Chapter 4: Dancing

Inside was much more tolerable, Sarah had been right. The two girls inched their way across the massive room to a settee which had recently been unoccupied. It was much more comfortable than the chairs they had sat in before leaving. They relaxed and shut their eyes but Eve's peaceful moment was interrupted by Sarah, who saw her mother approaching them with that look on her face that said she had a new piece of gossip to share. Sarah shared a look with Eve. She couldn't stand incessant talking. It wore on her nerves but she bore it quietly.

"Oh, Miss Cromwell, it is a delight to see you," Mrs. Rothschild squealed in her thick French accent.

"And you too-." Eve was barely able to get another word in.

"I see your father has met up with an old friend, yes? It is highly surprising to me that they are friends."

"Mama," Sarah cut her mother off, "have you seen Jacob?".

"I haven't seen your brother dear, he's been walking all over the place. He barely sits still anymore-"

"Could you find him for me?" Sarah pleaded, knowing very well it would keep her mother busy for quite some time.

"Well of course dear," her mother smiled widely and waddled off on her quest to find Sarah's twin brother.

"You are quite sneaky, Miss Sarah," Eve giggled. Sarah smirked and fanned herself smugly as she watched the dancers.

"It would be nice if a man asked us to dance," Sarah said hopefully.

"You and I haven't been asked to dance by a desirable man for quite some time. Perhaps because all the young men are married. This small town has not left many choices in men," Eve said in a joking manner, "My sister, however, took to flirting with every man with a full pocket book, no matter their age, and has made herself quite a collection of handsome suitors to dance with, leaving me none. They all seem a bit preoccupied with her, don't they?"

"The only reason they don't ask you is because they know your reputation for being intelligent and many of these men wish to have- well," Sarah made a motion towards Anne. It wasn't that Anne was unintelligent. She just found her lessons to be quite boring and preferred to have more fun than to discipline herself. Sarah looked over at Anne and laughed. The girl was only sixteen and had already been proposed to several times, three times by the same man, who happened to be three times her age and had somehow desperately fallen in love with her, however, he didn't have enough money to keep Anne's interests. The girl truly baffled Eve and Sarah alike and they worried for her, knowing she was too naive and selfish to choose the right man and fall in love with him for reasons other than the size of his income.

"Yes, she's made quite a little collection for herself," Sarah said jokingly.

"Well, at least when I see her happily smiling as she dances, my pining for a good man to ask me to dance goes away," Eve smiled, "for a short while, though."

"I do not have any sisters to live happily through, so I can pine away to my little heart's desire all night," Sarah said with a slight hint of laughter in her voice.

"That's not good for your health, Sarah," Eve sarcastically responded, "remember, girls are poor and insipid little things with weak hearts and fluttering emotions and if our dreams of dancing are dashed, then our health will be frail. So, don't think of dancing and then perhaps you'll stay healthy."

"Oh, Eve," Sarah said as she nudged Eve's arm, "You know as well I that what those doctors say about the 'frailty' of women is no more true than fairy tales."

Eve laughed with Sarah and as the dancing song ended, they grew quiet and Anne darted towards them excitedly. Sarah secretly rolled her eyes.

"He wishes to dance again with me," Anne said jovially. Eve and Sarah looked at one another in knowing.

"And you're surprised?" Sarah asked Anne.

"No," Anne answered bluntly, "but I thought I should tell you."

"Oh, go dance, Anne," Eve urged her on "You can't make me feel badly about being a wall flower, dear."

"You choose to be a wall flower. I can't make you feel terribly for your own decision but I can try," Anne joked back as Eve light heartedly shooed her off by smacking her bum with her fan as she walked away.

The violins and drums began to play a happy and jovial tune. Everyone started to clap with the beat as the young dancers all lined up together and began to skip around one another and join hands and dance in circles. Eve loved the jovial country dances of France. They were much more refreshing than the gliding elegance of the private English balls she had attended too much in her days. It was a breath of fresh air.

Eve was too caught up with music and the commotion that she didn't realize that her rescuer, Mr. Villeneuve, was standing next to her. When the dance had begun her father excused Jean and urged him to ask Eve to dance. Jean, not being the type of man to take directions from another man, just glared at this friend. Mr. Cromwell laughed.

"Oh, yes, I forgot, you don't like being ordered around do you, my old friend?" he smirked, "Well, consider it as an urging and not an order. For once, don't let your hard headedness keep you from taking a suggestion."

Jean chuckled and shook his head, "I don't dance much these days. I'm already too tired from being forced to earlier in the evening."

"You're not too old to enjoy the company of a young woman," Mr. Cromwell smiled as his wife looked up at him, "My daughter is a lovely dancer but I haven't seen her dance for quite some time. I'm sure you couldn't keep up with her, anyways," he joked, knowing that Jean also didn't like it when people underestimated him. He shot a look at his friend and immediately started walking towards Eve, who didn't even notice. Mr. Cromwell chuckled and his wife pinched his arm.

"Why can't you just let our dear little Eve rest for a night?" his wife finally spoke up.

"She wants to dance, look at her, she's almost bouncing out of her seat and he is probably the only one she would agree to dance with. She finds almost every young man too unworthy to be a suitor in this town. All though, Anne's taken most of them," he joked. He led his wife over to where Eve was sitting. He wanted to witness the look on her face.

Jean cleared his throat. The music was a bit loud but it finally quieted down a bit. The musicians argued about what song to play next and it took the hostess shouting at the top of her lungs to tell them what to play. During the commotion, Eve looked up at him in shock.

