When he moved off to procure it for her, she was approached by a woman in a turban. Of indeterminate age, she was dressed in chartreuse satin and was peering at Sophie through her quizzing glass.
“You look a sweet thing, my dear. I have it that you are fresh from the country. A word to the wise? Your escort is not all charm and good cheer. Do not be taken in by him.”
“I am sorry,” Sophie said, drawing herself up. “We have not been introduced.”
Lord Trowbridge returned and handed Sophie her drink before addressing the woman at her side. “Lady Polwarth, have you met my friend, Miss Edwards, then?”
“No, I am afraid I have not had the pleasure. I have just been warning her about you.”
Trowbridge laughed. “You still hold me in abhorrence then?”
“This young man,” Lady Polwarth said with stern emphasis, “told me it was not the done thing to bring my pug to a ball. Poor thing has been pining at home of an evening ever since.”
“I do not know what the done thing is, Lady Polwarth. However, it seems he was very ill-mannered to say such a thing to a lady of your standing.”
“I do like you, my dear. Such an angelic face.”
Trowbridge laughed again. “You have the right of it, Lady P. You will pardon us, I am certain. We cannot eat standing up and must find a place at the table.”
They joined an almost-full table of chattering guests. The din in the smaller room hammered in Sophie’s ears. Many of the company appeared to be drunken, and it was with displeasure that she saw Lady Manwaring seated across from her. Looking at the woman as surreptitiously as she could manage, she tried to determine her age.
She was older than she appeared, Sophie decided; that gamine look masked her age. She was casting fulminating glances at Lord Trowbridge, and to Sophie’s surprise, she felt what must have been the woman’s stockinged foot seeking Trowbridge’s beneath the table! Oh dear. Sophie feared she was going to giggle.
“So how does our trial friendship progress, my angel?” her escort asked, seemingly unaware of Lady Manwaring’s attentions.
Sophie thought for a moment. “One of the measures by which a man is judged is …” she could not say the rest: ‘is the company he keeps.’ She would sound a self-righteous prig. “It is far too early to tell, my lord. I know that you have exquisite, if not exaggerated, manners. I know that you are very good company. Also, greatly in your favor, is the fact that you do not seem to mind a bit that I am lame.”
She thought she saw a flush starting under his dark complexion but could not be certain. He turned to look at her, and his face wore the identical grave expression it had in the drawing room upon first seeing her walking toward him. “Do not reduce yourself to the level of your infirmity. It is, I assume, due to an accident. Your character, on the other hand, is the result of carefully trained will.”
She was so surprised by this comment, Sophie could not speak for a moment. “That statement is certainly worthy of a friend,” she said at last.
~~*
In the carriage on the way back to Buck and Fanny’s townhouse, Sophie decided to explain, something she scarcely ever did. “When I was four years of age, I had rheumatic fever. My bad knee joint dates from then. I am very lucky not to have taken more damage from the illness.”
“Your other joints are sound?” Trowbridge asked.
“Yes, fortunately. If my hands had been affected, I would not have been a violinist.”
“I am truly looking forward to tomorrow night.”
Sophie looked up into his handsome face, lit only partially by the moonlight. He was studying her. “I am, as well,” she said.
“Will you return from Lady Melissa’s to Buck’s before five o’clock?”
“I suppose I could. My time is my own, which is a delight in itself.”
“Five o’clock is the fashionable hour to be seen riding in Hyde Park. I should love to show you off, Angel.”
“I am not a horseback rider, I am afraid.”
“We will go in my sporting curricle.”
“That sounds perfect,” she responded, very aware of him sitting close to her. Was it too forward of her to wish that he would take one of her hands?
It must have been a bad wish, for the faeries left it unanswered.
~~*
Fanny was awake when Sophie came in, having just been up with the baby. Buck was very happy that the baby arrangements dictated that they would not be doing the balls this season. Since he had resigned his Captaincy, he found the amusements of the ton insipid. And Fanny disliked the restrictions society enforced upon women. The two of them preferred traveling abroad, and had only come home for Fanny’s confinement. When Alexa was old enough to bear the rigors of life at sea, they would resume their travels.
“How was your first ball?” her sister asked.