A Lady of Talent Read Online Free PDF

quite becoming: simple, yet elegant and—”
    “Hideously outmoded. Why, I am sure that no one has worn sleeves like that for an age.”
    “Perhaps they are easier to work in. Someone who paints would not wish to have her movements constrained in the slightest degree by her clothing.”
    Barbara did not even deign to respond to such an absurd notion. “And to think that she is sister to a man who is so clearly alive to all that is the best in manners and costume. Did you not find the Marquess all that was charming?”
    “Who? Shelburne? I thought him what he is: a most frippery fellow whose only interest in life is consorting with other frippery fellows who waste their time, talents, and money on idle diversions. He must be a trial to someone like Lady Cecilia who undoubtedly has little enough time to fritter away on such empty amusements or on fashion.”
    “How can you say such a thing? Why his air of fashion and his address alone would make him stand out even among superior gentlemen of the ton. And as to his sister, whose sense of fashion is obviously vastly inferior, I do not know why you say that it is a question of time. Why any—”
    “But it is a question of time. A woman—or any person, for that matter, but especially a woman—who has developed her skills to such a degree that she exhibits her work at the Royal Academy is someone who is devoted to her vocation, regardless of how much natural talent she might possess. No one achieves that level of skill at anything without a great deal of work and dedication.”
    “Work.” Barbara shuddered delicately. “One wonders why she does it, for it can only be turning her into a very dull person indeed—a veritable bluestocking—when with just a little bit of help she could be almost attractive. It is a wonder her brother allows such a thing. Surely he could use his influence to introduce her to some fashionable modiste who could make her look much more the thing.”
    “From the look of it, I would say that there is very little influence anyone could exert over Lady Cecilia Manners to make her do anything she does not wish to.” Sebastian grinned at the memory of the defiant tilt of Cecilia’s chin as she had withstood his initial scrutiny. “Besides, I think her quite pretty the way she is. There is an unaffected naturalness about her that is most appealing.”
    “Naturalness?” Barbara’s delicate brows rose in horror. “That flyaway hair and paint all over her hands? She will never get anyone to marry her if she does not take more care of her appearance, title or no title.”
    “Somehow, I get the feeling that though Lady Cecilia’s interests lie in many directions, none of them is matrimonial.” Sebastian thought wistfully of the crowded studio filled with books and paintings, statuary and archeological treasures. What would it be like to know a woman who had led such an exciting life—a life that had taken her from England to Naples, to Vesuvius and Pompeii? What would it be like to talk to a woman who read instead of shopped, who spent hours in front of an easel instead of a looking glass—a woman whose conversation would focus on many things instead of mostly on herself?
    “But it is a woman’s duty to be married. How else can she look after herself? Surely Lady Cecilia is not planning to be a burden on her brother for the rest of her life? It would be most unfair of her not to exert herself in seeking out a husband.”
    “From the little I saw, I would venture to say that it is not Lady Cecilia who is the burden. It appears to me that she is doing quite well at looking after herself and possibly her brother as well, if her patrons number Princess Esterhazy, Countess Lieven, and Sir Jasper Chase among them.”
    “Sir Jasper Chase?” Barbara, who had been smiling complacently at the mention of two of Almack’s patronesses looked blankly at her fiancé.
    “The gentleman in the portrait on the easel in Lady Cecilia’s studio.”
    “What