Page 20 of One Perfect Dance
He laughed when Rex handed him back the letter. The pen and ink sketch had certainly captured the essence of the wizened little man.
“You should send the little sylph a copy of our book,” Rex suggested. “She and her husband might enjoy it.”
Ash added a note about the book to the letter.
I hope you and Mr. Paddimore enjoy the little stories that Lord Arthur and I tell of our travels. They began as letters to Rex’s sisters, and it was one of them, Lady Barker, who said that they might give pleasure beyond the family circle.
Rex and I wish to send you both our kindest regards.
Your humble servant
Elijah Ashby.
“I need you to sign the flyleaf,” he told his friend.
Rex took the pen Ash held out to him and made his usual illegible scrawl in the place Ash pointed to. In the past five years, he’d managed to improve both his reading and his writing, but it was still not something he enjoyed.
They were rightly on the books as co-authors, though. Rex had a near-perfect memory, and the knack of picking the perfect word to describe sights, smells, sounds, and other details to bring a description alive.
Ash could string Rex’s ideas together into a coherent story and add his own observations.
And both of them contributed to the illustrations, Rex focusing on people and animals, and Ash on buildings and landscapes.
He put the letter inside the flyleaf to the book and began to wrap it.
Little sylphwas a good description.Was she still a sylph after nearly seven years?
The package went down to the British envoy the next day, to be included in the diplomatic post, and thus began a correspondence that would last for more than a decade.
*
Three Gables, Chelmsford, July 1809
Regina had finishedher reply to Elijah’s latest letter. His letters arrived at random intervals, always with a present tucked inside. They had become a highlight of her quiet life in the country. He claimed to appreciate her replies, and the little items she sent in return—an embroidered handkerchief, a card of pressed wildflowers, a jar of marmalade sent when one of his letters described Lord Arthur searching an oriental market for the delicacy.
She put down her pen. With her other hand on the little shoe brooch she wore, she read out loud to her husband what she had written.
Dear Mr. Ashby
I am writing to thank you for the package of shawls that arrived a few days ago. How beautiful they are, and so warm! The pretty hair ornament, too! I am amassing quite a collection of shoes!
Your accompanying letter made me feel as if I were with you in the marketplace in Acre, smelling the crisp, desert air and the wonderful spices, and hearing the bellows of camels and the shouts of hawkers. Please thank Lord Arthur for the wonderful painting of a camel and rider, which our son Geoffrey loves. We had it framed by the estate carpenter, and it now hangs in pride of place over his desk in the schoolroom.
I also wanted to let you know how much my husband and I enjoyed the most recent volume ofAdventures Around the World, by Two Gentlemen. Much though Gideon and I appreciate your signed copies, we could not wait for the next installment, so put in an order with the publisher as soon as we received your letter saying the manuscript was on its way to England.
Please give my kindest regards to Lord Arthur.
I remain,
Sincerely, your friend
Regina Paddimore.
“What do you think, Gideon?” she asked, when she had finished.
He smiled, and nodded, a short single jerk of the head. During the attack three years ago, he had been shot in the spine defending Regina from abduction and worse. It had given her time to pull out the little muff pistol he had taught her to use and prevent the assailant from taking a second shot which would surely have killed him.
He was having a bad day today, though he never complained. Regina knew, however, when the pain was close to unbearable. He would sink into himself and find even the briefest speech a strain. On such days, she would spend hours by his bed reading to him, because he had once told her that her voice helped to keep him anchored in the world.
