Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Iris and Lenora strolled down Milsom Street, stopping now and then to peer into the shop windows. Lenora’s brother, August, accompanied them. The day was freezing cold, with a brisk, wet wind whipping around the buildings and tugging their skirts.

“I wish Father would give me my allowance,” Lenora said. “If I had it, I would treat us to a cup of tea. I wouldn’t have much over that, but at least we could get out of the wind and warm our hands.”

Iris had both her hands stuffed into a fluffy, crocheted muff liberally adorned with yarn flowers. Her head was muffled in a matching hat and voluminous scarf. “You need a hat and warmer gear than those kid gloves,” she told Lenora. “A day like this is not one to show off your silks. You need some good, stout woollens.”

Lenora laughed. “I would be glad to wear them if I had any.”

Iris looked at her with surprise. “I thought you had a sizeable winter wardrobe.”

“Had is the applicable term,” Lenora said. “I wanted this fashionable hat from a haberdashery in France. I sold most of my winter woollies to a rag shop so I could purchase it.”

Iris looked at the confection of silk, lace, and ostrich plumes perched on top of Lenora’s tower of up-dressed hair. Tiny wisps of hair were escaping the tower of rats, curls, and ribbons, causing Lenora’s head to resemble a mountain obscured in wispy clouds. Iris kindly did not comment on it.

“I had a divine time at the Pump Room last night,” Iris said by way of a subject change. “Mr Hooper is so witty, so keenly observant. To think that I am acquainted with someone who is writing a play.”

“Oh?” Lenora pitched the word as a question, inviting Iris to say more.

“Just amazing,” Iris prattled on. “For example, he observed you dancing with Dorian and remarked how Dorian is so far beneath you.”

“Beneath me?” Lenora exclaimed. “I should hardly think so. He is busy running a hospital, and his uncle is Jonathan Holt, the acclaimed medical genius. I would scarcely think any of that would make him my inferior.”

August interceded before the ladies could warm the chilly air with torrid sniping at each other. “I have my allowance still,” he said. “Let’s step into this teashop and get out of the wind. It isn’t the pump room by any means, but it should be warmer than the street.”

They all went in and procured a pot of tea that just filled the delicate cups that went with it.

August stepped away from the table to pay the shopkeeper for the tea.

“You know,” Lenora said, “You could do worse than my brother. He fills out his coat nicely, even when the weather is more clement.”

“Oh, dear.” Iris giggled. “August and I are far too nearly like brother and sister. We would be miserable together.”

August had returned to the table just in time to catch that last remark. He tried to smooth the scowl it brought to his face, but Lenora saw it all the same. She wondered why the comment had disturbed him, even though it clearly had done so.

“It is starting to drizzle,” August said coolly. “I’ll send a boy to fetch the carriage. Do you require a ride, Miss Blanch?”

Iris looked outside at the weather and their location. “No, no. Father and I are staying at the hotel just across the way. I should be going in all events. Father will want his dinner soon, and the cook needs reminding to stay on task.”

Sister and brother watched Iris hasten across the busy street, deftly holding her skirts out of the puddles without showing more than a glimpse of stocking.

She had just gone through the hotel door when the carriage pulled up. The rain began to come down in earnest now, fat drops pelting the sidewalk and the top of the carriage and wilting the silk flowers embedded in Lenora’s tower of hair. Lenora regretted its purchase as a cold rivulet of rain trickled down the back of her neck.

“Good thing I ordered up the carriage; you look a complete fright,” August said with brotherly candour.

“Thank you so much,” Lenora returned, with just the right edge of sarcasm.

Still, she was glad of the carriage, even though Iris did not accompany them to Aldham Park.

There were warmed bricks for their feet and thick rugs to snuggle under. Lenora’s spirits lifted almost immediately as she felt warmer.

The carriage passed St Justus, and Lenora caught sight of Dorian and Jonathan Holt just leaving the hospital. “Oh, look,” she exclaimed, “Mr Holt is still here. I am surprised. He usually spends most of his time in London.”

She banged on the roof of the carriage. “Stop! Stop!” she called to the driver. “Do offer those two gentlemen a ride before they are drenched.”

The carriage pulled to a stop beside the two gentlemen who were walking in the rain. Despite their serviceable umbrellas, they were rapidly becoming soaked.

“Come in quickly,” Lenora called to them, “Before you are quite washed away.”

