Belgrave Square - Anne Perry [26]
“An excellent affair, Mrs. Pitt,” Anstiss said courteously. “Of course you know Mrs. Walters?” He inclined his head slightly, indicating the woman with the emeralds.
Charlotte had no idea who she was.
“Of course,” she murmured; she would not admit to ignorance, it would be too insulting. “How charming to see you, Mrs. Walters.”
“How kind,” Mrs. Walters replied noncommittally. “Lord Anstiss was speaking of the opera. Do you care for music, Mrs. Pitt?”
“Indeed I do,” Charlotte answered, hoping they would not ask her for a list of the performances she had seen lately. Such things were quite beyond her finances. “I enjoy all forms of music, from one person singing to please himself through to the grandest choruses.”
“I had great voices in mind, rather than merely large numbers,” Mrs. Walters said coolly, and it crossed Charlotte’s mind that in some way this woman resented her intrusion. She wondered what the conversation had really been. She looked more closely at Mrs. Walters, and saw the fine lines of irritation in her face, as if her habitual expression was one of anticipating anger. There was a mixture of eagerness and tension in her now, and she seemed acutely aware of Lord Anstiss. Her eyes flickered to him as if she was uncertain whether to speak or not.
Charlotte smiled at her sweetly, and indeed she felt a certain sympathy.
“I was thinking of type rather than quality. Perhaps I expressed myself poorly. I apologize. Have you seen anything of great interest recently, Mrs. Walters?”
“Oh—” Mrs. Walters shrugged. “I saw Otello a few weeks ago. Verdi, you know? It is his latest. Have you seen it?”
“No,” Charlotte admitted readily. “I have been rather preoccupied with other things. Was it excellent?”
“Oh yes. Do you not think so, Lord Anstiss?” She turned to him with a bright glance.
“Indeed.” Anstiss gave a lengthy, informed and sensitive opinion of the work and of the particular performance he had seen, his face full of power and animation, his choice of words individual and obviously colored by his own intense feeling. No one interrupted him, and Charlotte listened with interest. It made her wish dearly that such events were within possibility for her. But it was never going to be more than a dream, and this was a game, a few days out of Emily’s life. Charlotte should enjoy them for what they were, and do her best to acquit herself honorably.
“How well you describe it, my lord,” she said with a smile. “You make me feel not only as if I had been there, but in the most excellent company.”
A quick pleasure lit his face. “Thank you, Mrs. Pitt. What a charming compliment. You have made my evening doubly enjoyable in retrospect.” The phrase was conventionally polite, and yet she felt had he not meant it he would have said nothing.
Mrs. Walters’s face darkened. “I am sure we all find you most interesting to listen to,” she said a trifle peevishly. “You must have seen something of note, Mrs. Pitt. You surely have not spent all your time pursuing your brother-in-law’s career? I thought he was but very lately come to political interest.”
Next to Mrs. Walters, Lord Byam disengaged himself from his group and turned towards them.
“His interest is long-standing,” Charlotte contradicted. “It is his decision to stand for Parliament which is recent.”
“A nice distinction,” Anstiss observed with relish. “Don’t you think so, Byam?”
Byam smiled, a warm, natural gesture. “I take your point, Mrs. Pitt. Still, it is a pity if it has required so much of your time you have had no opportunity to refresh yourself with theater or music.”
“Oh I have, my lord.” Charlotte did not wish to appear too earnest or single-minded. She racked her memory for any acceptable affair she had attended, and stretched the truth by a few years. “I did a short while ago see a delightful performance of a light opera by Messrs.