The American Earl (16 page)

It was the trot I had seen at Tattersall’s, very long, very forward.

I can’t believe this horse wasn’t being sold as a hunter, I thought.  They probably thought he was too small. I wish I could put him over some fences.

I didn’t want to stop, but Evan was waiting patiently for me in front of the stable. When I pulled up in front of him, he was smiling. “You look grand together,” he said.

“He’s wonderful!” I beamed back at him. “How can I ever thank you for buying me this magnificent horse?”

“You can thank me by trying to enjoy your social acquaintances with a little bit of the enthusiasm you show for your horse,” he answered dryly.

“I am going to be so good, Evan,” I said earnestly. “I will be nice to everyone. I promise.” I patted Ty on his neck. “Now, will you come with me to the park?”

He laughed. “I suppose so.” He turned to Sammy, who had been watching me as well. “Can you saddle up Baron for me?”

“Good. I’ll go get changed.”

Chapter Twenty-one

Julia and Evan’s ride to the park was a little more exciting than Evan had hoped. The rumble of the traffic and the noise of people hawking their wares spooked Ty. He snorted, rolled his eyes and gave an occasional buck, but Julia managed to keep him going forward. The bridle path was nearly empty this early in the afternoon and a good hard gallop helped Ty to get rid of his excess energy. Evan was relieved to see he behaved better on the way home.

The expression on Julia’s face as she rode the beautiful chestnut tugged at Evan’s heart. She rode like an angel and he didn’t regret for a moment the two hundred pounds he had paid for Ty. She deserved the best.

When they arrived back at their home stable Julia remained to oversee Ty’s grooming and Evan returned to the house to change his clothes.  He had left his bedroom and was walking down the hall when he saw a strange young lady standing in the vestibule.  A worn-looking portmanteau rested at her feet. 

“Hello,” he said.  “I’m …” he hesitated.  It always sounded ridiculous to him when he called himself a lord.  “I’m Lord Althorpe,” he admitted at last.

“How do you do, my lord,” the woman replied in a soft, well-bred voice. “I am Emma Dixon, the new governess.”

“Ah,” Evan said. He regarded the tall, auburn-haired young lady. “I am very pleased to meet you, Miss Dixon. We have been anxious for Maria to continue her education, and to have a comfortable companion as well.”

The new governess smiled. She was a very pretty girl, he thought. She had large, gentle-looking brown eyes, rather like a doe’s, and soft brown hair worn in a simple bun on her neck. He estimated her to be in her middle twenties.

“I am happy that Maria chose me,” she said. “I liked her very much the one time we met.”

Lady Barbara came sailing down the stairs, followed by the housekeeper. “Miss Dixon, you have arrived. Splendid. Mrs. Sales, our housekeeper, will show you to your room. I will tell Maria you are here and she can show you around the schoolroom.”

“Thank you, Lady Barbara,” Miss Dixon replied.

“Come along with me, Miss,” Mrs. Sales said. “Peter here will carry up your bag.”

The footman picked up the bag and followed the two women toward the stairs.

Evan said to his aunt, “She seems a very pleasant young woman.”

“A little too young, I think,” Lady Barbara said. “She was my last choice, but Maria liked her. Evidently Miss Dixon is very musical.”

“Then she will be perfect for Maria. By the way, have you engaged a music teacher for her yet?”

“I am pursuing that,” Lady Barbara said. “I have not precisely had a great deal of free time.”

Evan responded to the rebuke by saying, “Would you like me to do it?”

Lady Barbara smiled. “My dear Evan, you wouldn’t have the least notion of how to go about it.”

This was indubitably true, but he wanted Maria to have a music teacher right away and his aunt seemed to be dragging her feet. “Are there agencies for music teachers the way there are agencies for governesses?”

“I have heard Maria play. An ordinary music teacher will not do for her. I will find someone, Evan. I have told a number of my friends I am looking and I am sure something will come up.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” he replied, a little chastened.  She was doing more than he had given her credit for. 

She looked him up and down. “You look very well in your new clothes, Evan. A perfect gentleman.”

