The Ideal Wife(51)

“May we go down there to talk with him?” she asked.

“At the interval,” he said. “The play is about to begin.”

It was not the best performance he had ever seen. And he found that the loud comments and guffaws of laughter from the gentlemen crowded into the next box—acquaintances of his, though not close friends—destroyed his concentration.

But both Abigail and Miss Seymour were enthralled, he saw at a glance, and met the amused eyes of his friend over the latter’s head. Abigail was staring wide-eyed at the stage, one bare arm resting on the velvet edge of the box before her. He took her other hand in his and she curled her fingers about it, though she did not move her eyes from the actors.#p#分页标题#e#

He smiled and wondered if it were so essential to know another person—to know about that person’s past life, that was. He had known Abigail for almost a week and he liked her. To hell with the opinions of those who did not and who tried to warn him against her.

He liked her and he was falling a little in love with her. And surely that was all that mattered.



ABIGAIL LOOKED UP when the actors left the stage, and realized, in something of a daze, that it was the interval.

“Oh, so soon?” she said. “It seems that it has just started.”

But she remembered Boris and looked eagerly down into the pit, only to discover that he was no longer in the place where he had been.

“Perhaps he is on his way up here,” the earl said. “Let’s stroll out into the corridor, and perhaps we will meet him. Ger? Miss Seymour? Are you coming for some air?”

Abigail would have preferred to leave them alone in the box together, but both got to their feet quite willingly. Laura looked particularly fetching that evening, Abigail thought, with her auburn hair dressed in curls and with her blue dress, which was not quite unfashionable.

Miles had been right. They met her brother almost as soon as they stepped out of the box.

“Boris,” she said, throwing her arms about his neck and hugging him. “Is it not a wonderful performance? I feel quite as if I had been transported into another world.”

“Tolerable,” he said, patting her waist.

She took his arm and presented him to her husband and to Laura and Sir Gerald. She smiled up at him while they all conversed for a few minutes.

“Miles was sorry to miss you yesterday morning,” she said at last. She brightened at a sudden thought. “We want you to come for dinner tomorrow, don’t we, Miles? And Laura and Sir Gerald must come again.

And we will invite a few other people—perhaps your mother and Constance will come, Miles, and Prudence too if she is not too embarrassed about her condition, though I think she will not be at a small informal dinner party, do you? We can have cards afterward or charades, perhaps. Sir Gerald can play for us on the pianoforte—he plays well, Boris, and did so yesterday afternoon while Miles taught me how to waltz. And Laura can sing. She has a very sweet voice.”

“Pardon me, ma’am,” Sir Gerald said, “but I regret to say I have another engagement for tomorrow evening.”

“Oh,” Abigail said. “What a shame.”

“But you must certainly come, Boris,” the earl said. “And you too, if you will, Miss Seymour. We will decide on our other guests later, my love.”

Boris’s arm was rigid beneath her hand in that way he had always had at home before ripping up at her. Laura was flushing and looking decidedly uncomfortable. Oh, dear, Abigail thought. Oh, dear. Had her mouth run away with her again?

Her husband was smiling, she saw when she looked up at him. “As you can tell,” he was saying to Boris, “we had decided that we would invite you the moment Abby next saw you. And, Miss Seymour, being my wife’s closest friend, I am afraid that you must accustom yourself to being a frequent guest in our home. Abby refuses to be without you, and I refuse to disappoint her.”

Boris’s arm felt more like an arm again. Laura visibly relaxed. Abigail gazed at her husband with renewed respect. He had smoothed over an uncomfortable moment and made it appear as if her words had not been so impulsive after all.

Sir Gerald offered Laura his arm and they began to stroll along the crowded corridor. The earl saw an elderly couple some distance away to whom he wished to pay his respects.

“Are you coming with me, Abby?” he asked. “Or do you wish to stay here with your brother for a few minutes?”

“I shall stay,” she said. “Don’t let me stop you, Miles.”

She turned to her brother as he walked away.

“Well, what do you think?” she asked eagerly. “Have I made a good marriage or haven’t I?”