Alice smiled to herself. What Pauline had liked about her previous lessons was how the teacher used to doze off and let her do nothing.
“Since I cannot play it well,” Alice told her, “Lady Beasley would have to hire another teacher for your music lessons. If she is willing, then I will find a suitable piano instructor who will make you learn your scales and practice daily so you can become proficient.”
“Oh,” Pauline said before sniffing and sitting back in her chair, looking instantly disinterested. The girl wasn’t lazyexactly, but she did like to take the easy way whenever possible. Sadly, she had no innate talent for a musical instrument.
“Well, I prefer Mrs. Malcolm,” Pauline’s sister, a year younger, declared. Leila had a better knack for the violin. However, her French accent was atrocious no matter how well she handled the grammar.
Alice only wished she could convince Lady Beasley to allow her to instruct Susanne on the rudimentary knowledge she ought to have learned. The last time they spoke about it, Lady Beasley had been adamant.
“Susanne is the prettiest of my three girls. Thus, she won’t need the other skills necessary to capture a husband.”
Skillslike basic mathematics, knowing Spain from Germany, or being able to have an informed discussion about anything other than textiles. But Alice had been forced to give up.
As if she’d conjured the buffle-headed young lady whose only interest was in fashion and how attractive she looked, Susanne appeared at the door.
“Mother has a favor to ask you, Mrs. Malcolm,” the brown-haired eldest Beasley daughter said.
Alice frowned. She was rarely summoned by Lady Beasley, who trusted Alice completely by this time with her younger daughters’ education. Rising, she considered the best use of their time while alone.
“Come up with a discussion you might wish to have upon traveling to the Continent or meeting with a visitor from France.”
“Is he a male visitor?” Pauline asked.
Alice, who knew how the mind of a female on the cusp of womanhood worked, nodded. “If you wish, then yes. Pretend you are the dining companion of a handsome man whom you wish to impress. Leila, you can be the gentleman. When I get back, you two shall present your dialogue to me.”
“Like a play,” Leila said with an enthusiastic clap, not minding being the male lead. “Bonjour, mademoiselle,” she said to her sister.
Alice nodded and followed Susanne downstairs to Lady Beasley’s private salon where she was writing her daily correspondence and taking tea.
“Ah, there you are, Mrs. Malcolm.”
She said it as if Alice had been off gallivanting around instead of in her normal place upstairs, tutoring the girls.
“You wished to speak with me,” Alice said, sitting without being asked. It was a nasty habit, but she had been born and raised as a titled lady. In her daily dealings with others, it was sometimes difficult to remember how far she had fallen in her station.
Lady Beasley briefly frowned at the governess taking a seat, but then she got to the point.
“I shall not be able to accompany Susanne to the ball.”
“Which ball, my lady?” Alice wondered at her ladyship assuming she had any idea of the social schedule of Bath’s finer people.
“Two nights from now at the assembly rooms.”
“I see.” Alice waited, wondering what it had to do with her.
“I would like you to be her chaperone.”
Oh dear!Alice tamped down the instant apprehension. This was her life now, hardly above that of a servant. And as if she were an old married woman or someone’s mother, she was being called upon to observe a young lady’s manners and protect her virtue.
If only someone had done that for her!
She would refuse. It was not in her employment description, and it would cause her personal discomfort to be thrust into a situation that was as familiar as breathing, but in which she nolonger belonged. Moreover, in such a situation, there was the danger of being recognized.
Susanne had stayed in the room to listen. Now she spoke up with genuine enthusiasm.
“How fun it will be for you, Mrs. Malcolm, to see all the lovely gowns and to listen to the music. I know how you love music.”
“Nearly as much as you love gowns,” Alice said to her without malice. “However, I do not believe I can attend.”
