Portrait of Jonathan (14 page)

‘Don't ran away, Vinny, is it not our waltz next?'

She felt herself blushing faintly, but she moved forward to join them. Her eyes sought Jonathan's face—was he distressed by the arrival of Lady Anthea? Did he wonder whether she, Lavinia, had after all invited Lord Selwyn and so prompted the arrival not only of him but also of Lady Anthea too?

His expression told her nothing.

‘Jonathan, I …' she began, but at that moment she heard a soft voice and a swish of a gown behind her and she caught the scent of exquisite perfume. Lavinia saw Jonathan's eyes leave hers and seek those of Lady Anthea.

‘Jonathan—how wonderful!'

‘Lady Anthea,' Jonathan said politely, but again showing nothing of what he was actually thinking. ‘This is somewhat a surprise,' he continued mildly.

‘But not unpleasant,' Lady Anthea smiled up at him, her eyes flirting with him.

Lord Selwyn strolled up.

‘Ah, the radiant and beautiful Miss Kelvin,' Lord Francis kissed her hand. ‘May I have the honour of this next dance—the waltz, I believe?'

‘I'm sorry, but …' she hesitated and cast a pleading glance at Jonathan.

‘Miss Kelvin is engaged for the next dance with me.'

‘Ah, how de do, Eldon, didn't see you there. Well, I trust? Ha-ha.' And he laughed again.

Jonathan nodded shortly, his eyes unreadable depths.

‘Let the children have their dance,' purred Lady Anthea. ‘Besides, I want to waltz with you, Jonathan, it's so long since …' she seemed about to say more but altered her line of conversation. ‘After all,' she laughed, ‘ they are more of an age, don't you think?'

Lord Selwyn joined her in laughter, but neither Jonathan nor Lavinia, nor Giles, who had heard the entire exchange of conversation, found her remark amusing. Indeed, Lavinia thought that Jonathan looked angry. The scar on his cheek seemed to stand out vividly.

‘Come then, Miss Kelvin,' Lord Selwyn held out his hand to her as the orchestra began to play.

‘Jonathan, I …' she hesitated again.

‘The child seems incapable of completing a sentence,' remarked Lady Anthea.

Lavinia turned away quickly and found herself in Lord Selwyn's arms being led into the steps of the waltz. She did not look back but kept her eyes fastened on Lord Selwyn's silk waistcoat, so that she would not see Jonathan waltzing with Lady Anthea.

Lavinia remembered little more of the evening for she saw no more of Jonathan. He did not appear to claim his third dance with her. For the remainder of the evening she danced automatically, a fixed smile on her face which she prayed was convincing for the sake of her grandfather. But much later, in the privacy of her room, she was able to give way to the disappointment and she cried herself to sleep over the lost waltz with Jonathan, quite sure that this time her heart was completely broken.

The social whirl continued for Lavinia, but she was not as happy now as she had been on her return from France. No doubt, though she had tried not to do so, she had, deep down, nurtured the hope that with her ‘transformation' Jonathan would fall in love with her. But it was obvious now, she thought, that he had not done so and that in all probability he was still in love with Lady Anthea. Though why someone with Jonathan's intelligence could not see Lady Anthea for the cruel, shallow woman she was, Lavinia could not understand. Though Cupid is reputedly blind, she thought, and it must be so.

From the night of the ball, Lavinia saw very little of Jonathan, but she began to see a good deal more of one person who she would rather not. have seen—Lord Francis Selwyn. At first she thought that it was merely a coincidence that he should be present at nearly every social event to which she was invited, but as the weeks went by, the number of occasions on which she found herself, through no fault of her own, in his company, it became apparent that these occasions were too frequent to be coincidental. Whenever Giles was her escort, her escape from Lord Selwyn's advances was easy, for he was somewhat unwilling to approach her when she was accompanied by Giles Eldon, who glowered at Francis when they met or deliberately led Lavinia in the opposite direction.

