TheReturnoftheEarl by The Return Of The Earl (2004)

Author:The Return Of The Earl (2004) [Earl, The Return Of The]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-02-05T18:38:30+00:00

“Many would pass this up,” the baronet went on, holding up a small brown-and-yellow vase, “but it’s worth more than the oil painting that hangs above it. Note the glaze. Very similar to the urn I showed you in the long gallery, remember?”

He looked at Julianne.

“Yes, it is, very,” she lied, because she didn’t remember the urn he was talking about.

It pleased him. He smiled, and carefully placed the vase back on the table. “Now, if we proceed to the blue drawing room that adjoins the Queen’s chamber, I think you’ll find the hangings there of interest.”

“But isn’t that a Van Dyck hanging above the vase?” Christian asked.

Sir Maurice paused. Christian stood next to Julianne, and it was she whom the baronet looked at as he answered.

“It is a Van Dyck,” the baronet said curtly, “but a very inferior one. The vase is some three hundred years older, and in this case, age is superior to youth. Especially if youth is imperfect and the article of antiquity is rare and fine.” He smiled at Julianne, and added, “Now, shall we go on to the Queen’s chamber?”

Julianne nodded. But she no longer knew what he was asking her to admire. It was, she thought as they followed in the baronet’s wake, like having to smell too many perfumes. She couldn’t tell the difference between them anymore. She didn’t think she was uneducated, but she felt like a savage dragged in from the wilderness to look at and praise Edgemont’s treasures. She’d seen so many riches, heard so many new terms used, been shown so many things like marble therms and pedimented doorcases and Venetian windows, that she was dizzy.

The names of kings’ famous plasterers and woodcarvers, esteemed architects and artists had been dropped as the baronet pointed out chimneypieces, ceilings, friezes, screens and moldings, columns and bas-reliefs. And those were only some of the major architectural features. Lectures about them had been interspersed with discussions about tinier treasures in every room. Julianne had gazed at important boxes, plates, mirrors, and urns, spoons, thimbles, and presentation cases, and more that she’d forgotten. She was numbed by the splendor and her own ignorance.

But each thing the baronet showed them was beautiful, or at least interesting the way he described it. He clearly loved many of them. That could be heard in the unusual warmth in his voice and the tender way he handled each item. And though Julianne knew she was unimportant in his scheme of things, Sir Maurice had been kind enough to take the time to see that she saw and understood each piece. The old gentleman looked forbidding, but he had impeccable manners. From the first he’d treated her with courtly grace.

True, the others’ reactions to his lectures weren’t encouraging, and so Julianne could understand the baronet ignoring them. Sophie was wide-eyed and mute, and, like her parents, seemed so staggered by the magnificence of the treasures and in awe of Sir Maurice that she didn’t say a word. Hammond looked fascinated, but didn’t seem to know what to ask.

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