Love, Lies and Luck

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Ruth and Frederick Knight are close friends of the Ms. Blakes'. Ruth, an accomplished young lady of one and twenty, considered by the residents of Lifton to be the most beautiful young lady in all of England, much to Amie's dismay.

However, to the Ms. Blakes', her friendship is worth being humiliated by her superiority, as her brother Frederick follows her everywhere.

Frederick Knight is, like the Forester brothers, liked by all and very handsome. All the girls swoon over him and all the men are jealous of him. This had been the situation for the young couple since their coming out. That is until they met the Foresters. The brothers had seen no reason to be jealous of Mr. Knight, as they are just as wealthy, handsome and were accomplished in most the same things. They were all what young gentlemen ought to be.

Anna saw Ruth as someone she could converse easily with due to the fact Ruth was an intelligent young lady and on first learning of Anna's writing, whispered to her "I have never been able to write well, so I paint my stories instead. I would love to read some of your works."

Anna learned about how happy Ruth is that Frederick was so easily accepted by her brothers and that the two of them would no longer be at the mercy of Amie.  

Ruth told Alex of how Beth is such a sweet girl but is constantly out shone by Amie. It seems Beth had been secretly designing her dress for the party, for fear of Amie either copying it or demanding her dress must be better. Beth had sent an invitation to the Knights early this morning so that Ruth could get a dress from their dress maker as well.

"She knew that Amie would be more interested in making sure that she will look better than me, to even think about what Beth will be wearing. However, she did not need to bother, as she is far more interested in being jealous of you." After glancing at her brother she continued;

"You are the holder of my brother's attention this evening. He can barely take his eyes off of you. Although he is very discreet about it. He is sitting too close to your eldest brother to be more open. Oh dear, I fear your brother may have noticed actually."

"We need not worry of Calvin cornering about it. As an artist, he is too much of a libertine to take notice of who holds another's interest." Anna replied knowing full well if it had been Henry, he would have cornered her on her way to bed and demanded to know her feelings towards Mr. Knight.

"Besides, he is more likely trying to figure out if I have found a new acquaintance or whether you are faking it." Anna finished.

"Acquaintance? Heavens no. I have found a new friend." Ruth answered cheerfully.

By the end of dinner Ruth and Anna were chatting away as if they had known eachother for years, and Amie had become more and more frustrated by it.

"How about some music?" Beth spoke pointedly to Amie.

Frederick noticed how smug Amie looked and sought out a way to ruin whatever schemes she had thought up.

"Excellent idea Ms. Beth. Perhaps my sister shall do us the honour." Looking meaningfully at Ruth. "Only if Anna will play with me."

Ruth understood exactly what her brother meant easily. After all they had plenty of practice.

"Splendid idea. Anna, you and Ms. Knight must play for us." Calvin exclaimed.

"Alright, we shall play. But, I must warn you I know very few duets."

Ruth began to list off some of the duets she knew but, Anna never  played duets so she did not know any of them. "Alright, how about you play and we shall sing together instead." Ruth said feigning resignation.

She wished Frederick and Anna would fall in love and he had always loved music.

If Ruth could play her cards right, she could have the two of them singing together by the end of the night.

The two young ladies sand four duets before Ruth proclaimed, "I am sorry Anna, but I can not sing anymore with you. My voice is too tired. Perhaps someone else would join you instead." She then struck up a conversation with Captain Henry Forester who she knew would be the only brother who would sing a duet with his sister in front of strangers.

This meant that Calvin had no choice but to ask Frederick to join his sister in a duet. "Frederick, I remember you say you greatly enjoy music. Will you do us the honour?" Frederick glanced at Ms. Forester before replying "I would love to."

With that, the couple sang until the dressmakers arrived a quarter hour later. Thus completing the first part of Ruth's plan.