"I'll give you a clue," Louisa whispered into her ear. "The library."
The two looked at each other, then rushed off to the library. Once there, they surveyed an oil painting from the previous century that hung above the fireplace.
"It can't be this one. Isn't there another painting?" Ainsley turned to look around the room, but apart from a portrait of Lord Dobberham's father, there was no other painting.
"Louisa must have made a mistake," Ainsley began. "Because I see two women in that painting."
"Yes, indeed. There are two women. But I don't think Lady Dobberham was wrong." Ellen stifled a sigh.
The two women in the painting were seated, one with an arm around the other. They were dressed in tightly laced, low-cut gowns from the previous century, and one held a letter in her hand, the other a quill.
The corners of Ellen's mouth twitched. "Well, which of the two lovely ladies would you like to impersonate? The one without shoes and stockings, holding the letter; or the one with the low decolletage with the quill in her hand?”
Ainsley sighed. “I'll be the one with the quill, gazing into the distance with lovelorn moon eyes."
He took on a dramatic pose, looking tragically at the ceiling, which made Ellen laugh.
The clothes they were to use were in a trunk by the desk. Ellen held up a purple dress and a corset.
"You'll have to ask your valet to help you lace the corset, for I certainly won't," Ellen told him.
"Heaven help me. I don't think my valet even knows how to tie a corset." Ainsley groaned, picked up his pile of clothes, and left.
Ellen wondered how Tewkbury and Lady Cynthia were faring as she made her way back to her room to change.
The tableaux vivantswere performed before dinner, and Ellen had to admit it was entertaining. Most of the performers put a great deal of effort into recreating a still scene, which was a direct imitation of a painting or other work of art. The audience had to guess which one it was. Since Ellen had taught art history at the seminary, she found it relatively easy to guess most of the scenes; however, she stopped herself from blurting out the answer each time.
The subjects were true to Louisa's mischievous nature, bordering on the improper. Miss Anne and Mr Tilney did an excellent job of portraying Persephone and Hades. Both were dressed in Greek costume; Mr Tilney in a black armour that looked as if it had been taken from Dobberham's mediaeval collection, and Miss Anne in an improvised Greek dress that looked lovely on her. Mr Tilney lifted her on his shoulder, and she leaned back and draped her arm over her forehead. They remained in this position for several minutes in perfect silence, without moving, but Miss Anne must have weighed more than Mr Tilney could carry, for his knees buckled under him and they both fell to the ground.
A roar of laughter and applause followed.
This was followed by a re-enactment of a more daring French engraving of a couple dressed in beautiful rococo clothes. Miss Mary and Mr Ellington depicted a kissing couple. Lady Esther, who'd been asked to take part as an extra, was dressed in a shepherdess's costume and looked on serenely.
No one in the audience knew the name or creator of the work of art they were trying to emulate, so the couple froze in the kissing position for quite some time.
"Probably something to do with a kiss," Bentley guessed.
"Almost, but not quite," Louisa replied.
Ellen knew the answer, as they'd been studying French art last term. "First Kiss of Love by Noel Le Mire."
The couple broke apart, gasping for breath.
"I swear it was the longest kiss ever," Monteroy concluded.
Miss Mary's cheeks were red, but she smiled, and Mr Ellington returned the smile.
Ellen and Ainsley were next.
"The humiliation," Ainsley grumbled as he pulled the bodice up, and Ellen had to fight to keep a straight face.
"You make a lovely lady, miss," she said, adjusting the ribbon in his hair. The dress was too small for him, and in the end he'd left off the corset because his valet couldn't get him into it.
Ellen was grateful that their tableau vivant wasn't as risque as Miss Anne's and Mr Tilney's, for she wouldn't have liked to have been half-dressed and lifted by a man.
All they had to do was lean against each other, with Ainsley's arm draped around hers, stay in that position, and that was it. No kissing, hugging, or any of that nonsense.
When the curtain rose, they were greeted with gasps, laughter, and whistles.
