at us, standing three paces away, then smiled his guffin smile again and started towards us.
‘Please, Lilly,’ a hurried whisper shot out of Ella’s mouth. ‘Please don't leave me alone with him. I can’t explain why, right now, but I don't want to be alone with him. Please…’
She didn’t have to say another word. I was already dragging her through the door and into the ballroom.
Bright light exploded in a magnificent spectacle before us. After the dim light of the street lamps outside, we both had to pause and blink for a moment, until our eyes got used to the sparkling scene in front of us: crystal chandeliers shining in the candlelight, women in brightly coloured dresses, men in glossy black evening wear, and large windows which, with the black night outside, worked like mirrors and made the room seem twice as large, the guests twice as multifarious.
‘…quite the society event,’ we heard Lady Metcalf’s voice from behind us. ‘Important people from all over England have come, gentry, military, knights of the Order of the Garter… even one of the Peers of the Realm has been kind enough to accept my invitation.’
‘Yes, Lady Metcalf,’ came Wilkins' reply. ‘I’m sure it’s magnificent. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go after Miss…’
‘Quick!’ I hissed, and pulled Ella to the left, into a throng of people gathered around some painting, a recent addition to Lady Metcalf’s collection. There wasn’t a single flower on the painting, so I was inclined to think that Sir Philip wouldn’t be likely to join the crowd of admirers.
Ella slid behind a column left of the painting and sank against it, not being able to support her weight anymore on her legs alone.
‘Dear God, Lilly,’ she sighed. ‘Thank you! I… I don't know what I would do if he caught me alone. I…’
She watched me with wide, fearful eyes, unable to find the words to explain.
‘It’s quite all right,’ I said, patting her shoulder with a reassuring smile on my face. ‘I wouldn’t like to spend all night in the company of such a nincompoop, either.’
She gave me a grateful smile.
‘Yes, that’s all. I just feel… uncomfortable with him.’
‘Don’t you worry. I’ll keep you safe.’
Taking my hand, she pressed it, just for a moment, then let it go again.
‘I know,’ she whispered.
There was a moment of companionable, or should I say sisterly, silence. Around us, people discussed Dürer’s particular style. I, for my part, had no idea what his style was, if he had one at all, and if he had, what he did with it. But I really didn’t care. All I cared about was that Ella was with me, and for the moment, she was safe.
‘Lilly?’ Ella’s voice was quiet.
‘Hmm?’ I answered, trying to peer over the heads of the crowd to spot whether Sir Philip was closing in.
‘Why did you ask Ed- I mean Mr Conway to accompany us?’
I stopped trying to peer, and started trying to think of an answer very, very quickly.
‘Well… I knew you weren’t that fond of Sir Philip’s attentions. So I thought if I’d ask somebody else along, somebody Sir Philip didn’t know yet, maybe he would keep him busy for the night, and you wouldn’t be bothered.’ I shrugged. ‘Sorry it didn’t work.’
‘Oh. That’s all?’
‘Yes. Why?’
Ella seemed to relax. ‘Nothing. I was just curious.’
Nothing my foot!
‘Well,’ I added teasingly, ‘I had hoped this Mr Conway might be fond of flowers. In that case, he’d certainly have distracted Sir Philip for the entire night.’
That actually brought a little smile to Ella’s face. ‘No, he doesn't like flowers, they give him hay fev-’
She clamped her hand over her mouth.
‘What did you say?’ I asked, pretending not to have heard her slip.
‘N-nothing. Nothing, really.’
She looked away from me, to the left. I followed her gaze and saw Edmund standing with his back towards us, staring out of one of the enormous windows, into the black night. The yearning in Ella’s eyes was so immense, it hurt to watch. Quickly, I looked away.
What would it be like, the thought shot through my head, to care about another person so completely that you couldn’t live without them? To care about a man?
The image of a face appeared in my mind - cold, hard, forbidding and so completely unreachable. I shoved the image away with all my might.
To hell with it! To hell with him! What would it be like to care about a man? I didn’t ever intend to find out! If