“Elizabeth, please,” the Marchioness smiled, “we are all friends here. I have so looked forward to meeting you, Lady Nightingale. While the men enjoy their games, I must make use of your expertise in matters of etiquette.”
Charlotte nodded gracefully and glanced at Seth. Her eyes spoke of panic, and he wondered if she did not share her sister’s expertise.
“Excellent. The ladies can talk of etiquette while we men enjoy some sport. Come along, Bellmonte,” the Regent ushered, turning away, “I should like to see your skill with a bow. I’ve heard it’s unparalleled. It is a lost art indeed, but one I value immensely.”
Elizabeth had also turned away, clearly expecting Charlotte to follow. She walked towards the collection of chairs and tables where the women were gathered.
CHAPTER 19
“Ifeel as though I have been through a wringer, Marie…” Charlotte said tiredly.
Both mistress and maid sat together in a corner of Mrs. McCrae’s milliner shop within the grandiose Burlington Arcade. Beyond the shop windows, tens of dozens of ladies and gentlemen paraded. Some looked into store fronts admiringly, others entered, followed by servants to carry their purchases. Charlotte had been told to bring Marie on this trip to collect hats for which she and her cousins had been measured.
Measured before I arrived, so I did not know of it until Marie told me of the appointment. I would rather be at Prescott Estate waiting for the post, which may bring word of Amelia.
Or she could be waiting for Seth. That thought sent a thrill through her. A thought entered her mind of Seth coming to the house while Aunt Phyllis and the others were out. Of Charlotte being alone with him behind a locked door. Marie would not have betrayed her, she was sure. The very idea put a flush toher cheeks. Almost immediately, she felt a breath of cooling air. Looking around, she saw that Marie had quietly produced a fan.
“You seemed flushed, milady,” she said, “I believe that Lady Amelia added many books to the library on the subject of etiquette. She was quite the expert.”
“I know that now, but did not realise that the Regent’s mistress would want to educate herself and choose me for the teacher,” Charlotte groaned unwomanly.“I shall avail myself of those books at the earliest opportunity to hopefully preclude further awkward situations.”
“Did Her Ladyship believe you in your answers?” Marie asked.
The Willoughby girls were being helped by one of the apprentices whom Mrs. McCrae employed. Aunt Phyllis sat nearby, making comments about their choices of color or fabric and looking towards Charlotte for validation occasionally.
“I hope so. She gave me some odd looks,” Charlotte shrugged, “but it was such trivial nonsense. I thought that I envied Amelia for her life in London, but if it must constantly be filled with such trivialities, then I am not so sure anymore. Like, for example, when should a woman reply to a letter from a man of superior rank when it is the first such correspondence and the gentleman is a suitor?”
Marie shrugged. “I should say as soon as possible if the lady does not want the gentleman to think she is not interested.”
“And that is the answer I gave!” Charlotte shot her hands into the air helplessly, “but it did not seem to satisfy. The Marchioness Conyngham was full of questions, such as whether there has been an acknowledgement of interest or not. Or if that acknowledgement has been verbal or non-verbal, or if the man is a Duke, or an Earl, or...”
She shook her head. The dresses and the spectacle of London society had always drawn her enviously. But this aspect left her cold.
Is that what Amelia must concern herself with every day? Navigating a labyrinthine set of rules governing how men and women must speak to each other, address each other, and interact in every conceivable way? It is no wonder that she felt a respite was necessary for her good health.
“It is all so very different to Yorkshire,” Charlotte finished weakly.
“I imagine your life there is the same as mine here when it comes to that kind of thing. I wouldn’t worry about rules when it comes to a man I have my eye on,” Marie said honestly.
“Then we should all be more like you,” she nodded.
“I would just speak up and let him know. Then he can go about the task of courting me. Otherwise, how are they to know?” the maid rambled on.
Well, Seth certainly knows. And yet we have said to each other that we are playing a role for the sake of this dratted solicitor and the marriage clause in Seth’s father’s will. Not because we are actually in love.
She put the thought out of her mind. Even if Seth wished to be with her, would it ever happen? He would surely not put Charlotte before his lands and title, and they were very much at stake if he did not prove in the next three weeks that Amelia did not wish to wed him.
How would he look upon me if my family cost him everything? Not favorably, to be sure.
“Lady Amelia, I have your hat here for you to try on,” chimed the young apprentice from the far side of the room, after finishing with Aunt Phyllis.
It was Victoria, the girl Reginald had set his sights on. Charlotte rose and went to stand before the full-length dress mirror in the middle of the shop. Victoria had blonde hair tied back from a round face with fresh cheeks and pretty, blue eyes. She met Charlotte in the middle, then held the hat out for her to take.
Charlotte fixed it upon her head or at least tried to. It did not pull down as far as she would have expected.
Perhaps this is as far as hats of this kind go.
But Victoria was examining it critically, and presently, Mrs. McCrae broke away from her conversation with Aunt Phyllis to join in. Mrs. McCrae was a plump Scotswoman with graying hair and rosebud lips. She also had sharp eyes, which narrowed as she looked at the hat from all directions.
