Mr. Malcolm's List (12 page)

“What was
that?” Lady Kilbourne asked.

“It
sounded as if someone slammed a door.”

“Probably
that Miss Thistlewaite.
 
She looks like
the door-slammer type to me.”
 
There was
a pause, the only sound the clickety-clack of Lady Kilbourne’s knitting
needles.
 
Then she sighed.
 
“Poor Mr. Ossory.”

“Why do
you say that?” Malcolm asked.

“She
means to have him.
 
And she’s the type
that gets her way.”
 
She looked up from
her needlework for a moment to eye her son curiously.
 
“What surprises me is that she did not set
her cap for you.
 
You are the more
brilliant match.”

“Oh, but
she did.
 
It was short-lived, however.”

“Really?
 
What happened?”

Malcolm
shrugged.
 
“Nothing, really.
 
I took her to the opera once and then did not
call again.
 
It died a natural death.”

“That is
what you think.
 
I doubt she’d forget a
rejection like that very quickly.
 
She is
not enjoying taking second place to your Miss Dalton.”

“She is
not my Miss Dalton yet.”

“Yes, I
know,” his mother said, somewhat wearily.
 
“I wish you would hurry the business.
 
You know how much I detest entertaining.”

“So you
approve of Selina, Mother?” Malcolm asked.

“Yes, of
course.
 
Although I do wonder what you
two were up to in the Statue Gallery.
 
The servants tell me that they found Apollo tilted sideways.”

Lady
Kilbourne watched in amusement as her son turned red and began a tongue-tied
explanation.

“Oh, I am
just teasing you,” she said, cutting his explanation short.
 
“Apollo is right where he is supposed to
be.
 
Although I do find it curious that
you would believe he was not.
 
That must
have been quite a kiss.”

“It was
earth-shaking,” Malcolm said, and grinned.

Ten

Most of
the party met again at breakfast the next day, the younger members dressed for
riding, an appointment that had been made the previous evening.
 
Selina eyed Julia a little warily, but she
seemed in high spirits, and looked very attractive in her military-style habit,
which emphasized her fragile good looks.
 
Selina felt it extremely unfair that Julia always managed to look so
demure, when her personality was just the opposite.

Malcolm
gestured to the empty seat next to his, so Selina chose something to eat from
the sideboard and sat down.
 

“We were
just discussing the ball we are planning to hold next week,” Malcolm told
Selina.
 
“Miss Thistlewaite would like it
to be a masquerade.
 
What is your
opinion?”

Selina
looked at her father, who was frowning slightly.
 
She knew he did not have the best opinion of
masquerades, considering them to be an excuse to indulge in all sorts of
licentious behavior.
 
“I have never been
to a masquerade—” Selina started to say, but before she could finish,
Julia had interrupted.

“See
there, Malcolm, you must make it a masquerade.
 
Selina has never been to one before.”

“Would
you enjoy that, Selina?” Malcolm asked her.
 

Selina
hesitated, looking at her father.
 
Mrs.
Dalton whispered something in his ear and he smiled and shrugged his
shoulders.
 
“I suppose so,” Selina said,
unwilling to cross Julia when she seemed so pleased with the idea.

“Oh,
wonderful!” Julia said, clapping her hands.
 
Cassie looked less than pleased.

“I do not
want to wear a costume.
 
It’s bound to be
uncomfortable,” he said, looking sulky.

“You can
wear a domino,” his cousin told him.

“That’s
even worse, dash it.
 
Who wants to wear a
cloak all evening?
 
It’s the middle of
summer.”

“As sorry
as I am to have to miss the rest of this fascinating discussion, I must see to
the horses,” Malcolm said, getting up to leave.
 
“Those of you who wish to ride this morning should join me at the
stables when you have finished here.”

After
Malcolm left Selina rose from her seat and joined her parents at the other side
of the table.
 
“Is the masquerade all
right with you?” she asked Mr. Dalton, speaking quietly so the others could not
hear.

“Well,
you know how I feel about masquerade balls, but your mother reminded me that
Mr. Malcolm is a trustworthy gentleman.
 
I am confident he will not permit the sort of behavior that may attend
these kinds of occasions in town.”

