A Bright Particular Star (38 page)

Sophie
therefore
murmured an appropriate response
and went to
change
.
H
aving donned her bonnet and
put on a striped spencer over her
blue
cambric gown
, she went back
downstai
rs to find Perry and Lady Verney waiting
in the hallway. Perry
subjected
Sophie
to a
critical yet
silent
scru
tiny before
observing how charming
she looked and
leading
the way outside to
his curricle.

To Sophie
’s
relief, t
hey set off
for Great Russell Street
a
t a steady pace.
He made no attempt to demonstrate his driving prowess, n
or did he mention
marriage
.
Her prepared
rebuff
proved unnecessary
.
Instead, he
questioned
her about
James
,
to which
she
returned ambiguous
answers
.
He went on to praise
the improvement her stay in Lon
don had wrought on her looks
, her
manners
and her character
.
It was, he
said
, a creditable
transformation which
h
ad earned his admiration.
H
er
independent spirit
showed to advantage among the
ton
and onl
y now did he
appreciate her true
worth.

It was an impressive speech and
Sophie did not believe a word of it.
‘
T
hank you
, but
you may as well save your breath.
You
r compliments are
wasted on me
,
”
she said when he had finished.

His lips curved in a thin smile
.
“
Ladies
always enjoy compliments.
”

“
Only when they are sincere.
Why are you doing
this
, Perry?
You have always complained
about my independent spirit
.
”

“
And you have always
delight
ed
in provoking me,
but you shouldn
’t
, you know.
I
bear a grudge as well as the next man.
”

Sophie arched a sceptical eyebrow.
“
Indeed
?
I
t
hought you
too lazy
to harbour
grudges.
”

He shrugged.
“T
hink what y
ou will.
I am doing my best to
make this a pleasant
aftern
oon.
If you have not already done so,
I thought you might want to see
Lord Elgin
’s
famous marbles.
Know you
’
ve an i
nterest in culture and the arts.
All nonsense to
me, of course
—
m
y tastes run to more lively p
ursuits
—
but
I’m
prepared to indulge you
if you have a fancy
to
wand
er around ancient bits of stone
.
”

She gaped at him.
“T
his is in
deed an afternoon for surprises!
Your thoughtfulness
astounds me
.
I confess
having read
a
report into
Lord Elgin
’s
treasures
, I would like to see the
m,
and the Townley Marbles
too
.
”

“T
hought you might
,
”
he said, nodding
.
“
I’m
mo
re up to snuff than you
realize
.
”
He
laughed
unexpectedly,
which
made S
ophie wonder what
she had said to amuse
him
, but t
here was no time to
inquire
as they had
reached Bloomsbu
ry
.

The
museum
’s
impressive edifice was c
onstructed on stately
lines
.
It had been
built as a private residence
for
the
first Duke of
Montagu, and since e
ntrance was free to “
all studious and
curious persons
,
”
there were no tickets to purchase.

As
t
hey wound their way up the
magnificent
staircase
to the galleries on the upper floor
,
Peregrine
pointed out
the painting on the ceiling
which depicted Phaeton petitioning Apollo
.
His
mood was
still convivial
and there was no
hint of the boredom Sophie was ce
rtain
he must be feeling
as
they
wandered through the
saloons.
Several ti
mes she caught him watching her
, which was a
little odd, but his good humour seemed unshakeable
.

Among the cur
iosities brought back from
the South Sea
s by Captain Cook,
the clo
a
ks and helmets of feathers from
the Sandwich Islands earned Perry
’s
praise.
He admired the Greville collection of minerals
as well as
the lavas fr
om Mount Vesuvius
presented by the Earl of Exeter.

They lingered
in the
purpose
-
built
suite of rooms where the Townley collection was displayed
while
Sophie marvelled at the
Greek and Roman sculptures
on display
,
and
the beautiful mosaic pavement lately discovered when digging the foundations for the new Bank of England.
Peregrine was not so impressed
with this
, declaring the treasures from the Pharaohs
to be the finest
artefacts
on show.

A
s they made their way to the temporary buildi
ng
which housed Lord Elgin
’s
disputed marbles, a
lively
discussion ensued as to the relative merits of what they had seen.
Perry
argued hi
s case with
conviction
, if not
dee
p
insight
,
and
while
his easy charm struck a false note with Sophie
,
she was
thankful for h
is good mood
.

But
her cousin
’s
mood was not to be Sophie
’s
only surprise
.
She was studying a sculptured slab
an
d listening to Perry
’s
view
s
on
Lord Elgin bringing
the treasures back to England
when
Lucius Grey emerged f
rom the shadows
.

“
Miss Devereux!
W
hat a lucky chance, to b
e sure
.
”
Grey
came
toward them
with long
, unhurried
strides.
“
How do you do, Perry?
I count m
yself fortunate to find you
still
here.
The marbles are exquisite, are they
not?
T
here must be
no doubt as to their
aesthetic
qualities
by now
, but
the manner and propriety of their acquisition will be the subject for controversy for
some years to come
,
I suspect
.
”

Perry
’s
obsidian
ey
es bulged
.
“
What the deuce are you doing here
?
T
his is the last pla
ce I would have expected to see
you!
”

“
I might say
the
same
,
”
said Grey, with an amused look
.
“
N
othing suspicious about it
—
after calling in Grosvenor Square to convey my compliments to your sister,
I called in Brook Street to see how Miss Devereux was going on and Lady Verney info
rmed me that you had come
here.
On the spur of the moment
, I decided to view
the collection
myself.
I had little
expectation of encountering
you
both
.
I thought you would have already left.
”

“
You seem to m
ake a habit of acting on the spur of the moment
,
”
observed Sophie
dryly
.

“
I do,
but I be
g you will not
hold it against me.
”

Sophie responded
only with polite
smile
.
She didn
’t
doubt his explanation
—
it would be easy enough to check
if it he was telling the truth
or not
—
but, as
with his arrival
at
T
he Pelican
, she
had the feeling
there was more to his presence here t
han met the eye.
What a curious man he was.
The
aura
surrounding
him
was both
fascinating and disquietin
g
.

“
I looked for you at Fives Court last night,
but you were nowhere to be seen,
”
Perry
was saying
, a peevish
note in his voice.

“
Ah, yes.
My apologies
,
some business arose that I needed to attend to
urgently
,
”
replied
Mr
Grey.
“T
ell me, did
Figgis
win?
”

“
Why
, yes!
They
slogged it out for twenty-three rounds
until
Figgis
floored
Smedley
with as sweet an uppercut as you
’
re
ever
likely
to see
.
I was near to the ring and my new waistcoat
got splattered with blood.
Confounded
nuisance!
Still,
I won a considerable
amount from
Lord Rivenland.
F
ool
was
done up, ready to flee
to
France
in the wake of his debts to me
.
”
Perry
sniggered
at the recollection.
“
It was a
fine evening
all round
. P
ity you missed it
.
”