“So you always say, and never manage,” replied her aunt.
“Surely we could speak to some of these girls’ friends?”
“Señora Alvarez can talk to them all in their own languages,” put in Tom before Miss Julia Grandison could voice the refusal she clearly intended. “Makes things a deal easier.”
“Indeed?” said the formidable chaperone. Clearly her doubts about Teresa were growing. “And what things would those be?”
The four young ladies seemed simply interested. Miss Deeping spoke for them. “Perhaps you would go with us back to the theater now, Señora Alvarez, and we could…”
“No!” said Lord Macklin and Miss Julia Grandison with one voice. “The dancers will be tired after the performance,” added the former.
They might well be, Teresa thought. But right now they were being ogled by amorous men in their retiring room, fending off or welcoming the sort of offers these young ladies knew nothing about. She nearly said this aloud just out of perversity, to provoke a reaction from the older woman.
“Well, tomorrow then,” said Miss Deeping. She glanced at her friends and received their approval.
“I am fully occupied tomorrow,” said the elder Miss Grandison. “Not to mention utterly opposed to this scheme. I shall tell your mothers what you propose, and then I wash my hands of this whole matter.”
“Please don’t do that, Aunt,” replied her niece. “Tell them, I mean. We promise to behave with perfect propriety.”
The two Grandison women faced off. The aunt was fierce, Teresa thought, but the younger one looked able to hold her own.
“Señora Alvarez could be your chaperone,” said Tom. “His lordship could come along as well.”
Teresa gazed at Tom in astonishment, and then found all eyes turned to her once again. She felt the weight of their attention. Lord Macklin had vouched for her by inviting her to the play, whether he had meant to or not. She could not deny her suitability as a chaperone without speaking of things she didn’t care for them to know. They had no right. Well, let him solve the problem he had created. She waited for some devious denial.
“I would be most happy to escort you,” said Lord Macklin.
“I’ll come as well,” said the duke.
The younger nobleman clearly fell in with anything the earl suggested. Teresa noted, for future reference, that she couldn’t expect independent opinions from the Duke of Compton. “I don’t—” she began.
“Splendid,” interrupted Miss Deeping. “That’s settled then.” Of the four young ladies, she was obviously the most assertive and the most interested in this problem.
It was rather like stepping into a stream and realizing that the current was much stronger than it had appeared, Teresa thought, feeling that she was about to be carried away.
The young ladies smiled hopefully at her. Teresa silently resisted. Of course she knew the duties of a chaperone. Indeed, she might be better able to protect young ladies from hazards than those who had never had all the conventions of society come crashing down around their ears. That didn’t make this a good idea. “I have obligations,” she said. “I cannot.” No need to mention that they involved painting scenery in a plebeian workshop. She gave Lord Macklin, who knew this very well, a sharp glance. His eyes glinted back at her with…amusement? What was the man thinking?
But her reluctance had the unanticipated effect of mollifying the elder Miss Grandison. She looked at Teresa as if they had become comrades with a common cause. “I suppose, if they are properly overseen,” she grumbled.
“I don’t think—” Teresa tried again.
“One time only,” interrupted Miss Julia Grandison. “I will not condone this nonsense beyond that.”
Once again, everyone gazed at Teresa. Several looked ready to argue if she objected again. It didn’t seem worth the trouble. “Oh, very well. One visit. I really cannot promise more than that.”
“Very right.” Miss Grandison began herding her charges toward the door. “And now we must go.”
The party dissolved as wraps were fetched and donned. Under cover of the hubbub, Teresa quietly asked Miss Deeping, “Why do you wish to help opera dancers?” She was curious.
“Because they are in trouble. Or might be.” The girl spoke as if this was obvious.
“You do not think they have ‘brought it on themselves’?” That was the attitude of most of society.
“It being the trouble? Or some more sweeping indictment?”
This was an intelligent girl, Teresa thought. And so perhaps her friends were as well. But she expected they would lose interest in Tom’s “mystery” before too long. Their sort didn’t really care about the fate of the so-called lower classes.
Tom grinned at Teresa as he set her shawl around her shoulders. “I’ll arrange everything,” he said.
She suddenly suspected that he had already been doing so, on a larger scale than she’d realized.
Five
When the next day came, Arthur had doubts about the visit between a group of sheltered young ladies and the theater opera dancers. There seemed to be many ways it could go wrong. It seemed that Tom must know this, as he must have noticed that Señora Alvarez hadn’t been pleased to be named chaperone for the outing. Her face had shown that she was being drawn into a position she disliked.
Arthur had thought of trying to cancel the outing, but he didn’t think the young ladies would listen. Tom had known just what to say to rouse their interest. They would simply go anyway. In the end, Arthur could only send his roomiest carriage to make the rounds and fetch the feminine contingent while he and Compton walked together to the theater where Tom awaited them all.
At least the expedition was not unprecedented, Arthur thought as they strode through the London streets. The theater offered daytime tours, on formal application, to those interested in its inner workings. People were shown the wardrobe, the machinery above and below the stage, provisions for preventing and extinguishing fire. This would not be quite like that, of course, but it could be made to sound so if questions arose.
“Do you think this is a good idea?” asked the young man at his side as if he had read Arthur’s thoughts.
“I’m not certain,” he replied.
“Ada doesn’t really understand about opera dancers.”
“They are not thought a fit subject for young ladies.” Although Miss Julia Grandison’s attitude must have given even a stupid girl a strong hint. And these four were far from stupid.
“No.” The young duke frowned as they strode along. “Do you think I should have forbidden it?”