The Waltzing Widow by Gayle Buck

Author:Gayle Buck [Buck, Gayle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 0451167376
Publisher: Signet
Published: 1990-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

On Thursday, the fifteenth of June, everything appeared so perfectly quiet that the Duchess of Richmond gave a ball and supper to which all the world was invited. The ball took place in a large room on the ground floor, on the left of the entrance, connected with the rest of the house by an anteroom. The room itself was stunningly decorated and a blaze of candles.

"It is very beautiful,” Abigail said, admiringly to the daughter of the house, Lady Georgianna Lennox.

"You would never believe it now, but this room had been used by the coachbuilder, from whom the house was hired, to put carriages in; but it was papered before we came here. My sisters use the room as a schoolroom, and we play battledore and shuttlecock here on wet days,” Lady Georgianna said.

The usual plethora of royals gathered, and upon the entrance of King William, the Belgians gave such enthusiastic shouts of "Vive le roil" that the crystal chandeliers shook. When all royalty had been duly acknowledged and honored, the company turned to the business of the evening, which was to be both amused and amusing. The ladies flirted and the gentlemen were quite willing to accommodate them. The splash of bright uniforms formed a pleasing contrast to pale gowns and the more somber evening clothes that a minority of gentlemen had attired themselves in. That night no one gave a thought to what the uniforms represented. The merriment continued unabated as the company chose to forget that scarcely twenty-four hours before, Bonaparte had crossed the frontier.

It was not until near ten o'clock that rumors of an action between the French and Prussians were circulated through the room in whispers. Lady Cecily put her hand on her husband's sleeve. “Reginald!"

Major Wilson-Jones smiled down at her in a reassuring fashion. “We'll know soon enough, Cecy. But I'll wager it is but another false report.” He was not alone in his estimation, for no credit was given the rumors for some time.

Then an officer arrived from Marshal von Blucher and the dispatches he carried were delivered to the Duke of Wellington in the ballroom. While his grace read them, he seemed to be completely absorbed by their contents.

After he had finished, for some minutes he remained in the same attitude of deep reflection, totally abstracted from every surrounding object and totally unaware that he was the focus of all eyes. Virtual silence reigned in the ballroom, even the musicians having stopped playing. His grace's countenance was expressive of fixed and intense thought and he was heard to say to himself, “It is Marshal von Blucher's opinion ... “He remained thus a few minutes, and after having apparently formed his decision, he gave his usual clear and concise orders to one of his staff officers, who instantly left the room. The duke became again as gay and animated as ever, his loud horse laugh distinguishable above the heightened buzz of conversation that had resumed with the departure of the officer.

Lady Mary regarded the Duke of Wellington from the vantage point of a short distance.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.