Chapter Sixteen.

If, some years ago, our neighbours in sneer, called us a nation of shopkeepers, we think that they must now give us the credit of being shopkeepers of taste: we apprehend, no place in the world affords so great a variety of elegant amus.e.m.e.nt to the eye, as London in its various shops.

The Book of English Trades, and Library of the Useful Arts, 1818 Eight o'clock, Sat.u.r.day morning Despite having gone to bed only a short time before, Sophy hurried in to breakfast only minutes after her sisters. She had a copy of the latest edition of Foxe's Morning Spectacle in her hand, and she was grinning.

"I told you I did it," she said. "Column inch after column inch, all about the gown Lady Clara Fairfax-or 'Lady C' as Foxe so delicately puts it-wore to the Brownlows' ball." She sat down and read aloud, " 'A white satin or poult de soie under-dress, a low corsage, the front square.' "

Marcelline paused, her coffee cup halfway to her lips. She needed coffee. She hadn't slept. "Clearly you gave Tom Foxe what he wanted."

"And he gave me columns of s.p.a.ce," Sophy said triumphantly.

Leonie s.n.a.t.c.hed the paper from her. "Let me see. 'Open robe of rose noisette crepe... corsage... descends in longitudinal folds on each side.' " She looked at Marcelline. "It goes on and on, like a fashion plate description. Down to the shoes. Good grief, what on earth did you do for him, Sophy? No, never mind. It's none of our business."

"I told you I'd take care of everything," Sophy said. "Never mind the rest of the description. You know what she was wearing." She pointed. "Start there."

Leonie read, " 'The reader will wonder at our entering into minute detail regarding the fair attendee's attire. But no lesser tribute, we feel, would suffice for a dress that inspired its wearer not only with the confidence to decline the addresses of a duke but with the fire of poetry, for no lesser description could properly characterize the speech with which she so unequivocally rejected his offer of matrimony.' "

Thence followed Lady Clara's rejection speech. In this context it read like a scene from one of Lady Morgan's novels.

Marcelline put down her coffee cup and rubbed her head. "He's the Duke of Clevedon. She loves him. He's the world's foremost seducer of women-and he botched it. Well, goodbye d.u.c.h.ess of Clevedon."

"Goodbye to the d.u.c.h.ess, perhaps," Sophy said. "It may take him a while to find another. But look on the bright side. Lady Clara will come back to Maison Noirot. She understands what we do for her. You read what she said to him. 'I'm different.' "

"Her friends will come, too," Leonie said. "Every woman who was at that ball will want to see the creations that could give a woman confidence enough to reject a duke. Sophy, my love, you've outdone yourself."

"Leonie's right," Marcelline said. "Excellent work, love. Brilliant, actually. I would have stood there with my mouth hanging open and my mind completely blank. But you saw how to turn it to account, as you always do."

"Your mind never goes blank," Sophy said. "We've all mastered the art of quick thinking. And this was the easiest thing in the world. But now we've got to give them something to see. What dress shall we put out?"

"Leave it to me and Marcelline," Leonie said. "You need to get more rest. The ton will be all atwitter about last night, and the other scandal sheets will rush to copy this piece. It'll be all over London by afternoon. It's going to be a busy day, and you've had only a few hours' sleep."

Marcelline had had no sleep, but they didn't need to know that. She'd been lying awake in her bed, reminding herself she'd done the right thing, the only thing. If there had been an alternative, she would have jumped at it. But there wasn't: She and her sisters had devoted themselves to winning Lady Clara's loyalty. They'd given their utmost to make more of her than she realized she was.

Clevedon had to marry her. That was the whole point.

That was why Marcelline had pursued him in Paris, mad scheme that it was. The d.u.c.h.ess of Clevedon was their direct route to success. She'd end Dowdy's dominance. Then the perverse incompetent who called herself a dressmaker would no longer have the power to undermine them.

That was the plan. The d.u.c.h.ess of Clevedon had been the main objective.

Lady Clara was not going to be the d.u.c.h.ess of Clevedon-not after that speech, in front of an audience. But Sophy had rescued them, which meant that the essential plan, of dominating London's dressmaking trade, remained.

Marcelline's feelings didn't come into it. Her feelings were her problem.

Sophy, on the other hand, had spent the night on her feet, working, after a long day in the shop spent mainly on her feet, working.

"I'll admit I met with a bit more excitement than I'd expected," Sophy said. "I told you I'd maneuvered to a prime position near the French windows, where I could hear every word. No one noticed me. No one notices servants. Then, when I was coming away, I ran into Lord Longmore."

Both Marcelline and Leonie looked at her, eyebrows aloft.

