A Dangerous Deception by Maggi Andersen

Author:Maggi Andersen
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Knox Robinson Publishing
Published: 2016-10-22T18:00:00+00:00

The week proved busy with trips to the mantua maker and the modiste for further fittings, in between sojourns to the museum and the Tower with her aunt. She saw little of Guy, who came to take tea with them on one occasion. He was busy searching for a suitable London abode.

The modiste triumphed, producing the gown by Friday afternoon. Horatia loved the luxurious cream silk, lavishly decorated with silk gauze and floral work. Aunt Emily’s maid, Sarah, did wonders with Horatia’s hair, confining her curls with a stylish bandeau. Horatia wore white satin slippers, white French kid gloves and the pearl necklace and earrings which had belonged to her mother. She carried her aunt’s ivory fan and a white silk reticule decorated with silver spangles and tassels. Never having been dressed in the first stare of fashion, she quite looked forward to Guy’s reaction.

She heard him arrive and waited. He walked into the room and stopped, his gaze like a physical touch, and her heart jolted. “You look beautiful, Horatia.” He kissed her trembling hand and turned to compliment her aunt, before whisking her away.

Horatia studied him in the dim glow of the carriage lamps. How handsome he looked in his dark evening clothes, his crisp cravat white against his brown throat. “We’ve hardly seen you this week. Did you find a house?” Was he ever going to discuss her suggestion of an affair? He appeared to be distancing himself from her.

“No. I’ve been too busy organizing new staff for the Hall.” He leaned back against the corner of the seat.

The carriage pulled up outside a townhouse in Curzon Street. Well-dressed occupants climbed the stairs and disappeared inside.

The house was simply furnished. Eustace, elegant and brighter than usual, took them round and introduced them to the couples chatting in the drawing room. His guests were exemplary; Horatia met the Earl of Liverpool, England’s prime minister and his countess, plus a famous actress and a foreign prince who clicked his heels and bowed over her hand.

An enthralling conversation took place during the lavish and delicately flavored courses. Liverpool spoke emotionally about the state of the country, the depression, and political uncertainty, social discontent and unrest and the difficulty of reform, while the dishes were brought and covers removed. Mouthwatering aromas blended with the scent of hyacinths in a silver bowl and the ladies’ fragrant perfume.

While a footman poured gravy onto her veal olives, Horatia listened to a discussion on the social movement called the Luddites, who were opposed to progress. Its members had already destroyed or damaged machinery in the industrial northwest of England.

When the conversation turned to the unsuccessful march of the Blanketeers, Horatia asked the man beside her for more details.

Mr. Randall, who was in publishing and harked from Fleet Street, explained in an undertone how four hundred spinners and weavers marched from Manchester to London to hand the government a petition. They were named thus, because they carried their blankets with them. Most were turned back or arrested by the magistrates and yeomanry before they reached Derbyshire.

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