Page 69 of Henrietta

‘Goodness knows, I understand the importance of duty,’ Lady Allerton continued, with no sign of having heard this, ‘but really, ruralising at such a time as this! I cannot think what prompted this disloyalty.’

Hetty, however, was glad to have some respite from his presence. Breathing was certainly easier, now she did not have to contend with his presence – and as she climbed down from the carriage, and followed Lady Allerton into the theatre, she found her heart to be quite steady, too.

Tonight’s entertainment was the opera, led by the famed Grassini, and the crowds were all abuzz ahead of the performance – though as little as anyone would admit, the more eagerly anticipated spectacle was the royal party. Lady Allerton, when they settled into their seats, felt entirely vindicated in having refused to permit Arthur to get rid of their box, for it offered a quite unparalleled view of the royal one. There was the Prince Regent, with the Tsar on the one hand, and the King of Prussia upon the other, with a handful of other foreign notables grouped behind them.

‘Prince Metternich from the Austrian Empire,’ Lady Allerton murmured softly as her eyes glided over the box. ‘Prince Hardenberg, the chancellor – though the gentleman currently peering over the side I do not recognise …’

‘But I do,’ Hetty realised with some surprise. ‘That is Alexander von Humboldt.’

Lady Allerton turned to regard Hetty with some surprise. ‘Who?’

Hetty examined the face of the whiskered gentleman. ‘A colleague of my father. He has dined at our house several times.’

‘Wonderful,’ Lady Allerton breathed. ‘Oh, Hetty – would you mind awfully …’

‘It is no trouble,’ Hetty said. ‘In fact, he is looking this way.’

To both her own and Lady Allerton’s surprise, as Humboldt’s gaze travelled in their direction, she raised her hand in greeting.

‘Hetty! One does not wave at the Royal box!’

Hetty dropped her arm. ‘Oh – I did not mean—’

But before she could feel more than a sting of regret, she saw recognition dawn upon Humboldt’s face, and he smiled, raising his hand in return. Prince Hardenberg, next to him, followed Humboldt’s gaze, and then turned to make curious enquiry of his friend.

‘Oh,’ Lady Allerton breathed. ‘Oh, how wonderful – I do hope he visits us at the first interval.’

This hope was to be realised – but before it was, scandal occurred, in the form of the sudden arrival of the Princess of Wales. Excluded from participation in any of the peace celebrations, the timing of her entrance could only have been a form of revenge, for as the first notes of ‘God Save the King’ began, she swept into the box directly opposite her husband, dressed all in black velvet, causing a great stir and a storm of applause that quite upstaged the Regent. It was an incident delicious enough to provide the entire ton with gossip-fodder for many days to come, and the Allertons something to discuss when Humboldt arrived at their box, bringing with him none other than Prince Hardenberg of Prussia.

It was a prospect that, had Hetty been alone, would have made her expire on the spot, but Lady Allerton was made of sterner stuff, and the full sun of her splendid charm shone upon the Prince. Hetty, meanwhile, was able to fade back into the background with Humboldt, inquiring quietly after his travels, his current research, and promising to introduce him to Lady Sefton’s scholarly brother, Mr Craven, whose conversation he would find interesting.

‘I fancy he rather admired you, Trixie,’ Lady Allerton exclaimed, once the gentlemen had departed – though, to Hetty’s eye, it had been Lady Allerton and not her young daughter to whom the Prince had been most partial.

‘How splendid,’ Trixie said dully.

Lady Allerton regarded her in some surprise. ‘I should have thought you would be pleased, to be admired by a prince!’

‘He’s not a prince by blood,’ Trixie objected moodily – Prince Hardenberg’s title had been afforded him very recently, in recognition of his part in the war – ‘and besides, he’s old! I should be far more pleased to be admired by a young one.’ Then she added, in a bitter mutter: ‘Though ten to one they would turn out to be a worm, just like the rest – prince or no.’

In contrast to her mother’s triumph, Trixie felt she had had a very poor evening. She had spent the better part of the opera trying to catch the eye of Captain Edgewood in one of the boxes below and, having finally secured her aim, slipped out to meet him in the second interval under the pretext of paying a visit to Miss Corcott.

‘I own, I was not certain of seeing you again, given your veritable flight from my presence at the masquerade …’ he had greeted her.

His tone was teasing rather than reprimanding, and yet still Trixie felt obliged to defend herself: ‘My note explained everything! That woman Mrs Ridley …’

He curled his mouth into an ironic sort of smile that concealed genuine frustration at Mrs Ridley’s interruption of so crucial a moment.

‘Ah yes, she believes me to be a poor match for you.’

‘Everyone does.’

Edgewood did not seem to her very worried by this. ‘I own, I find myself more interested in what you think, Miss Allerton.’

Trixie deliberated for a moment. Though she would never admit it to her brother, she had been a great deal struck by the points he had raised in the carriage on the way to Almack’s – and though she did not intend to demand the Captain prove his affections for her with something so placid as a morning visit, she did still intend to verify his intentions by other, more underhanded, means.

‘I think you a better man than they can see,’ she told the Captain boldly.

He smiled. ‘You flatter me. Alas, I cannot—’