Of course, Lavinia was always properly chaperoned at all the public functions she attended by a married woman, Mrs Jay, whom her grandfather had appointed for that purpose. But Mrs Jay was not always able—or inclined—to fend off the unwelcome attentions which young men paid to Lavinia. Fortunately, for the sake of her reputation, Lavinia was well able to take care of herself. Her kind heart prevented her from telling her grandfather of Mrs Jay's shortcomings as a chaperon, so she continued to try to avoid Lord Selwyn as best she could without being deliberately uncivil to him for the sake of her friendship with Phillippa. In actual fact, she saw less of Phillippa than she had anticipated and had wondered why until, meeting her friend at a ball some weeks after the one given by her grandfather and at which Phillippa had promised to meet Lavinia more frequently, she learnt the reason from Phillippa herself.

‘Oh Lavinia, you shall be the first to congratulate me. I am engaged to be married!'

‘My dear Phillippa, how happy I am for you,' Lavinia smiled, kissing her friend's cheek.

‘Look—there he is, over there, talking to Francis. Don't you think he is the handsomest man you've ever seen?'

Phillippa's fiancé was indeed handsome with a moustache and side-whiskers, but when Phillippa introduced him to her, Lavinia found herself looking into a pair of eyes so cold that she felt a shudder down her spine. There was no humour in this man's personality and the gay Phillippa would find, Lavinia was sure, that her husband-to-be would try to curb her natural high spirits.

‘My dear Miss Kelvin, may I have the honour of the next dance?' Lord Francis interrupted his sister's chatter.

Lavinia was forced to acquiesce. They danced in silence but Lord Selwyn's eyes never left her face, and on his thin lips was a small smile as if he were enjoying some private joke. During the evening he claimed a total of four dances with her which Lavinia found herself unable to refuse. She knew it could place her in an awkward situation for social convention was such that if a girl danced with a particular young man three or four times in one evening, it was expected that before long their engagement would be announced.

Worriedly, Lavinia wondered whether Lord Francis was deliberately trying to provoke such a rumour so that Lavinia's friendship with the Eldon family, and with Jonathan in particular, would be put under some strain. Then again, she mused, as her maid brushed her hair for her late that night before retiring, Lord Francis could be trying to ingratiate himself with her in order to find out about the steamship, for perhaps his renewed friendship with Lady Anthea could mean that he too was engaged with the rival company.

But this thought was dispelled a few days later by Giles—though she told him nothing of her thoughts. They were out driving in the landau one sunny afternoon—Lavinia pretty in a summer dress of white muslin over a pale blue taffeta underdress, flounced at the hem. Her small flower-trimmed hat was perched on the front of her hair which was dressed in a smooth chignon in the nape of her neck.

‘I can see every other fellow casting envious glances at me,' Giles grinned, ‘driving out with the prettiest girl in London.'

Lavinia laughed. ‘ Where are we going?'

‘Wherever you say—your wish is my command.'

‘May—may we go and see the steamship?'

Giles looked at her sharply. ‘ Of course, if you wish. Jonathan will be there.'

‘He—he won't mind, will he?'

A worried frown crossed Giles' face. ‘No—I don't suppose so, but …'

‘But what, Giles?'

Giles sighed and seemed embarrassed. ‘He's been so odd lately. Bad-tempered, almost—and that's not like him. I know he's a bit of an old sobersides but he's not usually ill-tempered.'

‘How long has he been like it? I have not seen him since the ball.'

Giles looked at her again thoughtfully as if her remark had reminded him of something.

‘He's been moody since then, I suppose. He spends most of his time either working at the office, or down at Blackwall with the steamship, or shut up in his study at home.'

Lavinia had a mental picture of Jonathan sitting at his desk alone in his study as she had once found him.

‘Of course,' Giles was saying slowly, ‘it might be something to do with what happened at the ball.'

Lavinia's heart was heavy.

‘Lady Anthea, you mean? Do you think he—he still cares for her?'

‘Surely not!' Giles exclaimed. ‘Why she's creating a bad reputation for herself just lately, you know.'

‘No—I didn't know. How do you mean?'

‘Well, she appeared at the ball with Lord Selwyn, didn't she?'

‘Yes.'

‘Since then she's been seen at various events in the company of Viscount Porley, Lord Goreman, Lord Selwyn again,' he ticked off the occasions on his fingers, ‘and—believe it or not—with Lord Myron.'

‘Good gracious!'

‘And on none of those occasions was her husband present. I believe there have been others, too, from what I hear, but those are the only ones I know.'