His new clothes were certainly tighter and less comfortable than his old ones, but he was pleased to have his aunt’s infrequent approval. After all, he would not have to wear them forever. Once he set sail for America, he could toss the whole extravagant, uncomfortable wardrobe over the side of the ship. In fact, he looked forward to doing so.

“Where are the girls?” he asked.

“In the library. If you are going there, Evan, will you please tell Maria to go upstairs to welcome Miss Dixon?”

“Certainly.” When he reached the library he found Lizzie and Maria comfortably disposed with books in their hands. He gave Maria her message and she jumped up and went out the door just as Julia was coming in.

Julia said as she advanced into the room.  “The new governess is here?  Just in time.  We have to go to Almack’s tomorrow night.  Now Maria will have someone to keep her company.”

“She seemed like a very nice young woman,” Evan said as he looked at Lizzie’s book.  “What are you reading, Lizzie?”

“Lord Byron’s new poem.”

Julia groaned. “Again? I read that awful thing last night, Lizzie. How can you bear to waste your time on such nonsense?”

Lizzie said, “Julia, stop complaining about Lord Byron! 
Everyone
loves him. Perhaps he does … exaggerate … a little, but that’s part of the fun.”

Julia plucked the book from her hand and closed it firmly.  “It isn’t fun.  It’s terrible poetry.  One or two of his lyrics are all right, I suppose, but this
Corsair
thing is dreadful.”

Lizzie snatched her book back. “You had better go and change your clothes. Mama doesn’t approve of riding clothes in the house.”

“I just wanted to get some paper so I can write Sir John a letter about my new horse,” Julia said with dignity.

Lizzie warned, “We’re going to Almack’s tonight, Julia, and I recommend you don’t share your opinion of Lord Byron’s talent.  It won’t make you popular.”

Julia snorted.

Evan smothered a smile and said, “I confess, I’m not looking forward to Almack’s. My aunt has made it sound so … so…”

“Boring,” Julia said.

Evan grinned. “Well… yes.”

“You are the two most anti-social beings I have ever met,” Lizzie said. “What is wrong with going to a dance and meeting new people?”

Evan and Julia looked at each other. Julia was the one to answer first. “I’m going to try, Lizzie, but I really don’t know what

I’m supposed to talk about with a bunch of strangers.”

“Talk about horses,” Evan advised. “You can go on forever with that topic.”

“And what are
you
going to talk about?” Julia retorted. “You can’t offend everyone by regaling them with your very unflattering opinion of England and the English.”

Evan sighed.  “I know.”

What he didn’t say was that the American Minister’s secretary, John Wood, had begged him to do his best to charm the English nobles he would be meeting. The Minister himself, John Quincy Adams, though brilliant, had a talent for infuriating people that was unequaled in the diplomatic world. He was rarely invited to social events and Evan could be a useful ambassador for the United States.

Lizzie stood up. “I think we should go and meet Maria’s new governess, Julia. It would be polite.”

“All right.” Julia looked at Evan. “Did you get her name?”

“Emma Dixon.”

Lizzie said, “Too bad Maria won’t be dining with us anymore. I’ll miss her.”

Evan frowned. “Why should Maria no longer dine with us?”

“In England schoolroom girls always dine with their governess,” Lizzie explained. “Maria has been dining with us because my mother didn’t want her to be alone. But that will change now that she has Miss Dixon.”

Evan felt Julia look at him. He shot her a quick glance then said to Lizzie, “Maria will continue to dine with her family and Miss Dixon will join us as well. She is an educated young woman and will be an asset to our company.”

“Mama won’t like it,” Lizzie warned.

“I am quite sure she will see my point,” Evan replied calmly.

“Of course she will,” Julia said.  “After all, it
is
Evan’s house, Lizzie.”

A gleeful light sparkled in Lizzie’s celestial blue eyes, but she didn’t reply.

Chapter Twenty-two

The carriage pulled up in front of Almack’s and Lizzie and I stared in amazement.  The building was positively shabby.

“
This
is Almack’s?” Lizzie said to her mother.

“What makes it so exclusive, Elizabeth, is not what is outside, but
who
is inside,” Aunt Barbara replied. 

One of Aunt Barbara’s footmen jumped down from the driver’s seat and opened the carriage door for us. Aunt Barbara went first, then Lizzie, then me. Evan came last. He had been sitting next to me in the carriage because, as my aunt said, he was the biggest and I was the smallest.

