Death and the Black Pyramid by Deryn Lake

Author:Deryn Lake [Lake, Deryn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
Tags: Mystery
Publisher: Severn House
Published: 2009-07-01T04:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

It was the night of Lady Sidmouth’s ball. Outside the house and along the drive she had had flaming torches placed so that the entire area had taken on a mystic quality. As John alighted from the coach he heard far below him the seductive song of the sea and imagined mermaids chorusing as they rested on the rocks beneath, combing their long, flowing hair.

Elizabeth had dressed very beautifully in a deep lilac over-robe on top of a petticoat of white lace, which had bands of lilac crossing it at intervals. Down the sides of the gown she wore ruches of pleated silk interspersed with tiny imitation violets. At her throat she had a choker of ribbon and this, too, was decorated with little violets. Her neckline was square and low, her breasts rising above it in the most delightful way, while on her head she wore a high white wig built up over a frame. In this ensemble her pregnancy did not show and John thought her one of the loveliest creatures he had ever cast his eyes on.

He, too, had taken a great deal of trouble with his appearance, wearing the suit of crimson satin covered with silver butterflies made for him by the tailor in Exeter. His waistcoat, cut quite short, was of silver, fitting him snugly over the waist, which still remained slim despite the passing years. Over this his dramatic coat had a high stand collar and this, together with a new wig dressed away from the face with long sidecurls, made the Apothecary look interesting and handsome, something that he felt he did not always achieve.

They paused a moment as they descended from the coach. It was a calm night and although it was dark – or perhaps because of it – the house looked beautiful and fairy-like, set in its own parkland, with terraces sweeping down to gardens which, in their turn, swept to lawns which went down to the sea. The moon was out, casting a silvery light over the whole surroundings. The scent of the very last flowers of the season could be vaguely sniffed upon the air and John paused a moment, imagining this place in high summer, when the overwhelming perfume of the grounds met the high salt smell of the ocean and bathed one in an atmosphere soothing yet stimulating.

Inside, the house was decorated superbly. Lady Sidmouth, in her eccentric way, had ordered the gardeners to bring in garlands of greenery which hung between the pillars in the entrance hall. Indeed she had decorated the house almost as if she were preparing for a pagan festival. John, looking at Milady, garbed from head to toe in a violent shade of pink, a great wavering headdress of purple plumes upon her heavily wigged head, thought her more than capable of it. She stood in a receiving line of people, on one side of her the fat little boy whom John now knew to be the son of the Earl of Sidmouth, on the other his aunt, the sixteen-year-old Felicity Sidmouth.

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