Page 43 of Lady for a Season
Maggie wanted to laugh at the idea of gentle Edward going hunting, but the simpering dancing master was too busy adjusting her posture to notice.
“Your Grace need have no fears, I can assure you that within a few weeks they will both be the delight of any ballroom.”
“They had better be,” said the Duchess. “I am in correspondence with Lady Jersey, and she assures me that vouchers for Almack’s will be dispatched to us as soon as theseason opens.” She considered for a moment. “You will also instruct them in the waltz,” she added. “It may not be required, but I have heard that it is being danced more often now, even in respectable circles. It would not do to seem behind the times, and it may well lead to a… hastening… of affections for a suitable partner.”
“As Your Grace requires.” The dancing master bowed. Maggie wondered whether he was physically able to address the Duchess without bowing. But she appeared satisfied and left the room.
“There are not many steps to master in order to be able to perform most dances at a ball,” began the dancing master. “So, we will commence with the travelling steps, these include the Allemande, the Chassé, the Waltz, the Fleuret and the Strathspey.” He nodded to the accompanying pianist, and they began.
By the end of the first lesson Maggie’s head was swimming with trying to recollect everything. He had said there were only a few steps, but they ran into one another, and she kept forgetting which was which. Edward, she could tell, had already received this kind of instruction, the steps coming back to him.
“Step, close, step, hop!”
Maggie landed from her hop and the dancing master looked horrified.
“Land withdelicacy, Miss Seton. Your Grace, do notbounceso much, you will lose dignity.”
“I am too much a spring lamb and you, apparently, too much a carthorse,” whispered Edward, his eyes gleaming with humour.
“Shush,” begged Maggie, trying not to laugh. “I have forgotten what thetems levépart is. Why are there so many words?”
“Today we will progress to the setting steps,” said the dancing master with every indication of apparent confidence that Edward and Maggie could even remember the travelling steps.
And on it went. From travelling steps to setting steps, then flourishes and punctuation steps. The dancing lessons occasionally required Celine and Joseph to join them, to better understand the criss-crossing of partners through sets.
“Andsmile,” reminded the dancing master for what felt like the hundredth time in the past hour. “A mis-step with an easy smile may be forgiven, while perfect steps with a sullen demeanour will not.”
Maggie pasted a smile onto her face and giggled when she saw Edward doing the same.
“No giggling,” remonstrated the dancing master. “A lady does not laugh out loud, for fear of seeming reckless in her manner.”
Maggie bit back her giggles, thinking of the times when Edward and she had been reduced to helpless fits of laughter at some foolish incident, like the time Maggie had lost a shoe in the stream or when an apple had fallen on Edward’s head. Was that reckless behaviour? It had only seemed good-natured to her, raising Edward’s spirits. She made sure her face was appropriately composed with only a small smile showing but did not dare meet Edward’s eye in case he made her laugh again.
But they progressed over the weeks that followed. Maggie’s steps and landings becoming daintier, Edward’s statelier. The dancing master professed himself satisfied that they were able to perform a minuet, a cotillion and a quadrille to his satisfaction.
“Today we will begin the waltz,” he said. “Now, you will know that this is a new dance and was until recently considered unsuitable for a respectable ball, but it has grown in fashion and so it is wise, as Her Grace has suggested, to be at least competent in it, should it be called. As a matter of etiquette, the dance is more… intimate, owing to the close proximity of the couple. It is therefore appropriate that it should only be danced where a lady has been chosen for a gentleman to dance with by either her chaperone or the Master of the Ceremonies. A gentleman shouldnot propose it himself to an unknown lady for fear of seeming too forward in his attentions. It is often danced by those couples who are recently engaged or where there is strong evidence of an understanding. With those points understood, we will proceed to the correct starting position.”
Edward and Maggie stood opposite one another.
“Closer together. Your right arm about the other’s waist,” instructed the master. “Then the left, hold it up, curved above your head, and clasp your partner’s hand, thus creating a circle through which you will face one another.”
They stepped closer, their faces now only a hand’s breadth apart. Maggie felt suddenly shy. She and Edward had touched many times, of course, he offered her his arm several times a day, she touched or held him when his nightmares were bad, but now they were standing pressed together, hands clasped, his other hand firm on her waist. She had thought the fuss over the waltz overblown by the dancing master and his endless rules, but now that the dance was to begin, she understood why this dance had been frowned upon. There was an intimacy to it.
“And begin the travelling step we have learnt, and as you do so, you rotate,” instructed the master.
She trod on Edward’s toe at once.
“I’m sorry!”
He shook his head, smiling, his steps neat and precise. Maggie focused and slowly the rhythm became smoother. Edward’s hand tightened on her waist, and she felt him begin to guide her, their steps synchronised so that there was a sway to the dance, the spinning no longer jerky little adjustments of direction but fluid, soft. Maggie gazed up at Edward through the circle of their arms and saw his face serene and certain. It made her smile, and he smiled back.
“The left arm now lowers, the lady places both hands on thegentleman’s shoulders and the gentleman places both hands on the lady’s waist, continue the rotation.”
Maggie placed both her hands on Edward’s shoulders, surprised for a moment to find them broader and firmer than she had expected. He was growing stronger from eating better and exercising more. The thought made her happy, and she held onto him more tightly, confident in his strength. His hands tightened about her waist in response, guiding them to a faster pace. For a giddy moment, Maggie was being whirled around, held in his strong hands, entirely in his control, so that she need only feel the music and respond to it, without worrying about the steps, which suddenly came naturally to her, guided as she was by Edward’s certainty.
“Somewhat too fast, Your Grace, but very poised. I believe we may consider the waltz instruction complete.”
Maggie wished the master had not called a halt so soon. The rest of the dances, even when they had grown better at them, had been enjoyable but always requiring of thought, counting the steps in one’s head or being careful not to step the wrong way, and the dancing master had always had something to say about whatever they were doing, with endless reminders of form and etiquette. But the waltz, for a moment, had been different, as though she and Edward were alone together inside the music. She had seen – no,felt– his confidence in directing their progress around the floor and it had given her the freedom to enjoy the moment, to feel herself graceful in his arms, responding to his guiding touch.
