Chapter Seventeen

W hen Elizabeth was ready to eat, she brought one of her engraved creations with her. It was a floral design she had made on a brass plate. Her heartbeat picked up with a nervous excitement as she stepped into the dining room. Felix had shown appreciation for the owl she'd put in the drawing room, and since they had shared a pleasant conversation in the hallway, she thought it might be worth a try to see if they could form an amicable relationship. After her experience with Lydia yesterday, she thought it was time she gave people a chance instead of pushing them away in fear they would ultimately reject her like her parents and brother had.

"Good morning," she called out.

Felix and Oscar looked her way, and both lowered their gazes to the plate she was holding.

She stopped a chair shy of Felix and showed it to him. Ignoring the surge of nervousness that swept through her, she said, "I thought this might compliment this room."

Felix rose from his chair and inspected it. "That plate is too fine to put food on."

"I don't intend to eat off of it. I thought it might look nice on the wall." She went to the section between the two tables which had vases on them. She held the plate up to the wall. "What do you think of this spot?"

Felix studied it for a moment then nodded. "It would make the room look better, and that's a wonderful place for it." He turned to Oscar. "That's a beautiful piece of art, isn't it, Oscar?"

Oscar, whose head had slumped forward, jerked up. The fork he'd been holding fell to the table with a clatter.

Felix sighed. "How can you fall asleep at the table? We're about to eat."

"I was up until 4:30 working on the potion," Oscar replied. "It's your fault for making me get up so early. Why can't we eat at noon?"

"Because the day is half spent by then."

"Then why can't I take food to my room?"

Felix's jaw dropped, and Elizabeth had to hide her amusement. Did Oscar really believe the food he had snuck into his bedchamber was invisible? There had been so much of it. If it hadn't gone bad, he could have had a feast in there this very morning.

"We can discuss where it's appropriate to eat food later," Felix told Oscar. "Right now, we are talking about the plate." He gestured to the plate Elizabeth was holding.

Oscar's eyebrows furrowed. "I thought plates were meant to hold food."

"You think everything is meant to hold food." Felix let out a frustrated sigh then turned back to Elizabeth. "Don't listen to him. He doesn't know good literature, good art, or a good theatrical performance. That plate is exquisite. I would love to have it on the wall."

Pleased, she smiled. "And it might go well with any flowers you put in the vases."

"Flowers?" His gaze went to the small tables with the empty vases. "Oh, yes. Those. Ever since Lydia went to live with Guy, we keep forgetting about those. Come to think of it, I suppose the room did look better with fresh flowers in here. Are there any types of flowers you're partial to?"

Surprised he asked, she had to think for several seconds before she could answer. "Well, there are primroses, dahlias, cyclamen, and snowdrops on this plate. Each one represents a season."

"Does it?"

"Primroses are for spring, dahlias are for summer, cyclamen are for autumn, and snowdrops are for winter. Though, I will add, the timing when those flowers bloom overlap." She gave what she hoped was a nonchalant shrug. "The entire plate is supposed to represent an entire year."

"Which would make it even better in here," Felix agreed. "You can leave it up all year. Then you could select whatever flowers you want to complement the plate."

She nodded. "Yes, that's what I thought when I brought this down here."

His gaze fell on her, and something about the way he looked at her made her uncomfortable. It wasn't a bad kind of uncomfortable. There was just something in his face that she wasn't used to seeing. It made her stomach flutter in the oddest way and her breathing come a little faster. She really didn't know what to make of it.

"Well, I think the plate should go there," Felix continued, "and I think it's time we had some flowers brought into this room again. Thank you for allowing us to enjoy your family heirloom. I can't speak for Oscar, but I'll appreciate it as much as I appreciate the owl."

She wondered if she should tell him that it wasn't a family heirloom, that she had found the brass plate at the market, taken it home, and created the design that made it something she treasured. Would knowing she engraved the design change his opinion of it?

"Douglas, please see to it that the plate is hung up on the wall between the two vases," Felix said.

Since he was speaking to the butler, she lowered the plate from the wall and handed the plate to the servant.

"Make sure you're careful with it," Felix told the butler. "It's probably been passed down at least two generations." His gaze returned to her. "How old is it?"

She thought back to what the antique store owner had told her. "I believe the plate itself was created in the early 1700s."

His eyes grew wide. "Really?" He stopped the butler and studied the plate. "We have some heirlooms at the country estate, but none are as well preserved as this plate. I'm surprised the design looks so new. You'd think there would be some wear on it by now."

She didn't know what to say to that, so she decided not to say anything. She went to the table and settled into her seat. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye as he touched the design.

