“Yes; what a waste. I will wear it for a few minutes and never again. Whatever was Her Majesty thinking to require such an ensemble?” Elizabeth huffed.
“You will be able to ask her yourself on the morrow when you are presented. You are a duchess and the Queen will have some conversation with you,” Lady Morag pointed out, more in jest than seriousness regarding questioning the Queen. Court dress or one’s objections to it would not be a subject looked upon with favour by the Queen.
For a moment, Elizabeth who claimed she never felt intimidated, felt intimidated. The Queen! She would have to have a sensible conversation with Queen Charlotte. She calmed, her courage rose, and told herself it was only a conversation with another person.
“Do I really need to wear the tiara and the other jewels my husband has made available to me?” Elizabeth enquired.
“The tiara you will wear indicates your rank and yes, it is expected you will be bejewelled when you are at court,” Lady Morag clarified.
“Wearing the tiara is bad enough, but those peacock feathers as well! That is too much along with the hooped monstrosity I am to wear,” Elizabeth sighed.
All Lady Morag could do was smile. It was no less than the objections she had made before her presentation. Like the Duchess, she would have been happy without it. It was something else she had in common with Her Grace. Before she had fallen in love with her Kenneth, she had been a happy lass living on a small estate near the estate of Colbath.
The only complaint she had ever had against her husband was his love of games of chance. Thankfully, since the Duke of Hertfordshire had won—he had cheated—so much, her husband had never so much as made a wager for a penny ever again.
Now, the leverage the Duke had held over their heads would be gone on the morrow. The solicitor would be present outside of St. James and as soon as the Duchess exited and confirmed she had been presented, the markers would be turned over to Kenneth. From that time on they would never again acknowledge the dastardly Duke, never mind be in his company again.
Knowing of the man’s propensities, Morag would pray long and hard for Lady Elizabeth’s protection from her husband.
~~~~~~~/~~~~~~~
Elizabeth made for her chambers to change out of the practice hooped dress as speedily as she was able. Her maid assisted her and soon, not soon enough for Elizabeth, she was dressed in a day dress.
She took Jane’s letter with her into her private sitting room and after kicking her slippers off, sat down in a comfortable window seat, tucking her legs underneath herself.
She looked at Jane’s thicker than normal letter longingly. How she wished she could see all her sisters and the rest of the family she was willing to acknowledge. Her selfish desires would not win out, they needed to be kept apart for the safety of her sisters, so apart they would remain. Elizabeth allowed her fingers to caress the Gardiner seal while imagining being at Gracechurch Street with them and not in this gilded prison she inhabited.
Elizabeth broke the seal. A second letter from Charlotte was contained within. Her old man husband would not allow letters from anyone but her close family hence when she wrote to Charlotte or vice versa, the letter would be contained within one to or from one of her sisters, or one time to Aunt Hattie.
Elizabeth began to read Jane’s letter first.
15 May 1806
23 Gracechurch Street
My dearest sister and best friend, Lizzy,
How I miss you, Dearest. The enclosed letter from Charlotte arrived this morning. Knowing you would want to hear from her as soon as may be, I wrote to you as well.
It seems so strange to me that we are only a few miles apart, yet we could be at opposite ends of England. One day you will have to explain all to me. I know you said it is for my and our sisters’ protection, but it does not mean I miss you any less.
Speaking of being close to you on Berkeley Square, on the morrow, the two older Gardiner children and we four Bennet sisters will have a picnic in Hyde Park and then we are to have some ices at the famous Gunter’s.
How I wish you could bump into usjust by chancebut I know that man has you watched at all times and under heavy escort when you are out of the house without him.
As I have told you in a previous letter, our sisters and I, and am sure it is true for Aunt Maddie and Uncle Edward as well, pray for your wellbeing and protection every night before we go to bed.
I hate that you are enslaved to that terrible man. I can only hope he is not as bad as we have heard even though I doubt that. You see Lizzy, I do not try and make everything in the world good any longer.
You will enjoy Charlotte’s letter especially about Mr. and Mrs. Bennet.
Aunt Maddie is calling me so I will end here.
With all of my sisterly love,
Jane
“I miss you, all of you every minute of every day,” Elizabeth told her sister’s letter as she dashed some tears away from her cheeks which had fallen towards the end of her reading. She picked up the second letter, broke the seal, and smoothed the pages so she could read it.