I had been conscious of him every second of the drive. How big he was. How my shoulder would bump against his arm when the carriage made a turn. Even without looking at him, I could tell when he smiled. I heard it in his voice.

I had a dreadful suspicion I wasn’t feeling this way because he reminded me of the first earl. 

“Well,
we
certainly look elegant even if our destination does not,” Lizzie said, smoothing down her skirt.

This was true.  I had been surprised at how different I looked when Lizzie’s maid finished with me.  My new gown fell gracefully to the top of my soft leather shoes.  The scooped neck was a little disconcerting – I had never shown so much flesh in my life - but I thought the long line of the skirt made me look taller.  The dress itself had a thin white layer of some gauzy material draped over a pale green underskirt.  There was a pale green ribbon tied under my breasts, which were already more noticeable because of the scoop neck.   I wore long gloves and a pearl necklace Evan had surprised me with before we left the house.

I looked like a real lady, like a daughter my mother might have been proud of. 

Lizzie, of course, looked gorgeous. Her dress was similar to mine only the underskirt was blue, to pick up the blue of her eyes. She grabbed my hand once, quickly, as we walked toward the door, and I grinned at her.

Evan was wearing the correct evening dress for Almack’s, knee breeches and a long black coat with tails, and when he followed us to Almack’s front door the street lamp threw its light on his neatly brushed hair, making it look as silvery as the moon itself.

A footman opened the door to this revered temple of matchmaking and we passed into a paneled vestibule, presented our vouchers to Mr. Willis, the host, purchased our tickets, and ascended the stairs to the ballroom.

The dancing had not yet started and as we stood in the door I saw how people turned to look at us. 
I am going to hate this
,
I thought, but I stuck my chin in the air, took a deep breath and prepared to endure.

Evan bent and said in my ear, “The stable at Stoverton is nicer than this.”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed. He was right. The empty floor was scuffed and warped looking, in total contrast to all the well-dressed people who stood around it waiting for the music to begin. The walls needed a coat of paint badly.

“Come,” Lady Barbara commanded, and we trooped after her to stand before a triumvirate of women, who sat like queens in gilt chairs on the edge of the dance floor.  I recognized Lady Sefton, the patroness who had given us our vouchers.

Lady Sefton greeted us with a sweet, friendly smile and introduced Lizzie, Evan and me to the other patronesses enthroned beside her.  Lady Jersey gave me a hard stare and said, “So you are Helen Althorpe’s daughter.  It is nice to meet you, Julia.”

I bobbed my head. “Thank you, my lady.”

Mrs. Drummond Burrell, looking as if she was smelling something particularly noxious and ignored me, saying to Evan, “One can see right away that you are a Marshall, my lord.”

All three ladies had something flattering to say to Aunt Barbara about Lizzie’s beauty. One of the things I liked about Lizzie is that she didn’t like comments about her looks.  Her serene expression never changed as Lady Barbara accepted the compliments.

The orchestra began to tune up, signifying the imminence of the first dance.  “We always begin with a minuet,” Lady Sefton said, addressing herself to Lizzie and me.  “We are permitting the waltz this year, but a young girl must gain our permission before she is allowed to dance it.”

These ladies must be desperate for power, I thought. How sad they had to settle for making stupid rules about a dance.

Evan asked politely, “And how does a young girl get your permission to dance the waltz?

The three ladies looked at him with pleasure in their eyes.  A quick glance around had told me that he was quite the most splendid looking man in the room.

“Her partner must ask us,” Lady Sefton said.

“Every time she wants to waltz?”

Mrs. Drummond Burrell actually smiled at him. “Once she has our permission, she may waltz when she chooses.”

“Well, then, we might as well get it over with,” Evan replied. “May my cousins dance the waltz with me?”

Lady Jersey laughed. “I can see you are a man who likes to get right to the point, Lord Althorpe.  Yes, your cousins may dance the waltz.  But, remember, they must dance their first waltz with
you
.”

Evan grinned at her. “That will be no hardship for me, ma’am. I don’t know any of the other young ladies who are here.”