"Oscar, if you wanted to make something worthwhile from that chemistry experiment of yours, you'd come up with something that could make family heirlooms look this new. People would pay for that more than a potion meant to make people feel a certain way about each other." Felix turned to his brother who had dozed off again. Felix groaned. "I should have let you go back to sleep in your room." He waved for the butler to take care of the plate then shook his brother's shoulder. "Oscar, wake up."

Oscar bolted up in his seat.

"How can you sleep while sitting up?" Felix asked.

Oscar shrugged. "I don't know."

"All right, go on and eat so you can get back to your bed." Felix waved for Elizabeth to take what she wanted from the food set out on the table.

He left his plate empty while waiting for her to get what she wanted. She couldn't help but think it was nice that he had chosen to wait until she arrived before eating. Again, that strange flutter turned her stomach, and her breath came a little quicker. She even trembled a bit as she picked what food to eat. She didn't know what to make of this nervous energy that was flowing through her.

Felix waited until they had started to eat before he said, "How long has it been since you've gone to an art gallery?"

She swallowed the strawberry she'd been chewing before giving her answer. "I've never been to an art gallery." Her family didn't see the point in wasting their time on something as ‘frivolous' as art.

Felix didn't hide his surprise. "Never?"

She shook her head.

"I thought for sure with your taste in decorations that you had a tutor or a family member teach you what makes art good," he admitted. "Your appreciation for beauty comes naturally then."

She shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know. I just know what I like when I see it."

"That's remarkable. I'm almost embarrassed to say that I begged my father to hire a tutor to educate me about art. I always liked looking at things like portraits and statues, but I wanted to learn what makes art good and what makes it bad."

"I didn't know you needed someone to teach you what's good and what's not when it comes to art."

"Well, I don't think you need someone to teach you. I'm sure to some, it comes naturally. In my case, I needed a teacher. But then, I don't have a talent for it. If you were to ask me to draw more than a single line, I couldn't do it, and even then, I need to use the edge of a ruler to help me keep the pencil straight."

She didn't know why, but the image of him struggling to draw a straight line amused her. She smiled. "The secret to drawing a straight line is simple. Just keep your hand and wrist still. Then use your whole arm to draw the line. And go quick. The slower you go, the more you think about it, and then you'll make a wobbly line."

He considered her advice and nodded. "I suppose something like that would work. I never thought to do it that way before."

Oscar folded his cloth napkin and set it on his empty plate. "I'm going to bed. Don't wake me again. I have a long night ahead of me."

"We won't," Felix assured him as he cut into a poached egg. "We wouldn't want to get in the way of your brilliant love potion."

The corner of Elizabeth's mouth twitched in amusement. The whole love potion thing was as nonsensical to her as it was to Felix, but out of respect for Oscar, she had to remain neutral...at least when he was in the same room.

When Oscar left, Felix's gaze went back to her. "How did you know the best way to draw a straight line?"

She couldn't tell him that she paid Mr. Preston to teach her, could she? Yes, her lessons had included working on things like simple drawings, paintings, and embroidery, but Mr. Preston had taught her how to see the world in shapes, forms, and colors. Once she understood that, making her engravings came naturally. Since Felix was waiting for her to answer, she had to say something. "I learned it a long time ago," she ventured. "It was a part of my lessons."

Felix indicated that he accepted her response, so she relaxed. She didn't know why it was so difficult for her to share her love of art. Perhaps it was because art meant so much to her. She didn't think she could separate herself from her engravings.

"Would you like to go to an art gallery?" Felix asked after a minute.

Her eyes grew wide in interest. She would love to go to one. While she came up with plenty of ideas for her own art, Mr. Preston had told her that the best ideas stemmed from being inspired by the works other artists had done. Even he admitted to taking things he liked from other works and incorporating them into his own creations. You don't copy what someone else has done, he had warned. You just include elements of what you liked in your new creation. Plus, he had added, you expose yourself to new ways of doing things that can make your work even better. She rather liked the idea of learning new things she could take with her.

"I'd like to go to an art gallery," she replied. "When will you be going?"

By the expression on his face, she could tell he hadn't expected her to actually say yes. He shifted in his seat then said, "If it's not too soon, I'd like to go today. Perhaps around one?"

She nodded. "One will be fine."

Again, she could see that he hadn't expected her to agree to it, but he quickly recovered. "I'll be waiting for you in the drawing room today at one." He smiled then turned his attention back to the meal in front of him.

If she had danced with him that evening at the ball, she bet she would have seen the same excited look on his face that he had now. When he looked like that, he wasn't so unattractive. He might even pass for somewhat good-looking. But then, didn't everyone look better when they smiled? Choosing not to give the matter more thought, she ate the rest of the food on her plate.