Chapter 7

Chapter 7

“I still don’t know how you did it,” Gregory said, as he and Alexander walked along Bond Street the next morning.

Gregory had insisted on buying Alexander dinner, and having spent the night at Gregory’s lodgings, the two of them were now making their way to a milliner of some repute. One of Alexander’s hats needed repairing, and they had come out early, hoping to avoid the crowds.

“He was cheating - someone was coughing. There was a code of some sort. Two coughs for a queen, one for a king - something like that. I merely drowned the coughing out with my own and played the better hand. It was simple enough,” Alexander said, and Gregory shook his head and smiled.

“Well, however you did it, I’m grateful. I feared I’d never see the ring again, and then where would I be? I must say, I was terribly worried when Reginald asked you to wager your own ring, too. I didn’t think… well, it doesn’t matter now, does it?” he said, and Alexander shook his head.

“No, it doesn’t. And right now, my only thought is this hat - the twins did something to it. They were using it for a game - you’d think they were children - tossing it at a tree to hook it onto the branches,” Alexander said, shaking his head.

He loved his twin sisters dearly, but there were times when he despaired of them…

“We’re not far from Miller’s - perhaps you’ll buy a new hat. Or I’ll buy you one. Yes, I insist - you choose one and I’ll buy it for you. I’m feeling generous after last night,” Gregory said.

Alexander smiled. He was glad to have helped his friend, but he was keen to return to Norfolk as soon as possible. London no longer excited him as it had once done, and he had no desire to seek out the entertainments of the ton. They were almost at the milliner’s shop now, passing a modiste, where a number of elegant dresses were displayed in the window. But as they came to the door, they almost collided with two young ladies, who had emerged in the midst of a conversation, and who were also not looking where they were going.

“Oh, Juliette, I don’t know why you didn’t buy it - it suited you perfectly. You deserve to treat yourself after this week,” one of them was saying.

Her companion was dressed in a peach colored dress, and matching bonnet, and as she looked up, having almost collided with Alexander, whose head had been turned towards Gregory, she let out an exclamation of apology.

“Oh, forgive me. I wasn’t looking where I was going,” she said, as Alexander said something similar, and they moved past one another as though in a dance, still apologizing as now they separated, and glanced back at one another with a smile.

“There was something familiar about her,” Alexander said, as now he and Gregory paused outside the milliner’s shop.

He glanced back along the street, catching a final glimpse of the two women as they turned a corner at the far end and disappeared. Gregory smiled.

“Her companion’s name is Emily - they were at Lady Rankin’s ball,” Gregory said, and now Alexander remembered - it was the woman from the orangery, and he cursed himself for not having spoken to her.

It had been almost a year since Lady Rankin’s ball, and yet the memory of their encounter - if not the woman’s face - had remained. She was very pretty, but it was the conversation itself he remembered. She had been different to other women - at least the sort who inhabited the ton - and Alexander would gladly have encountered her again.

“Yes, I remember now… I mean, well… the woman you looked at across the ballroom,” Alexander said, and Gregory smiled.

“I’m sure it was the other woman you were more interested in,” he said, and Alexander blushed.

But as they entered the milliner’s shop, Alexander could not help but find his thoughts distracted by the memory of his brief encounter with the woman from the orangery - an encounter he hoped might be repeated.

***

“I’ve seen those two men before, I’m certain of it,” Emily said, as she and Juliette turned a corner at the far end of the street.

The encounter had happened so quickly Juliette had not had time to think, but in meeting eyes with the taller of the two men, she, too, felt certain she had seen them before.

“I think you’re right… I think… Oh, goodness,” Juliette exclaimed, for she knew precisely where she had seen him before - it was the man from the orangery.

Emily looked at her and raised her eyebrows.

“What’s the matter?” she asked, and Juliette blushed.

She had not told her cousin about her encounter with the stranger in the orangery, even as the memory of it had remained. As she had pined for Nicholas, Juliette had not forgotten her conversation with the man whose name she did not even know. It had been her secret - a pleasant memory of a forbidden act.

Her mother would not have approved, and that fact alone was enough to please her. But the stranger himself had intrigued her. There had been times over the past few months when she had wondered where he was and what he was doing - and if perhaps she would encounter him, just as she had now done.

“Oh… it’s just… well, yes, I remember him,” Juliette said, trying to downplay the impact the encounter had had on her.

Her cousin smiled.

“They’re both very handsome, aren’t they? But I don’t know anything about them. Do you?” she asked, and Juliette shook her head.

In this, at least, there was some truth. She did not know a great deal about the stranger. They had confined their conversation to such topics as the flowers growing in Lady Rankin’s orangery, rather than a more personal discussion, and as for his name…

“No… I don’t even know their names,” Juliette said.

“It’s strange, though, isn’t it? I haven’t seen either of them at anything in the last season, or this? We’ve been to so many balls and soirees, but I don’t remember seeing either of them - even at the Lord Mayor’s ball, and everyone goes to that,” Emily said, shaking her head.

Juliette smiled. It was just a coincidence - a pleasant one, but one that nothing more would come from. Her own thoughts were still on Nicholas, and the extraordinary revelation of his betrothal to Lavinia. They were to meet her the following evening at a dance, and Juliette was not looking forward to it…

“No, I suppose not… perhaps he’s been away somewhere. Both of them together, perhaps. They might be there tomorrow,” Juliette said.

“And we still don’t have anything to wear. I didn’t like any of the dresses in the modiste this morning. The styles have all changed, and I don’t feel ready to change with them,” Emily said.

Their talk now turned to what they intended to wear for the dance, but Juliet’s mind remained on their encounter with the stranger. The memory of their conversation in the orangery was imprinted on her mind, but encountering the stranger again had only served to bring it to the fore.

“I do hope I’ll see him again,” Juliette thought to herself, as Emily

continued to talk about altering a dress and what jewelry she

would wear - the encounter had taken her by surprise, and the

more she thought about it, the more she hoped it would occur again.