her; the lovely dark eyes were serene; the beautifully shaped head so gracefully bowed, the smooth dark hair so shining; the expression kindly and intelligent.
“My lady,” said Henrietta, “this is Frances Apsley.”
Mary said: “I am pleased to make your acquaintance.”
“It would be an honor to serve you,” answered Frances.
They stood smiling, each completely conscious of the other’s charm.
“Margaret is never satisfied,” Henrietta was saying. “She is complaining that she has one of the best parts in the ballet and is laden with diamonds.”
Margaret was speaking in response to Henrietta’s taunts, but neither Mary nor Frances Apsley were listening.
How frightened Mary was when she stood before them all. They applauded her kindly; she saw her father looking anxious on her behalf, seated near her uncle. He was kind and she wished that she could love him as he loved her. There were times when she did love him dearly as now; but she could never forget the rumors she had heard of him. She did not fully understand his relationship with those women who had caused her mother so much anxiety; but she imagined what took place between them; it was vague and horrible and she tried to shut her mind to it; but there were occasions when pictures crept in unbidden.
Then she noticed Frances Apsley watching her intently. Their eyes met and Frances smiled.
“She wants me to succeed,” thought Mary. “She will be unhappy if I do not.”
Mary was determined then to dance as she never had before.
The music had begun and her legs felt heavy; but there was Jemmy smiling and whispering: “Come on. It’s only a game after all.”
And then because of Jemmy, Frances Apsley, and her father, it became the fun it had been when they had practised at Richmond and she danced as well as she ever had.
She was delighted to see Margaret Blagge’s success. She looked so beautiful in her shimmering dress—the perfect Diana. Surely, thought Mary, she must be enjoying the approval of the spectators.
Sarah Jennings tried to get nearer to the audience that she might be noticed; as for Anne, she performed with a carelessness which everyone seemed to find amusing.
Dryden’s epilogue was read and they all knew that the ballet had been a success. The King was delighted—particularly with his nieces; he saw this for an excellent beginning of Court life for them.
James was almost in tears; nothing could have given him greater pleasure than the success of his daughters. The King declared that such shimmering talents must not be hidden when he congratulated John Crowne, Mr. Dryden, his nieces, Jemmy, and all the dancers.
In the dressing room where the company had prepared themselves, Mary found Margaret Blagge in great distress.
“I was wearing it about my neck when the ballet began. I cannot understand it. How could I have lost it?”
Mary asked to know what and when Margaret replied that it was Lady Suffolk’s diamond, she was horrified.
“But it must be on the stage.”
“I have searched everywhere. Oh, my lady Mary, what shall I do? It is worth eighty pounds. I cannot replace it. I don’t possess eighty pounds. What shall I do? No one will ever trust me again. And to think I tried so hard not to borrow it. This is a judgement. I knew it was sinful.”
To see the lovely maid of honor so distressed, upset Mary. It seemed to her a terrible calamity to have borrowed a valuable diamond against one’s will and then to have lost it.
“No one will ever trust me again,” sobbed Margaret.
“We must look everywhere you have been.”
“They have already done so. My maids have looked. I have looked. There is no sign of it. I daren’t tell Lady Suffolk.”
“Are you sure you’ve looked everywhere?” asked Mary.
“I … I think so.”
“I will look. I am rather good at finding things. It is big enough and it sparkles so, it ought not to be difficult to find.”
“That’s why I greatly fear that someone has found it and kept it.”
“Oh, poor Margaret. I will look and if I can’t find it perhaps I could ask my father what is the best thing to do.”
“Lady Suffolk will never forgive me, I know. I shall have to replace it and I don’t see how I can.”
Mary went off purposefully; she would search in every place where they had been.
She made her way to the stage, passing the anterooms on the way; she wondered whether Margaret had gone into any of these and forgotten. Mary would search every one