Page 10 of A Sense of Injustice
The girl’s performance was at best mediocre. She hit several wrong notes without appearing to realise it. She chose to play a popular melody that Flora thought an unwise selection. Something not well known would have made her lack of prowess less apparent. When she opened her mouth to sing along, Flora felt acutely embarrassed on her behalf. She really was appallingly lacking in talent, but didn’t seem to realise it. When her performance came to an end it was greeted with muted applause.
‘Your turn,’ the countess said, giving Flora a nudge.
‘Absolutely not! You know I don’t play, ma’am. Please don’t insist.’
‘Ah, but I do.’ There was a gleam in the countess’s eye.
‘No one will mind if you aren’t very good,’ Miss Gregory added. Her eyes were gleaming too, but with malice rather than suppressed mischief.
‘Well, you would know all about that, miss,’ the countess said, giving Miss Gregory the benefit of her haughtiest look.
Flora claimed to have no musical ability, although it was far from the truth. Forced to play religious music throughout her childhood, she had happily given up the instrument once she came to Beranger Court. But recently she’d taken it up again, playing in private for her own pleasure on an old upright piano in the schoolroom. How did the countess know? She never ventured into that part of the house.
Flora dithered, sensing the curiosity of all the gentlemen in the room focused upon her. They would none of them force her to do anything that made her uncomfortable, she knew, but Miss Gregory was not held back by any such considerations. She really was a horribly spiteful young woman whose attitude brought Flora’s competitive instincts, such as they were, to the fore.
‘Very well, ma’am,’ she said with patent reluctance. ‘If you insist. But be warned, I am very rusty.’
Flora noticed the satisfaction in Miss Gregory’s expression as she passed her on the way to the piano. Sam had joined Luke and Lord Hardwick at the back of the room, leaving no space for her to force herself upon them. She pouted and took the only vacant chair beside her uncle.
Flora seated herself at the instrument, took a moment to compose herself, and then started to play from memory.Breach of Promise of Marriage,the popular song from the operettaTrial by Jurystruck just the right light-hearted note. Flora had secretly practised it when she still lived in Cathedral Close, on the rare occasions when she could be assured of privacy. A small act of rebellion against the only type of music she was ordinarily permitted to play. The opening chords were greeted with deafening silence, then everyone started to sing the words. When the rendition came to an end, the applause was deafening.
‘You are a dark horse, Flora,’ Henry remarked from his seat beside Louise. ‘We none of us knew you could play. And yet you play superbly.’
‘Thank you, Henry, but I have yet to decide how the countess knew about my secret passion.’ She narrowed her eyes at her charge. ‘I have never mentioned it to her.’
‘Ha! I am not deaf, you know, nor stupid either,’ the countess cackled gleefully. ‘And I have eyes in the back of my head too, in case you were not aware.’
‘Evidently,’ Flora said smiling.
More songs were requested, the atmosphere remained cheerfully informal and Flora remained at the instrument until the party showed signs of breaking up.
‘You are full of surprises. Henry’s right about that.’ Luke’s voice sounded close to Flora’s ear as she tidied away the music.
‘Allow me a little mystique, my lord.’
‘Why have you not played for us before? You are easily the most talented musician I have heard perform in this room for months. You could have saved us from all those other tedious renditions.’
Flora smiled. ‘It has taken me a while to reawaken my love of playing. Papa always made me perform for his visiting dignitaries. But needless to say, operetta did not form a part of my repertoire.’
‘Of course. I understand.’ Flora noticed Miss Gregory hovering in the periphery of her vision. She had been unable to get anywhere near Luke since the music had started and was clearly desperate to reclaim his attention. Luke gave her a dismissive look and turned his attention back to Flora. ‘Come back down once Grandmamma is settled,’ he said softly. ‘I have a present for you.’
‘A present?’ Flora sent him an inquisitive look. ‘I don’t require presents from you.’
‘Nevertheless.’ He sent her an enigmatic smile as he sauntered away. ‘Until later.’
Chapter Three
Luke felt relieved when their guests finally took their leave. With Archie and his grandmother in such fine form, the evening was never going to end prematurely. Luke would have enjoyed himself but for the fact that Miss Gregory had become an increasing irritant as the hours wore on, taking every opportunity to monopolise his company. Luke had been stuck with the tiresome chit for the entire course of the meal while Archie flirted outrageously with Flora at the other end of the table.
The situation had not left Luke in the best of tempers.
He lost all patience and was close to being impolite when Miss Gregory invented excuses to linger at the end of the evening, batting her lashes at him like a demented owl and touching his arm in a desperate attempt to make an impression. She succeeded, but in a negative manner. Luke had a great deal of respect for Squire Exton but he wouldn’t be receiving any further invitations to Beranger Court until his niece had left the district.
When just the family and Archie were left, Flora thanked them all for making her day so special.
‘It is we who should be grateful to you, dearest Flora,’ Mary said, impulsively kissing Flora’s cheek.
‘Thank you for your company,’ Archie said, making do with kissing the back of her hand.