‘I see,' Lavinia said, and thought that Lord Selwyn would probably not be engaged with Lord Thorwald in business but would merely be one of Lady Anthea's many escorts.

‘Do you think,' she asked in a small voice, ‘that Jonathan has heard this too and is hurt by it?'

‘Oh Vinny,' Giles took her hand in his and squeezed it, trying to comfort her for he knew how she must feel, loving Jonathan as he believed she still did. ‘I wish I knew but I dare not ask him.' He grinned ruefully. ‘For all my brashness, I'm a little afraid of my big brother.'

Lavinia smiled.

The steamship had altered almost beyond recognition since Lavinia had seen it. Where previously there had been a mere skeleton, now there was a ship nearing completion, her sleek lines curving gracefully. Eventually, Giles told Lavinia, the ship would have a funnel to proclaim with pride the fact that she was one of the still rather rare steamships, but her masts would show that she did not spurn the heritage of sail. She was merely a vessel trying to move forward into the future and yet at the same time acknowledging the debt she owed to the past.

Giles brought the landau to a halt and they walked the short distance to stand near the
Lavinia.

‘Isn't it big, Giles? I had no idea it was such a size.' Lavinia craned her neck to look up at the ship which towered above them. They stood some moments looking up at the ship before Lavinia said, ‘Isn't she beautiful?'

‘Just like her namesake,' a soft voice said behind them and they turned to see Jonathan.

Lavinia smiled at his compliment but she was shocked to see the sadness in his eyes. He had reverted from the gay partner he had been at the ball to his previous reserved and solemn manner. His face was a little thinner and the scar ugly. She had never seen him look so unhappy.

An overwhelming desire to comfort him made her forget her shyness of him and she moved to his side and put her hand through his arm. His eyes never left her face and she had the impression that he was trying to read in her eyes the answer to some question. She smiled gently at him, trying to tease him out of his present mood.

‘I've not seen you these past weeks. Have you deserted me entirely?'

Not even the ghost of his half-smile could be coaxed to his lips.

‘I thought you had plenty of eligible company and that you would not need me.' His deep voice was low.

She sighed and her mock show of petulance at his neglect of her held more truth than she hoped he would guess.

‘I see I am deserted in favour of a ship,' she moaned, but her eyes twinkled merrily at him.

‘But she is named after you,' he said, and gradually the gentle smile appeared—tentatively, as if unused for some time.

‘Huh, first time I've seen him smile in weeks,' Giles grunted. ‘Seems you can thaw an iceberg, Vinny.'

‘It seems she's thawed a good many icebergs from what I hear.'

‘What have you been hearing, Jonathan?'

‘Oh, that you have all the eligible bachelors at your feet.'

She laughed. ‘Nonsense.'

‘There's only one she …' Giles began and stopped, appalled at his stupidity. He turned and hurried away leaving Lavinia alone with Jonathan, her heart pounding for fear he should question her. So close to him, she doubted her ability to hide her feelings for him. But when she dared to glance at him, his eyes were not on her but were fixed straight ahead on his steamship. He began to speak about the arrangements for the launching, ignoring Giles' remark entirely.

Lavinia noticed, however, that the smile had disappeared from his face completely and his eyes took on a haunted, defeated expression. Whether or not this was caused by what he chose to read into Giles' remark, Lavinia could not guess. Instead, she tried to concentrate on what Jonathan was saying and take an interest in the steamship.

‘Have there been any more attempts at sabotage, Jonathan?'

‘No—thank goodness, though there have been rumours that another attempt might be made. The previous time caused a lot of excitement and speculation in the city. Of course, we're trying to take greater security precautions now, but I must admit that I am surprised our rivals have tried nothing more.'

Perhaps, thought Lavinia, Lady Anthea has been instrumental in what seemed to be a withdrawal of opposition. Perhaps, with her recent renewal of contact with Jonathan, Lady Anthea found she really did still have some affection for him and had therefore persuaded her husband to cease hostilities.

At that moment Giles rejoined them.

It's time I took you home, Vinny,' he said in a subdued voice and she saw the silent apology written in his eyes. She smiled at him and he, seeing this, looked somewhat relieved.