All right, here it is, the next chapter! Enjoy reading :) Comments and votes are very much welcomed and appreciated. Especially since I shall now be gone away on a much needed vacation!
It takes two flints to make a fire.
Louisa May Alcott
The days prior to the masquerade proved to be quite strenuous on my part. It was required that I sneak from the town house in Grosvenor Square in the dead of night for gown fittings in Reggie’s quarters. Both her husband and Sutherland frequented their club each night since our arrival in London, remaining absent until the early hours of the morning.
However, the smells brought home with the earl were not only of cigar smoke and brandied alcohol. There was a distinct odor emanating from his presence each time he returned from his evening activities, one that I knew had no place in a gentlemen’s club, leaving no doubt in my mind that he had ventured elsewhere. I wondered where he had been going off to with Westover, but I had not the chance to inquire. Sutherland had been recluse in his habits, not straying far from his study during the daylight hours.
Though left to my own devices without probing questions as to how I spent my days, that freedom was lost at night when I visited with Reggie. I believed my voice grew hoarse from the constant chatter we engaged in to satisfy her curiosity as to where I had run off to for the past three years.
We were good friends, but I did not wish to tarnish myself in her eyes. I therefore left out many of the horrid details pertaining to my dreadful experience during my weeks prior to making the earl’s acquaintance. She knew inherently that I excluded certain details, but she did not push the matter. And for her undying friendship and understanding, I was grateful. She was however, not as relentless when it came to my appearance.
“And your hair!” she exclaimed the night before the designated masquerade, “Whatever are we going to do with it. It will indeed be quite a task for Tess.” She stood behind me as we both glanced at my reflection in her vanity.
I reached up to smooth my cropped locks, embarrassed that she should be so horrified at the sight. She saw my motion and took on a sympathetic tone. “Do not worry, hair will grow. But, for now, we will supply you with a more…decorated domino, to ensure that you will not be recognized.”
Still, I was ever more hesitant to attend the ball, for fear of recognition—not by Sutherland as the boy he knew as Kit, but by the rest of the ton, as a scandalous lady. My acknowledged presence as such would bring further shame to my family, and quite possibly give Mama a conniption were she to receive word. I would be a social pariah, and cast aside, too scandalous to be acknowledged by even the lowest ranks of society.
But to see Abigail’s face as I stole him away from her, following Reggie’s scheme for revenge, was reason enough for me to put aside my fears. I would turn them against each other, and cause the scandal of the Season, but this time, my name would not be the one whispered with scorn. Not one would be the wiser, for I would disappear into the night once my deed was concluded and be forgotten by the coming of the dawn.
A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts.
The door opened to reveal one of the housemaids. “Apologies your ladyship, his lordship has returned.” She curtsied neatly and turned to take leave, while Reggie and I gaped at each other.
“Wait,” Reggie called, “where is his lordship currently?”
“In his study my lady.” The maid then turned and left, while I continued to stare at Reggie in disbelief.
“Damn and blast! I did not expect him to return for quite some time. You will have to hurry Kit.” She urged me up and helped unlace the back of the gown.
“How the bloody hell am I to leave when he is downstairs and the servants are still awake?” Previous nights I had been able to leave through the door while entering through a window. Tonight however, would find me with no escape.
“Well, you will just have to go out the way you came in.”
“Hah, easier said than done. Climbing back down is entirely different from climbing up.” It was true. I was not sure I was capable of climbing back down the tree I ascended to get here. “Can I not just take my leave through the servants’ quarters?”
“And what if someone sees you departing from my rooms? There will be talk amongst the servants, which will ultimately lead to scandal.” She shook her head, eyes pleading. “Please Kit. You must hurry.”
I sighed and nodded, pulling my coat on. There would be a first time for everything. I only hoped that this first would not result in a broken neck if I should fall from the tree.
Taking a moment to bolster my courage, I took a breath to calm my nerves and then began my descent. It proved to be no great difficulty until I reached the trunk, and my footing became faulty. My luck finally dissipated when my boot slipped and fell into the bushes below, landing on my back in the brambles.
The air was expelled from my lungs, as I lie on the ground, gasping for the much needed sustenance. It was not until I heard commotion within the house that I was finally able to scramble to my feet in order to hurry from the scene. My tumultuous fall from the height must have caused alert, for as I fled, I believed to see the shadow of a person glance from behind the curtains, gazing into the darkness. If it was Reggie or her husband, I did not care to glance back to find out.
I walked back to the townhouse in Grosvenor Square slowly, relishing the rare quiet of the city night. I felt my nerves tangled in a jumbled mess over thoughts of the morrow’s masquerade ball. In part, I was ecstatic to rejoin society, if only for brief night, yet the other part was apprehensive that I would commit faux pas in the eyes of the more practiced ladies.
