Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
Astartled shriek went up, and Evelyn grabbed hold of whomever she had knocked into, just in time to stop them from falling over.
She heard the slosh of liquid and the splatter as it hit the floor and prayed with all of her might that she had not just caused some powerful duchess or daughter of a duchess to spill a drink all over themselves.
“I am so sorry!” Evelyn gushed. “I did not see you there.”
She pulled the figure forward slightly, bringing them into the light.
A beautiful young woman, around the same age as Evelyn, stood before her in wild-eyed surprise.
Her dark hair was elegantly styled and studded with pearls, while pale blue eyes remained unblinking as the poor woman recovered from the shock.
“Oh, I am such a goose,” Evelyn lamented, as she searched the woman’s elegant gown for any sign of a stain.
Unfortunately, the dress was a bright white with gold embellishments, lovely against the woman’s complexion, but it would not hide any spillages whatsoever.
“Let me see you,” Evelyn urged, turning the woman around. “If I have stained your dress, you must let me make amends. I was in such a flap; I was not looking where I was going.”
Suddenly, the young woman began to laugh, and as she came back around to face Evelyn, she was smiling widely.
“This must be the strangest introduction I have ever had, and I do not even know your name yet. Why, I feel like one of those figures the modiste puts the dresses on, being spun in a circle.”
She had a wonderful laugh, high and sweet and musical.
“Well, if I were a modiste, I would be exceptionally grateful for it does not seem as if I have spilled anything on your very fine muslin,” Evelyn said, exhaling a relieved breath.
The woman chuckled and brandished her glass. “I did not have much left, and I do believe I managed to get all of it to fall to the floor. So be careful where you tread; I should hate for either of us to slip. Then again, at least I know that you would catch me. You are exceedingly strong, Miss…?”
“Oh… um… Evelyn. Lady Evelyn Bartlett.”
The woman put out her free hand. “Lady Octavia St. Vincent, but let us dispense with the formalities, now that we have embraced.”
Evelyn finally allowed herself to laugh as she took Octavia’s hand and shook it. “I really am sorry.”
“You are entirely forgiven,” Octavia said, smiling. “It was my own fault for lurking in the doorway, but I am trying to avoid my brother.”
“What a coincidence, for I am also trying to avoid mine,” Evelyn half-lied. Escaping Hugo was her main priority, but escaping Luke too was an added benefit.
Octavia raised an eyebrow, apparently pleased by the declaration. “What is your crime? Mine is pollen. I have a terrible aversion to it in the summer, but I so hate to be cooped up indoors. And why attend a garden party if you are not going to wander in the gardens?”
“That is exactly what I just said to my brother!” Evelyn said, laughing.
“Although I was apparently not supposed to be enjoying the view. Instead, I was supposed to be inside where everyone else is. I said to him that surely everyone should be outside. I mean, the weather is fine, it is not raining, and there is even a dance floor out here.”
“I adore my brother, but I often wonder if these events would be more fun if there were only women present,” Octavia said with a grin. “We could all do as we pleased without worrying about a scolding.”
Evelyn sighed. “Goodness, that sounds like a wondrous thing. Of course, I understand that these occasions are intended for the pursuit of a husband, but could we not just have one or two a Season where it is just ladies enjoying themselves? We could all dance with one another. I think it would be the highlight of the Season, in truth.”
“Ah, well, perhaps that is why they will not permit us,” Octavia said. “They do not want us ladies to realize that we would have a far better time without the gentlemen present.”
“An excellent point.” Evelyn nodded. “I do believe you have solved the mystery.”
Octavia smiled. “I do not think I have seen you before, Evelyn. Are you recently debuted?”
“Heavens, no,” Evelyn blurted out with a snort. “I have been out in society for three years.”
“Five for me,” Octavia said, leaning in, giving the conversation a conspiratorial air.
“Five?” Evelyn could not conceal her shock, for the young woman was absolutely beautiful, and appeared to have the wit and charm to go with it.
If this lady could not catch herself a husband, how on earth was Evelyn supposed to?
Octavia nodded. “I was too zealous in my debut Season, and I am mostly settled upon the idea of spinsterhood now. But that does not mean that I cannot enjoy a garden party.”
Evelyn resisted the urge to ask the young woman what had happened in her debut Season to put her off the notion of marriage, for they had only just met; it was not her place to be nosey.
Yet, she could not recall seeing the name Octavia in any of the scandal sheets across recent years, though she would have to sift through her collection to be completely sure.
If it was not a known incident that had hindered Octavia’s chances, then it stood to reason that it was probably a more private matter.
“I was just about to fetch refreshments,” Evelyn said, keen to get to know this pleasant woman more. “I do not suppose you would care to join me, so I can at least make up for what was knocked out of your glass?”
Octavia beamed. “I should like that very much.”
Together, side-by-side, the two women ventured into the cool of the manor. Evelyn might not have had much luck with gentlemen, but perhaps she was getting better at making friends.
“Do you know Lord and Lady Throckley well?” Hugo asked, as he stepped forward to press his palm to Selina’s.
