The Officer and the Proper Lady by Louise Allen

Author:Louise Allen
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2010-10-31T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

‘I was quite expecting to receive a note from you to say that you were about to leave the city,’ Lady Geraldine remarked as her footman closed the carriage door at ten o’clock. ‘Did you hear the gunfire to the south?’

‘I think so—it was very distant. Perhaps it was thunder. Mama has arranged with the baron for him to call at eight tomorrow morning,’ Julia said, care fully smoothing down the fine tissue of her skirts. The new gown—semi-transparent white silk over jonquil yellow with a draped bodice of white lace—felt too fragile to move in. ‘Will you leave the city, ma’am?’

‘We will go to friends who have a chateau some ten miles to the north,’ Lady Geraldine said. ‘I expect we will leave a little later than you. My husband has the grooms with shotguns guarding the horses against looters. I do hope the baron is taking similar precautions.’

It was a short drive down the hill to the large house the Richmonds had taken. ‘It used to be a carriage builder’s establishment,’ Lady Geraldine observed acidly. ‘No doubt we will be ac com mo dated in some barn.’

The barn turned out to be the former carriage showroom which seemed, to Julia’s curious eyes, quite well disguised with hangings and a podium for the band. When they finally managed to reach the doors, after a long queue in the street and an even longer one in the receiving line, the noise from within was considerable but, as they moved through the doors, Julia thought she heard the sound of bugles and drums from outside.

‘They are sounding the assembly,’ a civilian guest remarked, and Julia strained her ears until the noise of over two hundred people and an orchestra over whelmed any other sound.

She supposed it was really no different from any other ball that had take place in Brussels over the past month. But the atmosphere was utterly changed, as though everyone was waiting for some momentous announcement, yet were united in a great conspiracy to pretend that they were doing nothing of the kind.

There was no sign of Hal. Had she seen the last of him before the battle? Or ever? Julia closed her eyes against a moment of panic, then opened them to find one of the aides de camp, whose name had completely gone from her head, offering his hand for the next dance.

So she danced and chatted and smiled until her feet, her head and her lips ached and re hearsed over and over what she as going to do tomorrow.

The band ended the waltz they were playing and put down their instruments. The duchess stepped onto the podium and clapped her hands. ‘The Gordon Highlanders!’ she announced to a flurry of applause. It was drowned out in the skirl of sound as a tall pipe-major marched into the hall with four kilted sergeants magnificent behind him.

Julia had never heard pipe music before. Slightly stunned by the effect in a crowded room, she began to make her way back through the crowd towards the chaperones’ corner.

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