Mr. Malcolm's List (3 page)

Two

One week later, Selina was regretting her hasty agreement to
Julia’s plan.
 
She had already spent half
of her annual income on the new wardrobe that Julia said was essential to
catching Mr. Malcolm’s eye, she had yet to attend even the most innocuous
social event, and her head was spinning with the contradictory instructions
Julia was giving her.

“You must exude a certain elegance of mind, a knowledge of
the world, while still retaining the naïveté that gentlemen find so charming,”
she told Selina, as they sat beside each other on a sofa in the Thistlewaite’s
drawing room, with Cassie sitting across from them.

“Do you know anything about the Corn Laws?” Cassie asked
Selina.

“What?
 
Yes, of
course.”

“That’s good then,” Cassie said, beaming at her.

Julia launched into another lecture, only to be interrupted
by her cousin once again.
 
“Oh, I almost
forgot,” Cassie said.
 
“No winking.”

“Excuse me?” Selina said.

“Malcolm doesn’t like flirtatious tricks.”

“Cassie, if you were paying the least bit of attention to
me, you would have realized that is what I was just saying to Selina.
 
I was explaining to her that there should be
no artificiality in her behavior when she pretends an attraction to Mr.
Malcolm.”

“That doesn’t sound anything like what I just said,” Cassie
said.

“Excuse me for not using words of fewer syllables to ensure
that you would understand—”

“Well if you are so smart, Miss Hoity-Toity, why couldn’t
you pass Malcolm’s little test?”

“Perhaps if you’d warned me—”

Selina had heard enough.
 
“Stop it this instant!” she said, breaking into their argument.
 
The cousins turned to look at her, their eyes
big.
 
“I have heard enough of your petty
bickering this week to last me a lifetime.
 
I believe I have an idea of what Mr. Malcolm is looking for.
 
Now what plan do you have for us to meet?”

Selina, peeking out from behind the door of her host’s
library, could not believe this was the manner in which she was spending her
first ball.
 
She had been introduced to
her host and hostess, danced one dance with Cassie, and then been ushered into
the library to hide for the rest of the evening.
 
Mr. Malcolm was apparently in attendance, and
her cohorts felt that she should present an air of mystery to pique his
interest.
 
After her first dance she was
to disappear while Julia and Cassie mingled with the rest of those in
attendance, whispering about the new Incognita.

Selina could not help but reflect that the society in
Bath
,
as elderly as it was, was superior to that of the harebrained cousins.
 
“I should have gone to
Sussex
after all,” she said aloud, still standing at the door and peering into the
empty hallway.

“I beg your pardon?” a voice said from behind her.

She whirled around to see a young man standing in the room,
apparently having risen from his seat at her entrance.
 
And the sight of him made her very glad she
had not gone to
Sussex
.
 
He was the most beautiful man she had ever
seen.
 
The library was not
well-lit—evidently the hosts did not expect their guests to seek refuge
there in the middle of a ball—so Selina could only hope that when seen in
the full light of day he would look less like a Greek god and more like a mere
mortal.

“I am sorry to disturb you, sir,” Selina said, when she
finally recovered from her surprise.

“It is no matter,” he said, folding a paper he held in his
hand and slipping it into his pocket.
 
“I
was just reflecting on the futility of a dream.”

Selina, who had been reflecting likewise just moments ago,
was now thinking perhaps she’d been overly hasty.
 
“Is any dream futile?
 
It gives us hope, and hope is a good thing.”

“In your opinion.
 
Others of us may believe, as the poet said: ‘Hope is the most hopeless
thing of all.’”

“What a sad conviction to hold!
 
I prefer to believe, like Johnson, that hope
is the ‘chief happiness which this world affords.’
 
But perhaps you hope for something unworthy,
in which case you deserve to hope in vain.
 
Confess, sir, you were hoping to win at the gaming tables this day and
you have lost, and now you are indulging in a fit of pique.”

The mysterious gentleman smiled.
 
“I would not confess to such childish
conduct, although had I played I would have hoped to win.”

“So you contend that you hope for something worthy.”

“I do, indeed.”

“Then it is my hope that you obtain it,” Selina said,
smiling.

“I am honored.
 
Perhaps I am mistaken in thinking hope a useless thing,” he said,
staring intently at Selina.

Her smile faltered a little and there was an awkward
silence.
 
Selina was suddenly aware that
she should not have remained alone in the library with a strange gentleman
carrying on a philosophical discussion.
 
“I should go,” she finally said, but made no move to leave.
 
She realized as soon as the words left her
mouth that she had nowhere
to
go.
 
She had been instructed by Cassie and Julia to stay where she was until
they returned for her.
 
Thankfully, the
gentleman said he should be the one to leave, and walked to the door where she
still stood.
 

She stepped aside but he paused in front of her.
 
“I would be delighted if you would save a
dance for me, once you return to the ballroom and we have been properly
introduced, that is.”

Selina just nodded, suddenly shy.
 
It was only after he left the room that she
remembered she would not be returning to the ballroom.
 

Mr. Malcolm entered the ballroom to find his friend Cassie
searching for him.

“Where have you been?
 
I’ve got a likely prospect for you.
 
Young filly, deep-chested, long legs….”

Malcolm was regretting having ever used that horse
analogy.
 