The gentlemen lost no time climbing into the shelter of the carriage. “Lovely weather for ducks,” Dorian remarked.

“Rather chilly for ducks,” Jonathan added. “Very much appreciate the ride, Miss Temple, Lord Temple.”

“You are welcome,” August said. “Glad to be of service. Where are you headed?”

“Clare Court,” Jonathan said amiably. “How pleasant to find you all in residence. I feared that you were still in France.”

“We packed and headed back as soon as my sisters announced their betrothals and plans for a double wedding,” Lenora said. “My mother declared that there was no way in the world she was going to miss two of her daughters’ weddings, not for all the ruins and tombstones in France.”

Jonathan laughed at this as if it was the greatest joke in the world. “Of course, she could not. I gather the ladies are now safely wed?”

“Oh, yes, indeed,” August said, “but not before Lenora made a complete guy of herself. It is fortunate that we are all used to her fits and starts, and my other sisters did no more than stare at her before returning their attention to the ceremony.”

“That was unkind of you to remind everyone,” Lenora sniffed. “You shall now be in my black books all day.”

August only laughed at this. “Am I not always? For whom else can serve as an anchor to keep you from going completely off the deep end.”

“Come, come,” Jonathan put in. “You should not be so hard on your sister. I say we shall have a special dinner tonight . . .”

Dorian interrupted, “What August politely does not mention is that Lenora made a grand entrance, covered with grass bits and smelling of horse. It nearly overpowered the lilies.”

Lenora shot him a dark look and pouted in a way that might have been pretty, but she feared it was not since she could feel an unbecoming beetling of her brows. “I shall remember this the next time you need a secret kept,” she said.

“Oh, I hardly think it is a secret,” August teased. “In fact, I should be surprised if the beggars in London do not know of it.”

Jonathan laughed again, a hearty ha-ha, “Brothers! Such an aggravation to sisters. Yet the best shield in the universe in times of trouble. We are . . .”

“Oh, look!” Dorian put in. “The gutters are quite filling up. Such a good thing you offered us a ride, wouldn’t you agree, Uncle?”

“Oh, quite,” Jonathan said amiably. “We should have been soaked through by the time we reached Clare Court. Which is why I’ve been trying . . .”

“I’m sure the Temples have no interest in our small affairs, Uncle. We are only having a few people over to celebrate my uncle’s return. You know how it is … the whole affair will be deadly dull.”

“Not so!” Jonathan protested. “Not when . . .”

The carriage hit a cobble, and Dorian made an exaggerated lurch that nearly landed him in Lenora’s lap.

“Goodness!” she exclaimed. “Are you all right, Dorian?”

“I’m fine,” he said. “Merely looking forward to a quick meal and then a chance to retire to my bed.”

“Dear me,” Lenora said. “I hope you are not coming down with something. You’ve not had any patients come in with something contagious, have you?”

“Not to the best of my knowledge,” Dorian replied.

“Still, you should attend our dinner,” Jonathan said, finally getting out the invitation.

“You need not,” Dorian repeated. “It will be of no consequence, I promise. Ah, look, here is Clare Court. We’d best make a run for it, Uncle. I think it is about to pour.”

Lenora looked after them thoughtfully as the carriage pulled away from the curb and continued towards Aldham Park. “Now, I wonder what all that was about?” she mused.

“All what?” August asked.

“Did you not notice that every time his uncle tried to invite us, Dorian cut him off and changed the subject. It makes me most curious.”

“It would be rude of you to show up when it is obvious that Dorian would prefer that you did not,” August said.

“Pffft!” Lenora waved one hand in dismissal. “As if I ever let a little thing like that stop me. I have every intention of attending that dinner.”

“That would be most extremely rude,” August pointed out, “since you have not been invited.”

“Oh, but I was,” Lenora said sweetly. “Did you not hear Dorian’s uncle say that we should attend?”

“And I heard Dorian say that it was of no consequence,” August protested, “Which means that he was trying to hint you away. It is clear he does not want you there.”

“It is just Dorian being silly, and he isn’t going to throw me back out just because I show up unannounced,” Lenora said.

“No,” August said, unfolding his lanky form and opening the carriage door to step out. “Come on, you’d best hurry. We have a lull in the rain.”

Lenora followed her brother up the walk, sheltered by an umbrella held by a footman who had come out of the house. August did not protest further, but Lenora made up her mind that she was going to attend the dinner.