Page 7 of The Duke's List
“It’s all right. My mother’s art supported us in London, and she left me a comfortable inheritance.” Jane looked away, swerving her attention to the actors sorting through the painted backdrops stacked to the side of the huge ballroom. She snapped back to Harriet. “So, you see, marrying Cornelius was my choice alone. He and my father onlyassumedI was at their mercy.”
“I’m so sorry. None of this is any of my affair.” Harriet wound the large square of linen around her hair and finished off the turban with a roll tucked across her forehead and over her ears. “Does that mean Sidmouth has no idea you willingly entered into the marriage?”
After a breath of silence, Jane flashed her a mischievous grin. “I don’t think so. We were married so quickly, we didn’t have much time to get to know each other. And then there was Venice…”
“I don’t want to know what happened between the two of you on your honeymoon trip, but I think he deserves to know what he did wrong, so that he can make amends.”
“He’s commanded my presence at a late-night supper tonight in the conservatory.” She gave an unrepentant giggle and waggled her brows up and down. “I wonder whathewants.”
Jane stifleda sneeze while she helped Harriet sort through a trunk of old clothing from decades past they’d found in the attic in a far corner of the house. They’d hit upon the idea of turning over old brocade coats, velvet breeches, and gowns embroidered with gold thread to Mrs. Algernon for re-use as costumes in the troupe’s repertoire of plays.
“I knew the Bocollyn’s ballroom would be immense, but I had no idea how large it actually is.” Jane spread her arms wide, encompassing the long hall which echoed with the sounds of the actors’ troupe. “How far does the room stretch?”
“Ninety-five feet long by seventy-five feet wide,” Harriet said without hesitation.
Jane’s eyes widened. “How many people attended balls and other events here?”
“Oh, probably hundreds. This room was crowded with dancing couples when I was growing up and dying to make my own come-out.”
“That would have been before Cornelius became the current duke?”
“Exactly.” Harriet rocked back from where she’d been kneeling down in front of the trunk and sat down, splaying her long legs out in front of her and leaning back on her elbows.
“What happened to change all that?”
“His mother was much younger than his father and loved to plan parties. After the elder duke died in a carriage accident on the road above the bluffs, she lost all interest in entertaining, and died not long after that. It’s almost as if she died of a broken heart. The ballroom hasn’t been used since that time.”
“What happened to Cornelius after that?”
“He became very distant. He’d become a duke at only twenty and then was immediately besieged by matchmaking mamas not to mention all the responsibilities of managing Bocollyn. There was a period of time when he’d disappear during the war for months at a time and then return, claiming he’d been in London.”
“Where do you think was?” Jane’s eyes narrowed.
“I’m not certain, but my late husband suspected he was working in France for the Home Office.”
“Behind enemy lines?” Jane made a show of slapping the dust out of an old velvet coat, but Harriet noticed her hands trembled. Perhaps her cousin’s new wife worried more about her thick-headed husband than she’d admit.
Mr. Algernon appeared in front of them. He’d left his crew of actors who were carrying in boxes overflowing with costumes, swaths of brocade fabric and many canvas rolls of painted backdrops. They were stacking them in the far corners of the ballroom.
“Where would you like us to construct the stage?” He swept his arms wide encompassing the enormous space.
Jane had not noticed before how tall and imposing Mr. Algernon seemed in the afternoon sunlight streaming through the now-sparkling windows of the ballroom. The night she’d briefly met him in Falmouth, they’d all sat down to dinner by candlelight after the performance ofOthello. He was in his mid-fifties, but his only concession to age were streaks of silver in his beard.
“I’m not sure.” Jane turned slowly in a circle assessing the ballroom from all angles. “Now that we’re in the middle of carving out a theater, it seems like a much more ambitious project than I’d first thought.” She looked toward Harriet. “Perhaps we should fetch Sidmouth? He’s better than I am at making order out of chaos.”
Harriet suddenly noticed her son snatching a sword prop out of one of the boxes. “Nicholas! Put that down.” At the sudden appearance of Fleur and Max sliding after him, she gave Algernon and Jane an apologetic look. “I’m going to have to go deal with those miscreants.”
With that, Harriet motioned to her son to join her so that she could get him to wash off all the dust and cobwebs he’d picked up racing about the ballroom. She pulled off the turban she’d wrapped around her hair and shook away the spider webs.
Jane turned back to Mr. Algernon. “I think we can provide as much room for a stage as you think is necessary for theatrical productions. If we ever have need for the ballroom, we could always use the stage as a platform for the musicians.”
“Certainly. We’ll continue bringing in supplies. Perhaps we could talk more over tea this afternoon at the wagons.” He snapped his fingers and pointed to an empty space when one of the actors started to ask where to put a trunk of costumes he carried. Algernon turned back to Jane. “Your Grace, my wife is preparing mid-day sustenance for everyone. You and His Grace are welcome to share our tea with us out in the orchard.”
“That would be wonderful. Nicholas would love to meet the members of your troupe. He’s memorized a lot of passages from plays with Nana and has become very interested in how productions are staged. I’ll see if his mother approves and perhaps His Grace will join us as well.”
Chapter Six
At a tapat the door to his study, Sidmouth looked up from the farm ledgers he’d been going over with his steward. “Come.”