Cassie had described every
young lady he’d seen since in equine terms.

“I am not interested, Cassie.
 
I think I’ve found a likely prospect of my
own.”

“What?” Cassie said, looking alarmed.
 
Malcolm looked over at him in surprise.

“Why do you look so concerned?
 
I thought you wanted me to find a suitable
young lady.”

“I do, I do.
 
It’s
just that there’s a new girl in town that everyone’s talking about.
 
She’s visiting my cousin Julia for a few
weeks.
 
She has quite the air of
mystery.”

“That sounds rather alarming.
 
I tend to stay away from young ladies of
mystery.
 
It usually turns out they are
pining away for their dancing master or some other equally unsuitable
parti
.”

“No such thing, I assure you,” Cassie said, but Malcolm just
ignored him, looking casually around the ballroom.

“I wonder how long she will be in the library,” Malcolm
muttered, and Cassie looked up, startled.

“What’s that?” he asked his friend.

“Oh, it was nothing of consequence,” Malcolm said.
 
“She’ll probably turn out to be married or
equally ineligible,” he mumbled to himself.
 

Cassie did not reply.
 
He only looked searchingly at his friend for a moment before excusing
himself.
 
Malcolm just nodded, still
scanning the ballroom.
 
He found himself
a little ambivalent about meeting the young lady again.
 
He had been quite impressed with her during
their first meeting, but he was worried that when he encountered her again he’d
find that he’d endowed her with nonexistent qualities in his eagerness to find
an eligible bride.
 
She had seemed like
an answer to a prayer, arriving in the library so suddenly when he had almost
convinced himself his quest was futile.
 
Even in the darkness of the library she sparkled.
 
Her large eyes glowed with intelligence and
humor, and her smile enchanted him with its sweet sincerity.
 
The more he thought about her the more
impatient he became to meet her again, so he could discover for himself the
exact color of those fascinating eyes.

Cassie rushed to the library to find Selina sitting rather
disconsolately on a sofa, staring into space.
 

“Selina, did you meet a gentleman in here?” he asked her.

Selina looked up, startled by Cassie’s sudden entrance.
 
“What?
 
Oh, yes.
 
Yes, I did.
 
He asked me to dance.”
 
The thought of missing that dance caused
Selina to frown.
 
She wondered what there
was for Cassie to grin about.

“Excellent,” he said.
 
“I think we should return to the ballroom so that you can have that
dance.”

“Really?
 
Do you know
the gentleman?” Selina asked.

“I rather think I do,” Cassie replied, smiling even more
broadly.

Cassie and Selina joined Mrs. Thistlewaite to await Julia’s
return from dancing.
 
Mrs. Thistlewaite
was a petite, timid woman with “delicate nerves.”
 
She was no match for her headstrong daughter
and allowed Julia an inordinate amount of independence.
 
She and her husband had been approaching
middle age when Julia was born so Julia’s birth was greeted as a miracle.
 
Mr. Thistlewaite had been an indulgent father
during his lifetime and even now Julia was able to coerce her mother on those
few occasions she opposed Julia by saying:
 
“Papa would have allowed it.”

Mrs. Thistlewaite greeted her nephew and Selina warmly,
rising at their approach and dropping her shawl on the floor.
 
Selina recovered it for her.

“Oh, how clumsy of me.
 
Thank you, Selina.
 
Such a dear
girl.
 
But why have you not been
dancing?
 
I have not seen you dance with
anyone other than Cassie.”

Selina and Cassie exchanged a look but thankfully Julia
arrived just at that moment and a reply was not necessary.

“Cassie!
 
What is
Selina doing here?
 
You are going to undo
all my hard work.
 
Everyone is fascinated
by the new Incognita.
 
If they actually
see Selina they will no longer be interested in her.”

“Why, thank you, Julia,” Selina said.

Cassie began to tell Julia about the meeting in the library
when he was interrupted by the arrival of Mr. Malcolm.

Selina, still unaware of the identity of the mysterious man
from the library, was thrilled to see him again.
 
In the brighter light of the ballroom she was
able to determine he was just as handsome as he had first appeared.
 
This had the unfortunate effect of making it
difficult for her to breathe, or to think, for that matter.
 
So it took a few moments for her to realize
that her mysterious stranger was being addressed as Malcolm by Cassie.

“Malcolm!” Selina said in surprise, and then flushed when
all heads swiveled in her direction.

Mr. Malcolm, his eyebrows raised, smiled quizzically at Selina.
 
“That is correct.
 
I, however, have not yet learned your name.”
He then turned to his friend Cassie to perform the honors.

“Mr. Malcolm, may I present Miss Dalton.”

“Miss Dalton, I am pleased to make your acquaintance,” Mr.
Malcolm said, bowing over her hand.

Selina sank into a curtsey and hoped desperately she would
be able to rise again, for her legs suddenly seemed too weak to support
her.
 
This
was the insufferably
arrogant man who went around breaking ladies’ hearts?
 
The ridiculous charade she was embarked on
now seemed more impossible than ever.
 
Selina knew she was no more immune to a glance from those blue eyes than
any other woman.
 
If Julia, who was much
more sophisticated than Selina, had succumbed, what chance did she, a lowly
vicar’s daughter, have against those seductive, glittering orbs and that
devastating smile?