‘Are you quite well?’ he asked.
Archie waved him off. ‘Yes, yes, I’m perfectly well. Busy Season, you know how it is.’
Hinsley did, yet now he thought of it, he had not seen Archie at a ball for weeks.
‘Perhaps you ought to sleep it off,’ he suggested. ‘I’ll walk you back – fresh air’ll do you good.’
For a moment, Archie looked tempted. But then he shook his head.
‘I had an appointment to make afterwards, anyhow,’ he said, turning left towards the city. ‘Good evening, Hinsley.’
Hinsley stared after him for a moment, wondering if he should follow the boy – see where he was going to – but after a few moments of deliberation, he shrugged and turned again for home. He was being a paranoid old fool.
Had Hinsley known, of course, exactly what kind of establishment Archie was heading towards, he would have dragged him back to Grosvenor Square by the ear. But he did not, and so Archie proceeded unchallenged onto Soho and into the gaming hell where he knew he would find Selbourne.
29
If Mrs Pemberton was to be at the Jersey ball, Kitty needed to be prepared. This was the final hurdle, after all, and not a moment too soon. They were getting dangerously close to June – it was already getting far too tight for Kitty’s liking.
The de Lacys had invited Mrs Kendall and the Talbots to join them in their box at the Theatre Royal, to catch a matinee performance of The Libertine before that evening’s ball, but when the de Lacy carriage arrived at Wimpole Street the next afternoon, Kitty only stepped out to send her apologies to Lady Radcliffe.
‘I am most fatigued, my lady, and my aunt has bid me rest,’ she told her. Radcliffe had stepped out of the vehicle to assist Cecily and Aunt Dorothy up into it – the theatre was one social event her sister was quite happy to attend – and, hearing Kitty’s apology, looked at her, concerned. He hoisted Aunt Dorothy up in one easy movement, and as she settled herself within the carriage, Kitty leant in to explain in a low voice.
‘Mrs Pemberton is attending the Jersey ball tonight. A strongly Christian woman, I am told, so I mean to spend the afternoon studying scripture for the occasion.’
‘Ah,’ he said. ‘I wish you the best of luck. Do let me know if you discover any passages in the Bible about marrying for money. I wonder if the Lord Christ was in favour or opposed?’
She shot him an eloquent look – meant to convey how exceedingly tiresome she found him – and he grinned.
‘You would leave me alone to protect Mr Kemble’s virtue from the lascivious eyes of my mother and your aunt?’
She laughed. Last night they had both overheard the roguish discussion between Lady Radcliffe and Mrs Kendall about the ‘strapping’ reputation of the leading actor.
‘I am sure you are well up to the task,’ she told him, smiling.
‘You flatter me.’ He handed Cecily up into the carriage next, then paused a moment.
‘Are you sure I cannot tempt you away?’ he asked, with a cajoling tilt of the head.
‘I’m sure,’ Kitty said, a little faintly.
He bade her good day and the carriage disappeared around the corner. Kitty watched it pass out of sight, wishing for a moment to have gone, anyway. It was not that she was so desirous of seeing the performance, but the company … The company she would have no doubt enjoyed. No, Kitty told herself sternly, beating her thoughts back into submission. Absolutely not.
She returned to her room and dedicated herself – for quite the first time in her life – to the study of the Bible. It was, she quickly discovered, very long. And, as she soon realised, quite boring. She wondered bleakly if the Old Testament even mattered – could one just skip to the New and go from there? Surely to the devoutly puritan Mrs Pemberton, it was the Lord Jesus who was the more important? She flicked through the pages, wishing desperately that there was an index she could consult to save her some time – she could simply look for the pages on virtuous women and marriage, and be done with the whole thing.
Kitty granted herself the luxury of an afternoon doze – biblical study proving quite beneficial to one’s slumber – and dressed herself that evening in the most chaste evening dress she had – the ivory white, from her very first ball, except this time she wore no jewellery save for earrings, and plucked the feathers （surely the most devilish of accessories） from her headdress. The first challenge of the evening was that the Pembertons were late arriving, leaving Kitty’s nerves mounting higher the longer she was held in anticipation. The second challenge came at nine o’clock when Lady Radcliffe appeared out of nowhere to deliver most unwelcome news.