"Not literally," Sophy said. "But there he was. I expected he'd look right through me and continue on his way the way they all do, as though n.o.body was there. Servants, like shopkeepers, are n.o.body, after all. But he stopped dead and said, 'What are you doing here?' You could have knocked me over with a feather, but I never blinked. 'Working, sir,' said I in my best maidservant voice-you know, the one with the hint of the Lancashire country girl. 'What, did they turn you off from the shop?' said he. 'What shop?' said I. And then, as deferential as you please, I suggested he'd mixed me up with another girl. But he wasn't having any of it. He gave me a hard look, and I was sure he'd keep at the interrogation, and give me away, but then his mother started shrieking, and he rolled his eyes and went that way."

"You'd better watch out for him," Marcelline said sharply. "He's not the fool he makes out to be, and the last thing we need is another one of us getting mixed up with an aristocrat."

"I don't think he wants to get mixed up with me," Sophy said. "I think he wishes us all at the devil. I think he may even believe we are the devil."

"Let's hope the ladies of the beau monde don't feel the same way," Leonie said.

"They won't," Sophy said. She got up and started for the door. "I believe I will go back to bed. But don't let me sleep for too long. I don't want to miss the fun. Oh, and if I were you, I'd put out the grey dress."

Downes's shop, later that same day Mrs. Downes grimly regarded the dress lying on the counter. "How many does this make?" she asked her forewoman Oakes.

"Six," said Oakes.

"Lady Gorrell threw it at me," said Mrs. Downes.

"Shocking, madam." Oakes, who'd witnessed the event, wasn't at all shocked. Had she been the one to learn she'd paid a premium price for a dress exactly like one her friends had seen at Covent Garden Theater last year, she'd have reacted the same way.

Oakes had warned her employer. The sleeves, she'd pointed out when she saw the patterns-allegedly sent by Madam's a.s.sociate in Paris-were in last years' style. Mrs. Downes had a.s.sumed either that Oakes was an idiot or her customers wouldn't notice. Many of them, accustomed to trusting her implicitly, didn't. At first. But they were quickly set straight.

Only one dressmaker in London made such memorable attire for ladies, and that dressmaker was not Mrs. Downes. Her customers' eyes were soon opened by their more observant friends and relatives, who recalled seeing such and such a dress at a banquet, the theater, Hyde Park, and so on. Of a dozen orders so far, six owners had returned their purchases, furious about having paid high sums for not merely copies, but copies of last years' fashion. Mrs. Downes had been hoaxed, beyond a doubt, beautifully hoaxed.

Oakes wondered how much her employer had paid for old patterns, and how many customers she'd lose as word got about.

It was time, the forewoman thought, to find a new position.

As Clevedon had expected, the shop was mobbed that day.

He pa.s.sed it on his way to White's Club and again on his way to the boot makers, the hat makers, the wine merchant, and others. He'd shopped for things he didn't need, simply to keep in St. James's Street. He was waiting for Maison Noirot's eager throngs to melt away.

He'd read the Morning Spectacle, as had most of the Beau Monde, apparently. He wasn't amazed at Foxe's having got hold of the story. The man was noted for that. The detail was another matter. Clearly, Foxe had planted a spy in their midst.

The spy could be none other than Miss Sophia. The story-entirely about the dress, lovingly described, with the dressmaking establishment prominently mentioned-was in her dramatic style. To have done all that in time for today's edition, she had to have been on the spot.

That, actually, was a relief.

His one great worry was that last night's debacle would mark the end of Maison Noirot. The ton would blame Mrs. Noirot for leading him astray, and they'd shun her, as she'd warned him time and again. Clara would never return to the shop, and Mrs. Noirot would be marked down as a temptress and a harlot. Henceforth the ladies would have nothing to do with her.

But the ladies came today in an endless parade, stepping down from their carriages and peeping into the shop windows before going in. At this rate, they'd wear out the shop bell.

. . . a dress that inspired its wearer not only with the confidence to decline the addresses of a duke but with the fire of poetry...

The impudence of it pa.s.sed all bounds.

Typical. The impudence of those Noirot women was beyond anything. And like all else they did, the article was well done, indeed. He would have liked to hug Sophia for it, but Sophia wasn't the first person on his mind.

It wasn't Sophia who'd kept him awake all night.

It wasn't Sophia who'd got him up to pace and argue with himself. A futile argument.

From the time he'd escaped the party, from the time he'd stood on the pavement and realized why he was shaking, he'd seen there was only one way to put an end to this farce.

And so he waited until the afternoon waned and the ladies had gone home to dress for the ritual promenade in Hyde Park.

Then he crossed to the other side of St. James's Street and entered Maison Noirot.

