Kleypas Lisa - The Wallflowers 1 - Secrets Of A Summer Night, Kleypas Lisa
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Secrets of a summer night
By
Lisa kleypas
To Julie Murphy,
for taking care of Griffin and Lindsay with such love, endless patience and skill…
for lending your many talents to the business side of my career…
for being a cherished member of our family…
And most of all, for being you.
Love always,
L.K.
Prologue
London, 1841
Although Annabelle Peyton had been warned all her life never to take money from
strangers, she made an exception one day …and quickly discovered why she should have
heeded her mother‟s advice.
It was one of her brother Jeremy‟s rare holidays from school, and as was their habit, he
and Annabelle had gone to see the latest panorama show in Leicester Square. It had
taken two weeks of household economy to save the money necessary to pay for the
tickets. As the only surviving offspring of the Peyton family, Annabelle and her younger
brother had always been unusually close despite the ten-year difference in their ages.
Childhood illnesses had taken the two infants who had been born after Annabelle, neither
of them having lived to see their first birthday.
“Annabelle,” Jeremy said as he returned from the panorama ticket stand, “do you have
any more money?”
She shook her head and gave him a quizzical glance. “I‟m afraid not. Why?”
Sighing shortly, Jeremy pushed back a swath of honey-colored hair that had fallen over
his forehead. “They‟ve doubled the price for this showapparently it‟s far more expensive
than their usual production.”
“The advertisement in the paper said nothing about higher prices,” Annabelle said
indignantly. Lowering her voice, she muttered, “Hell‟s bells,” as she opened her drawstring
purse in the hopes of finding an overlooked coin.
The twelve-year-old Jeremy cast a grim glance at the huge banner that had been hung
over the columned entrance of the panorama theater….THE FALL OF THEROMAN EMPIRE:
A SHOW OF MAXIMUM ILLUSION WITH DIORAMIC VIEWS . Since its opening a fortnight
earlier, the show had been crammed with visitors who had been impatient to experience
the wonders of the Roman Empire and its tragic fall“like going back in time”people
raved afterward. The usual sort of panorama consisted of a canvas hung in a circular
room, surrounding viewers with an intricately painted scene. Sometimes music and special
lighting were used to make the view even more entertaining, while a lecturer moved
around the circle to describe faraway places or famous battles.
According to theTimes , however, this new production was a “dioramic” view, which
meant that the painted canvas was made of transparent oiled calico, illuminated from the
front and sometimes from the back, with special filtered lights. Three hundred and fifty
viewers stood on a roundabout in the center, which was operated by two men, so that
the entire audience was slowly rotated during the show. The interplay of light, silvered
glass, filters, and actors hired to play the part of beleaguered Romans, resulted in an
effect that was labeled an “animated exhibition.” From what Annabelle had read, the final
climactic moments of simulated erupting volcanoes was so realistic that some of the
women in the audience had screamed and fainted.
Taking the purse from Annabelle‟s busy hands, Jeremy pulled the drawstring and handed
it back to Annabelle. “We have enough for one ticket,” he said in a matter-of-fact
manner. “You go inside. I didn‟t want to see the show anyway.”
Knowing that he was lying for her benefit, Annabelle shook her head. “Absolutely not.You
go in. I can see a panorama anytime I wantyou‟re the one who‟s always away at school.
And the show is only a quarter hour long. I will visit one of the nearby shops while you‟re
inside.”
“Shopping with no money?” Jeremey asked, his blue eyes frankly skeptical. “Oh, that
sounds like loads of fun.”
“The point of shopping is to look at things, not to buy.”
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