Fortune Knocks Once (13 page)

“Lady Elizabeth, I most especially wanted a dance with you tonight. I pray I am not too late to have my name added to your dance card?” he said as he looked admiringly at Lizzie. Then quickly turning his attention to Charlotte he added, “And of course, I would be most honored to add my name to your card as well, Lady Ormonde.”

“Charming,” Charlotte answered.

“How wonderful! Dance this set with Lady Ormonde. I fear I am engaged now but will add you to another dance,” Lizzie said, quickly taking charge. Charlotte gave her a surreptitious glance before accepting Lord Mansfield’s proffered arm.

As they moved onto the dance floor, Lord Mansfield lowered his head close to Charlotte and asked, “I have not seen you before. Is this your first ball?”

Look directly into his eyes, smile and nod your head. I have it Lizzie. All eyes are on the highly trained animal.

Nodding her head yes, she smiled and softly said, “I - am - gratified - to - be – here.”

“Yes, it is very pleasant, is it not?”

Another hurdle faced and mounted.

They whirled into the dance and no more conversation was required, though the young man continued to ask questions, make comments and generally keep the conversation going. Charlotte found she had to do no more than nod or shake her head, laugh softly, and give appropriate facial expression to keep him doing all the talking.

Both Charlotte and Lizzie danced every dance after that. Gentlemen continued to present themselves and Lizzie knew them all. Conversation was next to impossible with the music playing and the crowd noisy and dense. What few opportunities presented themselves for repartee were handled by Lizzie or sufficiently satisfied by Charlotte’s practiced phrases.

After several hours spent enjoying the evening more than she dreamed was possible, Charlotte noticed her uncle circling the crowd and heading their way. She stilled and gazed at him in fascination. She was fascinated first, that he was present at such an elegant affair. She was not aware that he had entree into such lofty company.

Goodness, does he not look out of place here, among these elegant, gracious people?

She was also fascinated that she did not feel the usual clenching alarm gripping her self-control at his appearance. In all the years spent in the same house with him, just his presence could reduce her to a nervous, anxious wreck.

As he approached them, swaying on his feet Charlotte noticed, she caught Lizzie’s attention and pointed him out. She saw Lizzie square her shoulders and set her mouth into a grim line. Charlotte had confided all to Lizzie and knew she had a very low opinion of Charles Treadwell.

Things are different now, Uncle Charles. I am not alone anymore. And I am most blessed in my friend who won’t desert me, no matter how awful you are to me.

“Ah, the Ghost herself all dressed up…out among her betters,” Treadwell growled menacingly as he approached them without bothering to bow or extend any of the usual niceties Polite Society demanded.

Charlotte gave him a quelling look and turned away from him to face Lizzie. “I—am—gratified—to—be—here,” she said with pointed and false courtesy.

Lizzie moved closer to Charlotte and positioned herself slightly in front as if to protect her friend from the ugly threat in their midst. “Mr. Treadwell,” Lizzie said with scorn dripping from every word. “So nice to make your acquaintance, I am sure.” She offered her hand to him and then in a mockery of genteel introduction, withdrew it before he could grasp it.

“It—is—a—charming—evening,” Charlotte interjected with false enthusiasm. At this Charlotte and Lizzie looked at each other and laughed conspiratorially.

“Whass so funny?” Treadwell muttered swaying on his feet.

Lizzie leaned close to him and spoke in a low but unflinching tone, “Leave us, Treadwell. You are such a bore and not at all good ton. Your days of abusing Charlotte are over.”

Treadwell threw his glance at Charlotte and spat out, “Wait till my day in court, little missy…you’ll be back in my house so fast…yer high and mighty now, but not fer long.”

Lizzie took Charlotte’s arm and moved her back several steps. Treadwell moved with them, growling sharply, “Wha’ are you, her guard dog? …the Ghost and the Guard Dog…fittin’ names for two worthless females.” He snorted in laughter. “Wait till I tell everyone this one…the Ghost and the Guard Dog…”

Charlotte glanced at Lizzie with trepidation. Her uncle’s threat to her, empty though it most certainly was—it must be, to believe otherwise was unthinkable—had shattered her calm and she worried about the damage her uncle could do to Lizzie’s reputation. She didn’t much care for her own reputation, but could not bear the thought that Lizzie would suffer for her association with Charlotte.

I won’t have you hurt for the world Lizzie. Not on my account. He is such a cad and a bounder. He will spread nasty rumors and filth just for the fun of it.

But Lizzie’s feminine laughter tinkled delightedly as she locked eyes with Treadwell, a dare visible in her eyes.

Loud enough for all around them to hear, Lizzie addressed Treadwell as a queen addressing her subjects. “So obliging of you to provide us with such charming appellations. Only the very highest and most interesting individuals in Society are bestowed thus. Why, we may completely abandon the use of our Christian names and use only these delightful sobriquets. And ours are so alluringly alliterative. I love them, do you not Charlotte?” Lizzie cooed as she tapped her fan on Charlotte’s arm.