“Not so well, no,” Selina replied, her gaze distracted, searching the crowd.
“Are you looking for someone?”
Selina glanced back at him as they turned in a slow circle. “Evie. I said that I would help her today, so I do not like that she has wandered off alone.”
“Help her? In what regard?” Hugo said, surprised to find that he was genuinely curious.
Indeed, perhaps he could offer some assistance, as he had done in Hyde Park. True, all he had done was nudge a toad off Evelyn’s shoe, but he liked to think he was capable in many regards.
“I cannot share that,” Selina replied with an apologetic smile.
Hugo could respect that. It was proper for there to be loyalty and privacy between friends. Why, there were things that he had seen and heard among his peers and friends that he would never breathe a word about to anyone, even under duress.
That is one thing we have in common.
“Have you walked in the gardens yet?” he said as they turned a circle in the opposite direction.
Selina shook her head. “I have not, though I am eager to. It will be nice to pretend that I am in the country.”
“You really must relish the outdoors, Miss Parsons.” He remembered Evelyn mentioning her friend’s penchant for it.
“Oh, I do,” Selina replied with a fond smile. “If it were not for the weather and other engagements, I would never be indoors.”
“Do you like to take long walks, then, when you are in the country?” It was not his best flirtation, but he was beginning to think that was not as important as finding out what else they might have in common.
Selina’s face brightened. “Very much so. There is a hill near my father’s manor, and I climb it almost every day when we are there.
I adore the forests and the fields, especially when the wildflowers are in bloom.
Indeed, I am quite the wild creature when I am at our family’s country seat.
Sometimes, I can be gone all day, quite content in my own company. ”
“On occasion, there is no company quite as good,” he agreed.
He had never given much serious thought to actually finding a bride, despite his mother’s constant harassment on the subject, but as he looked at Selina, he realized that she was probably exactly what a man should look for in a wife.
She was beautiful, they had enough things in common, she knew how to conduct herself, and though she was a little distant, he could sense that she was not dull.
There was a lively enough spirit within her, yet not so lively that she would cause any trouble for him.
And if she favors her own company, then she would not mind us mostly living our own lives.
“Evelyn, on the other hand, she is a fiend when it comes to the city,” Selina said, unprompted.
“There is no one who relishes the art of architecture as much as my dear friend, and there is nothing she does not know about it either. When we walk together, I will often point at things, and she will tell me every detail of who built it, who designed it, what stone something is made from, what style. Then again, she is generally a fount of knowledge. You would be hard pressed to find something she does not know a great deal about.”
“Lady Evelyn?” Hugo frowned.
Selina nodded. “She is a spectacular shot, too. One year, we were in the country together, and a couple of my father’s friends were challenging each other.
I insisted on Evie joining them… and she won!
They did not speak to her for the rest of the week that they were there; they were so dismayed by their loss. ”
He almost missed his next step, he was so astonished by what he had just heard. It did not sound like the Evelyn he had met at all. Yes, he had glimpsed a fiery streak within her, but the rest of the time, she was very prim and proper, quite withdrawn and quiet.
The more he thought about it, however, the more he could imagine her triumphing in a shooting competition, surprising everyone with her skill.
They would not have seen her talent coming if they thought there was nothing more to her than the restrained, docile character she seemed to portray with everyone but him.
“Where did she learn such a skill?” he had to ask, his curiosity piqued.
Selina seemed to relax, clearly more comfortable talking about her friend than talking about herself.
“That is just it; I do not know. She claims that her brothers did not teach her and her father did not teach her, so she must have taught herself. She does that a lot, too. A constant scholar. If she had her way, she would never be without a book in hand.”
“Yes, but one cannot teach oneself to shoot from a book,” Hugo pointed out, fascinated by the increasing mystery of Evelyn.
“But one can teach oneself with a rifle, as long as one is far enough away from anyone who might take issue with it,” Selina said, a knowing glimmer in her eyes.
Hugo was even less able to imagine Evelyn as a breaker of rules, a renegade who had taught herself how to shoot and shoot well.
“I think it is fair to say,” Selina continued, “that everything Evelyn knows, she has taught herself. I know that she rides reasonably well, she plays excellent pianoforte, and there is almost nothing she cannot fix. She is exceptional, though I fear she does not see it.”
As Selina continued to wax poetic about Evelyn, Hugo found that his attention was beginning to wander, his gaze flitting toward the observers, trying to spot Evelyn in the crowd.
Almost as if he needed to set eyes on her to make everything Selina had said true, to see her exceptional nature for himself, in case he had missed it before.
Unless Miss Parsons is toying with me?
He eyed her uncertainly, but Selina did not seem to be making things up. Indeed, she was still going, regaling him with a story of a carriage that had broken a wheel, and how Evelyn had come to the rescue with some hairpins and several sturdy ribbons.
Just then, he saw her. Evelyn.
She was standing close to the garden entrance with a pink-colored ice in her hand, and she was not alone in her refreshing indulgence. Rather, she seemed to be deep in conversation, laughing and smiling with a very familiar figure indeed.
All of a sudden, he could not wait for the dance to be over.