longer certain if you are mine or not; we can put that question to rest tonight. Since you wish to flirt with titled gentlemen, in fact, I can speak a word for you with any of them, beginning, if you like, with the richest.” He was hissing in her ear, and Ariana blinked back tears. She felt as if he had struck her, and she halted, stung, though he was endeavouring to move her toward an old, ornately dressed peer.

Suppressing tears, she turned on him.

“I should have thought you knew me better than to say such a thing!” She paused, again fanning herself rapidly. “You have made your obligatory appearance; why do you not
leave?
” She freed her arm from his and whirled off, hardly knowing in which direction.

“Pay no attention, whatever he said.” Ariana turned in surprise to see Lady Covington looking at her knowingly. She had been invited at the last minute, at Ariana’s insistence, for she saw this as a way of obeying the biblical exhortation to “seek peace and ensue it.” Evidently the countess was relieved to end the animosity as she had accepted the invitation.

Ariana tried to hide her distress with a smile. The countess was the last person in the world she wished to speak to at the moment, especially if her ladyship had witnessed the exchange with Mr. Mornay.

Should she ask for the countess’s opinion of her gown and jewelery? But no, for this was the woman who regularly wore outrageous bonnets and indeed, was sporting a headdress full of feathers at the moment.

She thanked her politely, adding that she was pleased her ladyship had come to their ball. Lavinia was then at her side. She had been staying within sight of her friend since the Paragon’s arrival.

“What happened, dearest? Mr. Mornay looks out of countenance and so do you.”

Ariana glanced at him. He was still watching her with a deep scowl.