this undignified hitching and tugging the door opened and Julian stood there looking straight at her. He was wearing a red velvet tie and winked at her from behind his glasses before announcing that he had seen May waiting for them in the hall and were they all ready to leave? Immediately Evangeline began to feel more confident of the enjoyment the evening surely now promised, crossing her fingers tightly, as she always did when she wanted a bit of luck to come her way.
Julian spent a great deal of time with the Blunt family, even though Evangeline had been unable to identify the basis for Rupert and Julian’s friendship. The two undergraduates were so different; one all loud bluster and back slapping, the other quieter, cerebral, and yet unhesitatingly flirtatious. Julian’s charm rarely landed on Rupert’s obnoxious, loudmouthed sister, however the quiet conversations that Evangeline had observed between Julian and Joan made her wonder whether it was his need for a warmhearted mother that brought Julian back again and again both to Cuckmere and to St. John’s Wood. Encouraged by the sight of that fleeting wink, she failed to repress a bubbly thought that maybe there was another, a recent addition to the household, whose presence persuaded him to return so often.
Bryanston Court was a large purpose-built apartment building just round the corner from Marble Arch. Wallis’s guests walked through the imposing entrance lobby, lit by a magnificent central chandelier, past a polished Georgian table on which two huge Chinese vases sat resplendent. Across the shining marble floor the concertinaed lift gate shut behind them, assuring further elegance ahead. Conscious of Wallis’s pledge to find her friend a beau, Evangeline was hoping that Wallis would seat her next to Julian. She was also looking forward to the dinner itself. Mr. and Mrs. Simpson prided themselves on serving delicious food.
“You know, Vangey, how we folks from the South love to provide our guests with a good table, and Ernest has always been something of a gourmet, you know,” she had said with unexpected pride on the telephone earlier that afternoon, leading Evangeline to question momentarily whether Wallis’s feelings for the king yet came anywhere near replacing those she still had for her husband.
Whatever the truth, Ernest and Wallis were jointly proud to have “brought on” Mrs. Ralph in her culinary skills. Initially a kitchen maid to Lady Curzon’s French chef, Mrs. Ralph had been trained at the hands of a master. By the time she came to Bryanston Court she had developed a flair in the pastry and sauce departments that few could rival. Her preference for vegetables steamed al dente instead of the British boiled-to-slush method had been much remarked on by Wallis’s guests.
If Ernest encouraged a concern for the menus, Wallis’s own particular taste was evident in the furnishings. An unusual yellow and black Italian painted table and a William and Mary walnut chest both looked perfect in the pale green painted drawing room with its heavy cream curtains. Glass vases of Madonna lilies were placed on every surface, filling the air with a sweet, decaying smell that was intensified by the overheated apartment. Fragile, pink-edged orchids rose from cane baskets in the corners of the drawing room. A pair of gold leaf and ebony blackamoors doing handstands at each end of a side table were balancing small trays on the soles of their feet on which matching arrangements of whitewashed leaves with white roses had been placed, proof that Mrs. Spry had been working her magic here earlier in the day. A letter rack on the small desk in the corner was visibly stashed with thick white cards printed with the two words “At Home” in copperplate across the centre.
After a cocktail or two had been prepared with some expertise at a low table by Wallis herself and Evangeline had acquainted herself with Slipper, the dear little cairn terrier that had been a gift to Wallis from the king, the guests were invited to gather in the pretty dining room. The walls were covered in a bucolic blue and white French paper depicting cows and milkmaids, and the table laid for twelve glowed with the visual warmth of a dozen lit candles. Small bowls of miniature pink rosebuds had been positioned at each guest’s place and an elevated silver stand at the very centre held a generous cascade of out-of-season Muscat grapes. The place settings were magnificent with the gold cutlery that Wallis had confided to Evangeline