Reaching the front steps, I climbed the steps and rapped on the door for Bennet to allow me entrance. The door was opened immediately only to reveal a slightly frazzled butler, eyeing me with disquiet. It was only then that I recalled that Sutherland had arrived home much earlier, and at that, I began to panic. Before I could dash up to my room, Bennet stopped me.
“His lordship will see you in his study.”
I nodded and haltingly turned towards the study, readying myself for what was to come. It could not have been good, based upon the way Bennet reacted when he saw me return. I knocked on the door and waited.
“Enter.”
I did so and found Sutherland standing before his window, staring out into the streets of London, drinking and smoking a cheroot. The study, while smaller than the one at his country estate, was still as ornate and masculine as one could ever be. There was no hint of a woman’s influence, all colors dark and somber; and it smelled of stale smoke and sherry.
"You wished to see me milord?” I asked quietly.
“And where have you been all night?” he asked, not bothering to turn towards me as he took another draw on his cheroot.
“Walking. What did you want to see me for?” I asked again, hoping this time for a direct answer.
Sutherland finally turned to me and glared. He was still not accustomed to my direct nature, expecting me to act more suitable as to fit my station in his household. Oh, but how long he would have to wait for that. “You will come with me tomorrow for new clothes. Lady Westover insists that I attend tomorrow night’s ball, and I will not suffer it alone.”
“I don’t think I was invited to attend. It would be unwise for me to accompany you to such a thing.” I could not be fitted for men’s attire, it would be a ghastly debacle should the tailor discover that I was lacking in certain areas.
“Nonsense. I’ll bring who I please. And why not? It is a masquerade. No one would be the wiser. We will tell them you are my cousin recently returned from your Grand Tour.”
I was about to protest once more before Sutherland stopped me, apparently anticipating that I would do so. “I will see you in the morning.”
Able to nothing in response to his dismissal, I removed myself from his study and wearily marched up the stairs. I had to think of some reason to avoid accompanying him tomorrow. I remained awake throughout the remainder of the night, finally concluding that I could do nothing save plead illness and remain in my chambers for the day.
When the maid came in the morning to wake me, I asked her to give my excuses to the earl. While I did not have the fever, I looked gaunt enough from lack of sleep. She looked at me with pity and returned to her master, presumably notifying him of my afflicted state. That alone must have been enough to persuade him, for I was left alone, unbothered by further communications, though a breakfast tray was brought up by one of the under footmen.
Not hungry in the least, due to my nervous disposition at the forthcoming ball, I merely pushed the food around the plate, hoping no one would take notice. I spent the remainder of my morning pacing and thinking, devising a plan as to how I would sneak away without notice and meet with Reggie.
The only course of action I could muster plausible was to climb down from the balcony of my room. Though much higher than Reggie’s window, there was a trellis along the wall on which grew a type of vine I could not identify. However, I had to ensure that I would not be disturbed for the length of the night. As it were, there was a maid sent hourly to check on my health and see to my needs.
As it was, the earl did not broach the subject of my morning absence, and I did not see him for the length of the day. He was presumably preoccupied with business of sorts, which suited me, for I did not think I would be able to make coherent excuses to him directly.
When the time drew near, and the maid returned for my dinner try, I asked to not be disturbed for the rest of the evening, and assured her that I would not require anything more.
“Are you certain you do not require anything else?” the maid inquired.
“Yes,” I told her, attempting to hide my exasperation, “Now please, I’d like to rest now.” She bobbed her head and left the room, closing the door quietly behind her.
I threw the covers aside and stood to find my boots. Once laced, I turned to the window and as quietly as I could, opened it. The night air was cool, but not so much that I would need a coat. I clambered down the trellis, unencumbered, and hurried to the street where I pulled my cap low and thrust my hands into my pockets.
I wanted to arrive at Reggie’s home undetected, and the best way to do that was to blend in with the nightlife that took to the streets. This proved to be unnecessary, as there was no one about, and I could not very well become the shadows. Such a feat took years of practice in the underworld of the city, a life I was not accustomed to nor did I want to live.
When I arrived at Westover’s residence, there was already a crested carriage waiting in the front, signaling that Lord Westover was still there. I did not know how Reggie planned for me to exit the house once dressed in gown and mask, but she would be fat-headed if she thought I would climb down the damned tree once more.
I ventured towards her window and found that it was open and she was there waiting for my arrival. I collected my courage once more and scaled the tree as I had done in previous nights. When I came flush with her window, what I saw caused something akin to a heart palpitation, and I nearly fell from the branches of the tree.
It was not Reggie’s smile there to greet me, but a face, contorted in anger, of another.
And whose face do you think it is?