Treadwell snorted in disgust and started to mumble a curse when Lizzie interrupted him in a much quieter and fiercer voice than the one she had previously used. “Although I dare say, they have not quite the cachet of your moniker though do they?”

“Whass that?” he snorted.

“Bloody drunken sot,” Lizzie spit out as she fiercely hit him on the arm with her fan, pulled Charlotte’s arm around her own, turned away, put her head and nose high in the air and glided away from him, pulling Charlotte along with her and charmingly addressing all she passed.

~~~

As the night ground toward morning, Charlotte’s mood dipped lower and lower like a leaf falling to earth. She was exhausted and anxious to leave the ball but Lizzie was crowing. “You are a complete success. Did I not tell you? Your quiet but elegant demeanor was just the thing to make everyone wonder about you. And of course it is significant that you are absolutely gorgeous tonight. Who could resist the lovely stillness you embody? Oh, Charlotte, I am so proud of you!”

“I—am—gratified—to—be—here,” Charlotte answered with a sarcastic glance at Lizzie.

Lizzie snorted and laughed.

“It—is—a—charming—evening,” Charlotte added with scorn. “It-it w-w-was your d-d-doing Elizabeth, not m-m-mine,” Charlotte said grumpily glowering at Lizzie.

No one could insult a friend of the most popular woman in London. They are absolutely terrified of you and well you know it. You could have dressed up and introduced an orangutan from darkest Africa here and everyone would have feted it as a ‘diamond of the first water’ because you declared it to be so.

Laughing, Lizzie tapped Charlotte on the arm with her fan and whispered, “Don’t be cross with me. I see several gentlemen headed this way and their eyes are on you, not me. So do not be coy about your success this evening. Several gentlemen are positively mad for you.”

“How m-many gentlemen m-must I m-meet t-t-tonight?

I have met dozens and remember none of their names, nor their faces.

“Can a lady meet too many gentlemen? I don’t think so,” replied Lizzie absently as her gaze focused on the gentlemen approaching them.

“M-maybe not for you, but I am a m-married woman. And Colin..oh, L-l-lizzie…” Charlotte whispered forlornly.

Lizzie looked over at her and carefully searched her face. Charlotte looked back at her with naked misery.

Colin barely spoke to me tonight before he left with those awful people. I barely see him since we have taken up residence in London. He didn’t dance with me tonight and we have not…haven’t been together…not like in Kilkenny...for far too long – several
days
at least. He didn’t even come to my room last night!

A blush spread over Charlotte’s face as she thought about the missed lovemaking and the glorious intimacy they had shared in Ireland. She swung her head from side to side as if looking for escape, before dropping her chin to her chest to hide her face.

“I-I haven’t even used my beautiful n-n-new n-n-nightgowns,” she blurted out softly, perilously close to dissolving into tears at any moment.

Lizzie took a close look at Charlotte’s face and hurriedly whisked her out of the ballroom and into the hallway, sweeping past the approaching gentlemen with an apologizing glance.

She hurried Charlotte into the retiring room without encountering anyone else and settled her onto a comfortable hassock, then knelt at her feet. She stroked Charlotte’s hand as she spoke.

“Charlotte, you mustn’t fall in love with Colin. He is a wonderful man - handsome, kind, sweet and charming, but he is a rogue through and through. He will break your heart. Now that he has the ability to move in Society freely, using your money no less, there is no telling what will become of him and who he may become involved with. He is like a starving man at a banquet.” She hesitated a second and then continued, “Has Colin told you of his childhood?”

Charlotte shook her head and looked even more miserable, if that was possible.

“We-we d-d-do not t-t-talk,” she said, dropping her head.

Lizzie stood up, retrieved a small stool from the corner of the room, pulled it next to Charlotte and sat down, her skirt billowing around her knees.

“Colin doesn’t like to talk of those times. It causes him too much pain. He only told me because we …well, because…well, in all truthfulness, I don’t know why he told me. People tell me things, darling. They talk for hours and then call me a good listener, often revealing things no human being should tell another person...things so awful it denies belief.

“But terrible things do happen and Colin has had his share of heartache. You know he has no living family, don’t you?”

Charlotte nodded her head.

Lizzie straightened her shoulders and spoke very slowly. “Colin’s mother and three sisters, all younger than him, died of smallpox within several months of each other when he was just 10 years old. Do you know anything about that disease?”

Charlotte shook her head.

“I didn’t either until Colin described it to me. It is horrendous. First there is a headache and general malaise, then nausea and vomiting begin. Lesions develop in the mouth and on the tongue. A rash covers the whole body, face, hands, feet, everywhere. It is awful to see and terrible for the victims. Some people can recover from smallpox of course, but in the case of his family, none of them did.”

Lizzie continued. “The oldest of the girls got sick first and then his mother was next, probably from nursing the child. He said that his mother had always been sickly, especially after the birth of the last child. His father sent him away after his mother became sick. Colin was furious about that then and is still furious about it today. He was sent to live in the Dower House at Kilkenny and forbidden to come near the castle.”