Bertrice Small - The Duchess

Allegra didn't know where to look next. The ballroom was utterly magnificent. It seemed hardly possible that a house of this size could contain such a large chamber. The woodwork was all gold and white rococo. The chandeliers were sparkling crystal with gold fittings. The beeswax tapers burning in them were scented with honeysuckle. At one end of the room was an ornate gold baroque balcony thrusting out from the wall. Musicians, garbed in dark blue velvet knee breeches and matching coats, were seated on the balcony playing. The walls were covered in pale blue silk brocade and paneled with mirrors. Before each mirror was a gilded pedestal upon which rested a large blue Wedgwood urn filled with multicolored flowers. The floors were of polished wood. About the room were rose velvet settees and small gold chairs with sky blue velvet seats. Looking up, Allegra saw the ceiling of the ballroom was filled with gamboling cherubs.

Lady Abbott led her daughter and her niece to a settee, and sat down. "Now," she said softly, "we await the bees to come to the flowers displayed so prettily before them."

"Where did Papa and Charles go?" Allegra asked.

"To drink or play at cards with other like-minded gentlemen," Lady Abbott replied. "Balls are for you young people." She smiled.

About them the other mothers and guardians viewed with discreet side glances the two young women who were said to be the season's greatest beauties, even though neither had been seen until tonight.

"Well, what do you think?" Viscount Pickford asked the Duke of Sedgwick.

"Which one is she? I was not looking when they were announced," the duke replied. "The fragile little blonde?"

"No, the brunette with the pale skin, and the arrogant tilt to her head. God, she really is a great beauty, Quint! She'll wear the family jewels with elegance," the viscount finished.

Quinton Hunter laughed. "We have not yet met. I may need a rich wife, Ocky, but we must suit."

"Come on!" the viscount said enthusiastically. "The dowager and my mother were friends in their youth. I can use that as an entree. You get the heiress, but I want to be introduced to that delicious thing who is the dowager's youngest daughter."

"You haven't stopped gathering gossip since we got to London," the duke teased his friend as they walked around the crowded ballroom.

"Good evening, Lady Abbott," Octavian Baird said. "I am Viscount Pickford. I believe you knew my mother, Laura Beauley, when you were girls together in Hereford." He bowed politely.

"Of course," Lady Abbott gushed. "May I introduce my niece, Miss Allegra Morgan. Allegra, this is Viscount Pickford. And of course, my daughter, Lady Sirena."

"And may I introduce my friend, Quinton Hunter, the Duke of Sedgwick," the viscount continued. Then he turned to Sirena. "Have you room on your dance card for me, Lady Sirena?"

Sirena blushed, and perused her card, which until now was empty. "I believe I have the third dance open, sir," she said, quickly writing his name down. Thank you for asking."

"No," he quickly responded, "Thank you."

"Sedgwick," Lady Abbott said thoughtfully. "Your father was Charles Hunter, wasn't he? And your mother Vanessa Tarleton?"

"Yes, Lady Abbott," the duke answered.

"Your mother and I were distant cousins. We shared a great-grandparent, although I don't know which one," she told him.

"Indeed, madame," he replied. Then he turned to Allegra. "Would you have a dance available for me, Miss Morgan?"

"Alas, Your Grace," she quickly replied, "but my card is full tonight. If we meet again during the season, I shall promise you the last dance on my card." She gave him a faint smile.

He bowed, and without another word walked away with Viscount Pickford.

"Are you mad?" her aunt demanded. "No one at all has asked you to dance yet. He is a duke! At least Sirena pretended that while she was engaged, she could still fit Viscount Pickford onto her card."

"I did not like the way he looked at me, Aunt. As if I were a horse and he were judging my points," Allegra said.

"Perhaps he is shortsighted," her aunt replied. "I can only hope you haven't insulted him so badly that he will not dance with you next time. You are just suffering from nerves, m'dear."

Across the ballroom the Duke of Sedgwick watched Allegra and her aunt in their spirited conversation, a sardonic smile upon his face. "She had not yet accepted a single dance," he said to his friend, Viscount Pickford.

"But she said her card was full," Ocky replied.

"She lied," the duke answered him. "Her open card was in full view." Nonetheless he was amused more than insulted. This beautiful girl with her fabulous wealth and unimportant background had sent him away. She would, of course, pay for insulting him; and she would be aware she was being punished. He murmured something to Ocky.

The viscount chuckled. "Do you really want to do that, Quint?"

"Miss Allegra Morgan and I must understand each other right from the beginning, Ocky," the Duke of Sedgwick responded.

Allegra sat next to her aunt, waiting to be asked to dance. Sirena's card was shortly filled, but still no one had asked Allegra by the time the dancing had begun. She sat like stone in her beautiful gown as the other young women about her danced the night away. She refused to move when her aunt suggested they go into the banqueting room to visit the buffet. 'You may go if you wish," she said, her head held high despite her embarrassment.

"I don't understand it," moaned Lady Abbott helplessly.

"Why is Allegra not dancing?" demanded Lady Bellingham of Lady Abbott, once the situation had been brought to her attention.

"Someone started the rumor that her card was full," Sirena said as her current partner brought her back to her seat.

"When I find out the mother who did this," Lady Bellingham said furiously, "I will ruin her! 'Tis cruel! Cruel beyond imagining!"

The musicians on the balcony began tuning up their instruments for the minuet, the last dance of the evening. Suddenly the Duke of Sedgwick was standing before Allegra. He bowed politely, his face a mask of civility.

"I believe, Miss Morgan, that this is our dance," he said.

Allegra's eyes widened but she could not under the circumstances refuse him. She arose stiffly, and gave him her hand. Her silence was very eloquent.

"Hasn't a crumb to his name, thanks to his father, and grandfather," Lady Bellingham said as the couple disappeared onto the dance floor. "The estate is completely intact, I am told, but the house is in bad repair. Still," her gray eyes narrowed thoughtfully, "I suspect if Allegra wanted to be a duchess, she could have him. What a coup for you all, Olympia! We must look into the possibilities."

"He is said to be very proud of his bloodline, Clarice. Allegra can't match him there," Lady Abbott replied.

"But he is as poor as a church mouse, Olympia. His blue blood will dry up, and his line be gone if he doesn't find a rich wife. There isn't another girl here this season whose fortune can even come near to Allegra's. Her wealth can buy her a duke."

"She doesn't like him," Lady Abbott said. "She said he looked her over as if she were a horse he was contemplating buying."

Lady Bellingham laughed heartily. "I am sure he did, but then he has rescued her from oblivion by dancing the last dance with her, Olympia. She will be grateful for that."

"I think it is he who started the rumor her dance card was full," Lady Abbott told her friend. "He asked her to dance before, and she claimed her card was full when in reality no one had asked her yet. I think he played a jest on her to teach her a lesson."

"Why the devil!" Lady Bellingham chuckled. "I shall have to talk to him about playing such wicked tricks."