They all joined in her laughter.
Before she could think to rise and summon Laura to the drawing room while the gentlemen drank their port, the earl rose to announce that it was time to leave for the theater if they did not wish to be late.
Abigail flushed and glanced at her husband as he drew back Laura’s chair for her to rise. She really must learn more behavior before he took her in total disgust. But perhaps it would be too late once she confessed about the afternoon’s events.
She sighed quietly and smiled up at Sir Gerald, who was drawing back her own chair.
NEITHER HIS WIFE nor Miss Seymour had ever been to a London theater, the Earl of Severn had discovered at dinner, and yet there was a predictable contrast in their behavior when they entered his box. Miss Seymour, on Gerald’s arm, looked about her with quiet interest and allowed him to seat her. Abigail gripped his own arm more tightly and stood quite still, letting out an audible “Ooh!”
“Now, is it the theater itself that has you in awe, Abby?” he asked. “Or is it the splendor of the audience?”
“Oh, both,” she said. “This is quite as magnificent as last night’s ball. Will the performance equal it?”
“The play is of secondary importance, as you must learn,” he said. “One comes to the theater to see and be seen.”
“Absurd!” she said, flashing him a smile before seating herself on the chair he had moved out for her and looking about her again. “What a foolish thing to say. It is not true, is it?”
He laughed. “That you must discover for yourself,” he said. “Everyone is certainly doing a good deal of looking about at everyone else at the moment, wouldn’t you agree?”
And their own box was receiving more than its fair share of looks, he had noticed as soon as they entered the box. It seemed that yesterday’s drive in the park and last night’s ball had not been sufficient to satisfy the curiosity of the ton.
Since the night before, of course, most of them would have learned that most delicious of all details about the new addition to their numbers—that perhaps she was not quite respectable. And if his mother was to be believed, Abigail had done nothing to allay those suspicions during the afternoon.
Why had she said nothing to him when he had asked before dinner? He had expected all the details to come pouring out. He had expected that they could have laughed together, that he could have kissed her and assured her that it was all nonsense and would be forgotten about as soon as the hint of some other scandal gave fresh food to the gossips.
But she had said nothing. Perhaps she had not even noticed that she was being shunned.
“Keep talking to me,” she said to him now very quietly. “I think Laura and Sir Gerald are getting along together famously, aren’t they?”
“They are both well-bred enough to make conversation with each other,” he said, smiling at her. “But I would not expect any interesting announcement before the evening is out if I were you, Abby.”
“Perhaps not,” she said. “But stranger things have happened.”
Yes indeed, he thought. Stranger things had happened. He had met Abigail less than a week before, married her two days later, discovered that she in no way resembled the woman he had taken her for, and yet grown fond of her. But he did not know her at all. He was suddenly appalled by his own ignorance of the person she was, of all the events and forces and persons who had shaped her into the woman he had married.
His mother thought her vulgar. Gerald thought her managing. And he? He was amused by her, attracted to her. But he did not know her.
“Oh, look,” she said eagerly, pointing down to the pit in a manner that would have had his mother cringing. “There is Boris.”
“Which one?” he asked.
“In the green coat,” she said. “With the fairish brown hair. The one who is too thin. Next to the gentleman in lavender ogling the ladies in the box opposite through his quizzing glass. How rude of him! But one of the ladies likes it. She is smiling back and fluttering her fan. Do you see?”
“I see your brother,” the earl said at the same moment as Boris Gardiner turned his head, looked into their box, smiled, and raised a hand in greeting. “He has seen you.”
She waved vigorously back, her face lighting up with a smile.
He did know something about her, the earl thought. She was eagerly awaiting the moment when she could be reunited with her sisters—her half-sisters. And she lit up like a candle at the mere sight of her brother. One fact about her past was very clear: she was dearly fond of her family. They must have been a close-knit group before the death of the father.