"I'm sure Flora won't mind, Frankie" Clara said. "Will you have tea with us now? Please? Of course, if you will permit it, Eugenia, this is your house."
The Duchess smirked. "I don't mind, now that cousin Francesco is properly dressed. Do tell, dear cousin. Do you come swimming here often?"
Four
Palazzo Sforza, Drawing-Room, that same day, after dinner
" 'Course we saw him!" Lackerby declared in his cropped Mayfair slur. "Marvellous fellow! Naturally Darl here knew him from back in the days, but I'd never seen the man! Made some prime jibes, laughed myself giddy."
"I can't stand him." Dominic St. Yves helped himself to another brandy. "All this libertarian talk. The enlightened Prince who may say whatever he pleases and do whatever he likes, who has no sense of responsibility whatsoever. Well, they're the same all over. One simply has to look at our royal Dukes at home."
Flora agreed.
Libertarian. Insupportable. Well, the Prince can afford it. It is widely known monarchs are lax in their morals and their manners.
The Duke went on.
"He was always keeping company with the farmers and foresters, with the footmen and the cooks, he was cheeky with the girls because none of them could ever dream of marrying him... I don't want to know how many of the county girls fell victim to his royal charm, we could probably bring the entire Surrey harvest in, only with the help of little Karlsburgs."
"Hmm," Darlington said and looked musingly into his glass.
Flora observed him closely and wondered what well-formed phrase was currently being produced behind the Earl's golden skull. She gently sipped her red-wine — a beverage she had come to appreciate during their journey — and waited for the blow Darlington would deliver.
And it came.
"Surrey, confess. You don't like him because he's better looking than you."
"Nobody's better looking than—"
The Duke caught himself but it was too late.
For an instant everybody was silent. Then Lackerby and Eugenia roared with laughter, while Darlington shrugged, raised an eyebrow, drank his brandy and smiled to himself.
Surrey slammed his glass onto a sideboard and stormed out of the room.
Flora too had to wipe tears of mirth from her eyes. It was a rare thing to see Surrey misstep.
Only Clara, who must have been miles away — and I think I know where she was, exactly two miles across the lake, with her beloved Adonis of a cousin — turned her head to Flora.
"What happened?" the girl whispered.
Still giggling, Flora replied. "Darlington said the Prince was better looking than your brother."
"Oh, he did?"
"Yes, he did."
"Oh… How very…" Clara looked at her hands.
She certainly agrees.
"You are horrible to him, Darlington," Gigi admonished the Earl after she had recovered.
"I am simply honest, Your Grace."
"That you are. I cannot deny it. Well, it won't do him any harm. But I do not think anybody is better looking than my husband."
"We are aware of it, Gigi. Only too aware!" Flora moaned.
"Pity you, Miss Parker," Lackerby said, cheering. "Truly! Mean it! Out and about with two lovebirds and an Innocente. Appalling!"
"Miss Parker is an innocent too!" Clara cried. "She's not married and she's only three years older than me. In fact, Eugenia has not even two years on me! Why does everybody have to treat me like a child?"
Darlington looked up from his glass. "Than I. Older than I. And Miss Parker's not an innocent young girl like yourself, and she's quite a different character, Clara dear." He smiled benevolently at the girl. "She's been haunting the circuit for far too long, we may certainly consider her out of the worst."
"Was that an insult, my lord?" Flora quipped. She had somehow felt minimised by that remark and did not intend to hide it.
The Earl stood up and bowed to Flora.
"To the contrary, Miss Parker, but I deeply apologise for putting it wrongly. It was meant as a compliment! I was certainly not meaning to insult you and I do hope you will find it in you to forgive me. My hope was to educate Miss Clara."
He was serious. Naturally! James Crawford, the Darl of Smoothington, would never insult a Lady.
Flora already regretted the harshness of her words. "I accept your apology, Sir."
"Look, Clara, you can learn a lot from Miss Parker. She's a very accomplished young woman who knows how to make a point without tearing down the walls, you should try to emulate her."
Clara blushed and looked down.
"Bashful now, Freckles? Well, that's more like it."
"Shush, shush, Darlington, let her be," Gigi sighed. "And anyway, it's getting late. I will have to soothe the storms raging in Surrey and I cannot permit my two wards to stay down here alone with you, gentlemen. I suggest we retire and leave Lord Lackerby and Lord Darlington to their own devices. Clara, we will have to help Flora with the staircase."