CHAPTER TWO: A CHILD BEHIND THE CURTAIN
Selena expected the conversation to end with the first dance.
Instead, William asked about the needlework on her gown.
She explained that she had altered a dress belonging to her late mother because her father had declined to pay for another.
William listened without offering the usual compliment about feminine thrift.
“You repaired the seam from the inside,” he observed.
Selena turned toward him.
“How could you know that?”
“My sister used to mend her riding gloves while she argued with me.”
He looked toward the carved branches at the back of her chair.
“She believed that a repair ought to survive close inspection.”
“She sounds formidable.”
“She was.”
A small disturbance near the musicians interrupted them.
A girl in a gray dress had slipped between two curtains and was standing motionless beside the wall.
She could not have been more than six years old.
Her dark hair was tied with a crooked ribbon, and she held a wooden bird in one hand.
William rose so quickly that his chair scraped the floor.
The girl flinched.
Several guests turned toward the sound.
“Clara,” William said.
The child pressed herself against the curtain.
A woman in a severe green gown emerged from the passage behind her.
“There you are,” the woman whispered sharply.
“You were told to remain upstairs.”
Selena watched the girl look from the woman to William and then toward the nearest door.
William moved a step forward.
“Mrs. Vale, do not touch her.”
The governess froze.
“Your Grace, she slipped away while I was fetching her supper.”
“I said not to touch her.”
The child’s breathing had become quick and shallow.
Selena rose from the carved chair.
She did not approach the girl.
Instead, she knelt beside the curtain and placed her own hands in her lap.
“That is a beautiful bird,” she said.
Clara looked down at the toy.
“It is not beautiful,” she whispered.
“Its wing is broken.”
“I can see the crack,” Selena said.
“But the bird is still beautifully made.”
Clara glanced toward her uncle.
“He said it was dangerous to bring it downstairs.”
William’s expression changed.
“I said the stairs were dangerous when you were carrying your toys,” he answered.
“I did not say the bird was dangerous.”
The child looked unconvinced.
Selena noticed that the wooden wing was held together by a loop of pale thread.
“Would you like me to show you how to mend it properly?” she asked.
Clara’s fingers tightened around the toy.
“You would have to take it away.”
“Only if you decided to give it to me.”
The girl thought for a moment.
“Can you mend it while I watch?”
“I can try.”
William looked at the guests who had gathered nearby.
“The music is waiting,” he said in a voice that left no room for objection.
People began to move away.
Selena remained beside the curtain while Clara considered her.
At last the child extended the bird.
Selena accepted it with both hands.
The governess stepped forward again.
“Miss Montley, I really must insist that the child return upstairs.
”
“You may insist later,” William said.
His words were quiet, but Selena heard the effort required to keep them so.
She wondered whether the rumors about his cruelty had grown from moments like this, when fear made him sound more frightening than he intended.
Clara pointed at Selena’s sleeve.
“Your dress has a bird on it.”
Selena looked at the tiny embroidered shape she had used to hide a worn patch.
“It does.”
“Did you fix that too?”
“Yes.”
“Then perhaps you know what you are doing.”
Selena smiled.
“Perhaps I do.”
