Free The Byram Succession by Mira Stables Page B

asset of considerable value. Again and again as she moved from group to group or returned to her post to welcome newcomers, she caught the echo of his name. Whatever her guests might think of her daughter’s behaviour, they were not disposed to miss the opportunity of making his lordship’s acquaintance at a comparatively intimate party. One or two of her closest friends actually asked to have him pointed out to them.
    His lordship obliged these interested parties by arriving only a little after nine in company with the Graysons. If Kit had had his way they would undoubtedly have been there sooner. As it was, there was barely time for the necessary introductions before another group of guests was announced. There was a brief discussion about dancing.
    Alethea found herself engaged to dance with both gentlemen and to make up a set of quadrilles with them, but was called away by her aunt to meet the newcomers before she was quite sure which would be her partner. There had been no recognition in Lord Skirlaugh’s eye, no awkward disclosure. Like her aunt, she, too, forgot her anxieties and gave herself up to enjoyment.
    She did not know above half the guests and those she did know were all recent acquaintances. But that only made conversation so much the more interesting. She had never before attended such a party as this, but during the past year she had frequently accompanied Papa when her mother’s delicate health had prevented her from fulfilling some engagement. During a winter of sober functions she had endured and outgrown the first paralysing pangs of shyness. Because she was least in importance she had usually been given the dullest of the dinner partners and quite unconsciously had begun to acquire that most useful of all the social arts—that of inducing people to talk about themselves. Tonight’s guests were very different from the church dignitaries, the forthright squires with their strong prejudices and loyalties to whom she was accustomed. She found them very interesting, even exciting. It was scarcely surprising that this appreciative attitude evoked a pleasant warmth in those who encountered it; that soon Aunt Maria was rejoiced to receive several compliments on her niece’s pleasant manners and charming appearance.
    When the dancing began she was less at ease. She had been carefully taught and had a certain natural grace but she had danced very little in public. She was inclined to concentrate on the steps and the figures, so that conversation languished. Presently she found herself dancing the coranto with Lord Skirlaugh who, unfortunately, was no more skilled than was his partner. He did his best to accommodate his longer steps to hers, but by the time they had circled the room they were both a little breathless and Alethea, at any rate, was on the brink of laughter, for it was funny to find that the arrogant gentleman of the coach was so inept in the ballroom.
    As they neared one of the Tudor style doorways that gave on to the conservatories he drew her a little aside from the dancers who now thronged the floor. “I’m afraid I’m not very good at this sort of thing,” he apologised gravely. “Would you not rather take a turn in the conservatories?”
    She agreed to it willingly enough, for the conservatories were delightfully lit by strings of coloured lanterns and a number of the guests were already strolling there. As they left the brilliantly lit ballroom for the dimmer illumination outside, she put up a surreptitious hand to assure herself that her hair was still firm and neat, that the lofty erection had not tilted, ridiculously, to one side.
    “Still worrying about your hair, Miss Forester?” enquired her companion, a teasing note in the deep tones. “You have no need, I give you my word. A charming style, and most becoming to you. And even after my lamentable essay in the coranto still silken smooth.”
    “So you did recognise me,” she said, the words almost startled out of