“And it
sounds like such fun,” Mrs. Dalton said.

The group
began their ride with Malcolm and Selina in the lead, followed by Julia flanked
by Mr. Ossory and Cassie.
 
However, after
negotiating a narrow path, Selina found herself at Mr. Ossory’s side, with
Julia, Cassie and Malcolm just ahead.

This was
the first time they had been allowed a private conversation since their one
drive together—Julia having been vigilant in keeping them apart—and
Selina felt a little shy with him.

“So, it
appears it is to be a chess match, after all,” he finally said, breaking the
silence.

Selina
was startled at first, but quickly grasped his meaning.
 
“I am sorry, Mr. Ossory, it is just—”

“I know,
I know.
 
My friend Jeremy has cut me
out.”

“I am so
sorry,” Selina repeated again, not knowing what else to say.

“Don’t be
sorry.
 
It is entirely my fault.
 
I arrived on the scene too late.
 
I could have met you anytime the past three
years if I had visited my aunt while on leave as she requested.”
 
Mr. Ossory paused, looking at Selina with a
rueful grin. “To tell you the truth, I didn’t have much confidence in Aunt
Ossory’s matchmaking ability.
 
She had
dreadful eyesight, you know.”

“I do
know.
 
I was constantly keeping her from
holding conversations with inanimate objects.
 
She frequently confused her butler with the umbrella stand.”

Mr.
Ossory laughed.
 
“Well, then, you
understand my hesitation.”

“I do,
indeed.”
  

They rode
in silence for a moment, Selina thinking what a shame it was that she could not
be in love with Henry Ossory, but then realizing if she were in love with him
she would not be in love with Mr. Malcolm, which was a dreadful thought.
 
She realized if Mr. Ossory had visited his aunt
a year or so ago, she probably would be married to him now.
 
As much as she liked Mr. Ossory, she was glad
he had not visited.

“It is
not too late for us to be friends, however,” Mr. Ossory said, interrupting
Selina’s tumultuous thoughts.

“No, it
is not too late for that.
 
I would like
it very much indeed.”

“My
friends call me Henry.”

“I would
be pleased to call you Henry.
 
And you
must call me Selina.”

“Selina,”
Henry said, in unison with Julia, who had called Selina’s name.
 
Henry and Selina looked up, to see that they
had fallen behind the other riders who had stopped to wait for them.

“Selina,
this is not a drawing room,” Julia said, in a playful tone of voice.

“I beg
your pardon,” Selina said, surprised that Julia was addressing her so kindly.
Malcolm was frowning, but when he saw Selina looking at him he smiled at her.

“There is
a very beautiful view from the top of that hill,” Malcolm told them, pointing
off in the distance.
 
“Let us ride in
that direction.”

Later, as
they were walking the horses back to Hadley Hall, Malcolm gestured to Julia and
Henry, who were just ahead with Cassie.

“So do
you think your friend Miss Thistlewaite will make a match with Mr. Ossory?” he
asked Selina.

“Julia?”
Selina asked, surprised.
 
“I do not think
Mr. Ossory is interested in her.”

“I do not
think so, either.
 
I think he is
interested in you.”

Selina
did not respond.

“Well?”
Malcolm prompted her.
 
“Is he interested
in you?”

“It would
be immodest of me to comment.”

“That is
the type of response I would expect from most women, but is not what I have
come to expect from you.”

“Mr.
Ossory and I have agreed to engage in a match—” Selina paused for effect
“of chess.”

Selina
thought that Mr. Malcolm appeared relieved.
 
She hoped so.
 
She had been
suddenly struck with the unworthy desire to make him jealous.
 
“And had he a different match in mind?”
Malcolm asked.

“Perhaps.
 
But I told him I was only available for
chess.”

“Poor
Henry,” Malcolm said.

“Would
you have preferred that I answer differently?” Selina asked, hoping to provoke
him to something other than sympathy.

“I would
have preferred that he go jump in the lake.”

Selina
was a little shocked she had achieved her ambition so easily, although she had
most definitely not wished for so rancorous a response.
 
“That is an extreme attitude toward someone
who is your friend,” she said, looking at Malcolm in surprise.
 
She was relieved to see that he was smiling.

