“Will thees affect our cut?” Dagmar asks. Her voice is as deep and Germanic as Cora expected. Dagmar’s eyes dart sharply to Cora’s, as if daring her to smirk.
“Our new friend’s contribution in firmly securing our fifth investor will ensure even larger cuts for all of us,” Alice says, prompting a grunt of approval from Dagmar. “If, that is, she proves amenable to instruction.”
“But that’s just it,” Cora sputters. “Instruction in what?”
“Everything,” Alice says, helpful as ever.
Béatrice smiles warmly, which sets Cora more at ease. “We shall need to turn you into a lady.”
“By January. A matter of months. There are infinitesimalironclad rules governing this world, and any violation of them will mark you as a fraud, and by extension, the rest of us.” Alice straightens, prim as a schoolmarm. “An early dinner and then to bed. Our lessons will begin promptly at eight o’clock tomorrow morning.”
The three women size Cora up and down in a detached, circumspect way that makes Cora feel very much like chattel. Is there something wrong? Does she have something on her face? She absently wipes her cheek.
Alice sighs. She turns to go, murmuring to Béatrice in a voice just loud enough for Cora to hear, “You should rest too. I’m afraid they’re going to prove very long days.”
Chapter 6
Metamorphosis
Lesson One: Comportment ~ November 11
“We shall begin with the very fundamentals,” Alice says, pacing the sitting room as Béatrice watches from the doorway. “Rise to greet me.”
Cora stands from the settee with a smile.
“No.” Alice’s voice sounds like a hatchet falling.
Cora gawks at her. “What did I get wrong?”
“Nearly everything. Stand where I am now and I will demonstrate.” Alice takes Cora’s place on the settee. Her eyes alight on Cora’s and brighten very slightly. She rises like a marionette pulled by strings. “You see? Upward without lurching, a faint smile, no teeth, mainly in the eyes. Extend a hand.”
Alice bends downward like a willow bough as she presses her gloved hand into Cora’s.
“What a pleasure to see you,” Alice says quietly. Her smile sloughs off. “Your turn. Try again.”
Cora sits. Stands. Glides elegantly to the doorway to take Alice’s hand. “What a pleasure to see you.”
“That,” Alice says, closing her eyes, “was deafening. Quiet decorum.Quiet.You must learn to modulate your voice.”
“But...” Cora stops, adjusting her volume. “What of the rest of it? The movement. Better?”
Alice and Béatrice exchange a glance. Béatrice laughs, then muffles it with her hand.
“Again,” Alice orders. “This time a little less like a puppy bounding from a basket, more like, I don’t know... a self-possessed young woman?”
Lesson Five: Table Manners ~ November 14
“Wrong. Try again.”
Cora squints so deeply at the intricately laid table that Alice worries the girl will start to form wrinkles on top of all her other now-apparent deficits. “This one?”
Cora holds up the salad fork.
“You guessed that last time.” Alice closes her eyes, breathes slowly through her nose. “Theoysterfork, Cora.”
“Why don’t you just point to it?”
“We learn best through struggle.”