"I was wondering if you would do me the honor," he put his hand out and smiled down at her. Sarah smirked and looked over at Eve, who was frozen. Mr. Cromwell took Eve's hand and forced her to stand up, placing her hand in Jean's so that she couldn't refuse, all though, he thought it was highly unlikely that she would. Eve's mother cleared her throat and gave her husband another admonishing look.

"Come now, Eve," he laughed, "the man's been wishing to dance with you all night. Don't just stand there."

Eve looked at the dance floor while everyone lined up. The squeaky little voice of the hostess rang out as she announced the dance. She seemed a bit agitated after the little fight she had been in with the musicians.

"It's a country dance, Eve, you must go!" Sarah motioned her hands quickly.

Before she knew it, the music had begun and she was swaying, twirling and clapping with everyone else. It was intoxicating, so much so, time flew too fast and when the song ended, she expected to head back to where she was sitting but she had no time to think as another song began. However, the man who grabbed her to dance was not Jean. It was the loathsome Lord Douglas, a man Eve wanted to avoid with every fiber of her being but since she didn't wish to draw attention to herself, she allowed him to dance with her. Jean, as a gentleman, made his way to the side of the room with a look of contempt stained on his face. Mrs. Cromwell leaned over as the music began.

"I haven't seen her laugh like that in ages," she said with a smile, "you should be quite happy to know you brought some joy back to her. Unfortunately, it had to be short lived." She sneered at Lord Douglas, knowing what kind of man he was but her husband of course, only knowing how vast his fortune was, was delighted.

The music began and Eve became very uncomfortable.

"Miss Cromwell, I haven't seen you in months," he whispered as he twirled her. She was glad when she could pull away from him and switch partners but when she had to go back to him, she knew exactly what she was going to say.

"That's no fault of mine, good sir," she lied.

"I almost forgot how-" he tried to finish his sentence but she glided away from him again.

"-uncomfortable I am around you?" Eve finished his sentence very bluntly with a decently bright smile on her face. She knew the song would be finishing soon.

"I was going to say beautiful, you know your teasing makes me want to be around you more," he raised his voice as she danced away again. Everyone around them couldn't help but try to listen in now.

"Oh, Lord Douglas, whatever would make you want to be around little me?" Eve spoke loudly back, "with my books and my sharp tongue?"

The history they shared was quite intense. Ever since Eve had came of age and entered "society" Lord Douglas couldn't help but be drawn to her. She had been quite smitten with him when she first met him. Unfortunately, his luck made a turn for the worst with her when he made the mistake of putting her down. It was when she was eighteen. She had been quite smitten with him secretly up until that moment when he revealed to her that her books were spoiling her mind. In fact, they were nearly to be engaged at that time, which was only time her father relented and left Eve in peace about marriage. However, the veil had been lifted from her eyes and her foolish youthful thoughts of him fell away. Unluckily for her, he read her disinterested manners towards him as something else entirely and was thrilled by it. It was a change for him. Most women crumbled at his feet once they learned of his fortune and estates but Eve had a spark about her which he couldn't quite pin down.

Lord Douglas smirked at her and the music finally stopped. Eve glared at him and walked away but she didn't head for her seat next to Sarah. She left the ballroom and Sarah followed.

Mr. Cromwell's face turned red but the look on Mrs. Cromwell's face was one of smug happiness, which Jean caught as she winked at him. He tried to act like he hadn't seen it but he couldn't.

...

While her father fumed the entire trip back to their home, Eve was thinking. Jean was kind and a warmth in his eyes called to her. In fact, she had been able to carry on a conversation with him. Perhaps because she hadn't thought of him as a possible suitor, she was able to talk to him and even look him in the eyes. She didn't feel nervous or jumpy around him like she did with men her father tried to push on her. She felt a lot more calm around him and she, in return, had done the same for him.

"Your indignant behavior towards Lord Douglas was very unwise, Eve," he finally chided her, "Badly done!"

"Oh father, you should have learned by now how I feel for him," Eve snapped back.

"He may be undesirable to you but love grows, Eve," he urged her.

"Father-"

"He has a wonderful estate and many others, for that matter, and title," he tried to encourage her but she looked out the window and blocked him out, "you used to like him. What happened?"

"George," her mother spoke up, "no matter how hard you try, it will never be. Accept it."

"Father, at least there's another rich man who has eyes for Eve," Anne said quite bluntly. Eve slowly turned her head towards her in shock.

"Jean is-"

"Oh but father he's very rich apparently. I heard his father in law died and left his fortune and estates to him since he was his only male relative and since his father died also, he has quite a large sum now. Not as much as Lord Douglas' fortune I will admit but still quite nice. His estate is one of magnificent beauty, or so I've been told," Anne directed her words towards Eve, who was trying not to listen.

"The last time I saw Jean he was a spindly young man with only a small allowance from his father and then he headed off to become an officer. His father was a very well off man but I thought Jean had an older-"

"He died at sea," Anne chimed in. Eve looked over at her little sister. She began to wonder where Anne had learned so much about the man she had only spoken two words to that night.

"Oh goodness, Anne, I hope you weren't gossiping with Mrs. LaRoque again," her mother interrupted.

Anne didn't answer and Eve smirked. Her sister was drawn to gossip like a hen to seeds. Eve sometimes wondered if it was the only thing that made her get out of bed in the morning.