“Oh, I do
not really mean it.
 
I only felt that way
when he was making up to you.
 
I knew he
had a shared history with you and I felt left out.
 
I was even jealous of your former
employer.
 
But now that I know him to
have been unsuccessful in his pursuit I no longer dislike him.”

 
“Well, I am relieved to hear it, for I like
him very much.”

“You had
better not be too enthusiastic in your praise, or I might find myself despising
him again,” Malcolm said, but it was obvious he was joking.

“What, am
I to like no one but you?” Selina asked.

“No, but
you are to like me best.”

Selina
did not know how to reply to this, so said nothing.
 
She couldn’t very well tell him that she
liked him better than any man she’d ever known.

At
luncheon that day the conversation dwelt primarily on what costumes were to be
worn to the masquerade ball.
 
The gentlemen
did not have much interest in the subject, but the ladies were quite excited
and even Selina began to think that it had been a good idea to hold a
masquerade.

Lady
Kilbourne suggested they look in the attics after luncheon.
 
“For my sister never discarded a thing, and
Malcolm put most of her belongings there after he inherited the house.
 
There are probably costumes that could be
contrived out of the clothing in the trunks up there.”

“I don’t
need to go up to the attics,” Cassie said, “although I will need to take a trip
to the village to visit the dressmaker.”

“Do you
plan on going as a lady, Cassie?” Julia asked him.

“Of
course not.
 
A Greek,” he said.

“Any
particular Greek?” Mr. Ossory asked him.

“No,
although maybe I’d better come up with a name, in case someone asks.
 
Perhaps Plato, or Socrates, or Julius
Caesar.”

“Julius
Caesar was Roman,” Selina told him.

“Roman,
Greek, whatever.
 
I just plan to wear a
thin white robe and put some leaves over my ears.
 
I figure that will be the most comfortable
costume.
 
I went to one of these blasted
things dressed as Henry VIII once and I almost suffocated.”

 
“And what are you wearing, Selina?” Julia
asked.

“I have
no idea.
 
I was hoping to receive
inspiration when I visited the attic.”

“Why not
go as your name sake?” Malcolm suggested.

“My name
sake?” Selina asked.

“Selene,
goddess of the moon.”

“Cassie
has already stolen my costume,” Selina said, smiling.

“I told
you, I am not a woman, I am Plato.
 
Or
Socrates,” Cassie said.

“That is
just about the most unlikely disguise I’ve ever heard of,” Mr. Dalton said to
Mrs. Dalton, who told him to be quiet.

Mr.
Ossory and Mr. Dalton, who had decided to wear dominos, went to play billiards,
while Julia, Selina, Mrs. Dalton and Malcolm went up to the attic
together.
 
Lady Kilbourne retired to her
chamber.
 
She told her son she was too
old to play dress up, and would be wearing a ball gown to the masquerade.

After a
bit of rummaging around, Mrs. Dalton found a gown from the previous century and
decided to go as Marie Antoinette.

“I shall
pretend I am seventeen again,” Mrs. Dalton told Selina.
 

“Shall
you powder your hair or wear a wig?” Selina asked her mother.

“A wig,
of course.
 
I am not like Lord
Cassidy.
 
I care nothing for
comfort.
 
It is how I look that is
important,” Mrs. Dalton said, laughing.

Having
found her costume, Mrs. Dalton laid it aside and began to help the others
search.
 
Julia found a milkmaid’s costume
that had evidently been used for another masquerade years ago.
 
“This is quaint,” she said, holding it up
before her.

“Oh, yes,
my dear.
 
You will look very charming in
that,” Mrs. Dalton agreed.

“So that
leaves only Selina and Mr. Malcolm.
 
Have
you found anything, Selina?” Julia asked.

“No,”
Selina said.
 
“But you all do not have to
wait for me.
 
I will continue looking on
my own.”

“Nonsense,”
Julia said.
 
“We will help you.”

Selina
smiled and thanked Julia, relieved that she seemed to have forgiven Selina for
refusing to take part in her little scheme.
 
She thought it strange that Julia still would not meet her eyes, but
only murmured something and looked uncomfortable.
 
Perhaps she had not completely forgiven
Selina, after all.