The shop bell tinkled, and Marcelline thought, Will they never go home?

She was happy, of course. This had been a day like no other-not even the day after she'd returned from Paris and the ladies had come to stare at the poussiere dress. Today, though, herds of women had come. Their old shop could never have contained them all. As it was, she needed to find at least six more seamstresses in no time at all, otherwise they would never complete all the orders by the dates promised.

All this went through her head in the instant before she lifted her gaze from the tray of ribbons she was sorting, and looked toward the door.

Her heart beat painfully.

The gentleman stepped inside, and stopped and looked about. He did it exactly in the way all gentleman did when entering a shop for the first time: gazing coolly about them, evaluating what they saw, deciding whether it was worth their notice, and taking no notice of the lowly shopkeeper behind the counter.

But this wasn't the first time he'd been here and this wasn't any gentleman.

This was Clevedon, tall and arrogant, his hat tipped precisely so, his black hair curling under the brim. He carried a gold-tipped walking stick, and as he paused to examine the shop, he set both hands on it. His tan gloves fit like skin. She could see the outlines of his knuckles.

His hands, his hands.

She remembered his hand stroking down her back. Cupping her face. Sliding over her breast. Gliding between her legs.

Had this been any other gentleman, any shopkeeper would have stepped out from behind the counter, prepared to give him personal and exclusive attention.

She stayed where she was, bracing her hands on the counter. "Good afternoon, your grace," she said.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Noirot." He took off his hat and bowed.

She dipped a quick curtsey.

He set his hat on a chair, then walked to the mannequin and inspected her dress.

It was a dark grey tulle, a color called "London Smoke," which the lavish pink satin bodice trim set off beautifully. Richly embroidered roses and twining leaves adorned the skirt.

"That looks very... French," he said.

"I always dress the mannequin more dashingly and flamboyantly than I would dress my customers," she said. "After seeing what the mannequin is wearing, they're less likely to become hysterical when I propose something rather more exciting than they're accustomed to."

He smiled a little and came to the counter. "How fitting," he said. "You are something rather more exciting than some of us are accustomed to."

"Not some," she said. "All of you. Maison Noirot is not the usual thing."

"I couldn't agree more," he said. "I was glad to see that Miss Sophia turned last night's debacle to good account. But of course, I should have expected no less."

"I expected a good deal more from you," Marcelline said. "You bungled it."

"Yes," he said. "What else could I do? I was asking the wrong woman to marry me."

Her heart seemed to stop beating altogether. She felt dizzy.

He moved to the door and turned the sign to Closed.

"We are not closed," she said. Her voice seemed to come from miles away.

"You've had enough business for one day," he said.

"You do not determine how much business is enough," she said.

He came back to the counter. "Come out from behind there," he said.

"Absolutely not."

He smiled. That was all he did. But to say smile conveyed nothing. Anybody could smile. What he did-only Sophy could have words for it.

His beautiful mouth turned up, a little crookedly, and his green eyes regarded her with an amused affection that went straight to her pounding heart, and left her disarmed and weak and wanting.

"I need all the customers I can get," she said. "I'm not at all sure that Lady Clara will return-"

"You know she will. For more dresses to give her the strength to contend with stupid men."

"-and since there's to be no d.u.c.h.ess of Clevedon in the immediate future, I'll have to make up for it with lesser mortals."

"I was thinking," he said, "that you ought to be the d.u.c.h.ess of Clevedon."

She stood for a moment, speechless for once in her life, though she'd sensed trouble coming. Even so, as fine-tuned as her instincts were, she couldn't take it in. She thought her ears must be playing tricks. Or he was playing tricks.

She was tired. It had been a long, very busy day, after a sleepless, wretched night-after hearing the news from Sophy and not knowing whether to laugh with relief or weep with despair, for all her plans and all she'd borne. All for nothing. She'd done her best, and she'd paid a price higher than she'd ever imagined. Then, when Sophy came home and told them what had happened, Marcelline had looked around at all her hopes and dreams for their future, smashed to pieces.

She took a steadying breath. Breathing wasn't enough. She needed to sit down. She needed a strong drink.

She said, "Have you lost your mind?"

He said, "I don't know about my mind. My heart, yes."

She scrambled for her wits. "I know what this is. You had a shock to your sensibilities. There was that beautiful girl, the one you've loved all your life-"

"Like a sister. She was right. You were right."

"You're still in shock," she said. "Angry, I dare say. She humiliated you. In front of everybody. People applauded her, I understand."

"Did Miss Sophia tell you that? I deduced, from today's Morning Spectacle, that she'd been there. Her style is unmistakable."

She couldn't let him distract her. "The point is, you're striking back."