For the sake of modesty, Lady Beasley leant her a finely woven silk shawl in a pretty gray and rose paisley. This, Alice snatched off her bed and draped around her shoulders, and she intended to keep it there throughout the evening.
Downstairs, she wished she had access to a glass of wine to calm herself. And then decided she would “borrow” a few mouthfuls of sherry from the sideboard while she waited for Susanne. Lord and Lady Beasley had already left, and as the adult and chaperone, she decided it was her right to have a tipple, especially when she was doing them all a favor.
Downing it in two gulps, she heard Susanne upon the stairs. As the young lady entered the room, Alice gasped. Something inside her, a memory of looking similarly fresh and radiant, pinched painfully.
“You are breathtaking,” she told her. It wasn’t flummery, either. Susanne wore a pale lavender gown that complemented her brown hair, making it an even richer tone.
“Thank you. And you look very pretty, too,” Susanne returned.
Suddenly, however, Alice felt very old. Looking longingly at the sherry bottle, she wished she’d had a little more and now stood awkwardly with the glass in hand. Susanne’s eyes fixed upon it. Alice knew she ought to take it to the kitchen, wash it off, and return it. Instead, she set it back on the little tray beside the decanter. For now, they must be off.
“Let’s get you to the ball so you can dance the whole night through.”
“Perhaps I shall catch the eye of a gentleman or two,” Susanne said, turning before she noticed Alice squeeze her eyes shut amoment. That was the last thing Alice wished for the young lady. It was too easy to imagine this evening playing out as one fateful night had for her about four years earlier.
When they were settled in Lord Beasley’s second-best carriage, Alice decided to counsel her charge.
“You are young. Try not to rush into an attachment despite your mother’s wish for you to find a husband. Enjoy dancing and being adored. This is a wonderfully exciting time of your life, so I advise you not to do anything to hasten its end.”
Susanne, who was all eyes and ears at this unexpectedly solemn discussion, asked, “How do you mean?”
Alice would not explain her own personal disaster. Instead, she sighed.
“Do not become seriously attached to any man until...”
“Until what?” Susanne leaned forward.
Indeed!“I was going to say until you are certain of his intent and his character. But I suppose it is easy enough to be fooled as to both. Perhaps the best path is, as I said, to do nothing in haste. The truth reveals itself in time.”
Although Susanne nodded, Alice feared the young lady only thought her overly cautious and would pay her no heed.
The limestone, U-shaped building of the assembly rooms, located northeast of the famed residential Circus, between Bennett and Alfred Streets, were the main attraction in the fashionable, upper town. While the former lower assembly rooms had been beautiful for daily promenading on the stone walks and terraces and nightly dancing, most agreed the upper rooms to be superior. Still debated and discussed by the older generation, it was a moot point since the original lower rooms had burned thirty years earlier.
The Beasley family were already registered with the Master of Ceremonies, so Alice simply told them Lady Susanne hadarrived, and they proceeded successfully into the main ballroom, easily one hundred feet from end to end.
Her charge clapped her hands once in excitement before visibly trying to comport herself with less enthusiasm and more aplomb. Alice hid a smile, letting Susanne lead the way. Her own task would be to remain close and take the measure of those who wished to dance with the lady, as well as keep track of whomsoever might wish to come calling in the days to come.
Her own mother had tackled a similar task when Alice flitted like a bee seeking nectar from flower to flower — and the flowers were dangerous gentlemen.
Not all of them, but the one who captured her certainly had been. And her mother had failed miserably in keeping her only daughter safe. Worse, she had contributed to her downfall, thinking it for her own good.
Alice shook her head, banishing thoughts of another time and place. Susanne was, in fact, practically buzzing as she strolled ahead, bathed in golden light under the five magnificent crystal chandeliers. She was like a bird, looking right to left until she spotted someone she knew. Two sisters from a neighboring household chatted with her briefly, then made it plain they wished for her to move on.
“They are usually so friendly,” Susanne complained as they strolled farther into the room.
“Tonight, you are competition. And standing next to them, your shine dims their own.”
Susanne’s head swiveled back as if expecting to see light shining from her friends.
“Lady Susanne, well met.” Lord Diamond was before them, appearing from a group of gentlemen standing separately, awaiting introductions.
They were like wolves in a pack,Alice thought bitterly. And this one was a particularly enticing wolf.
He appeared startled to see her. “Mrs. Malcolm,” he greeted with a nod.
“She is my chaperone tonight,” Susanne volunteered. “Wasn’t that kind of her? We even bought her a new dress.”
Alice cringed, feeling her cheeks warm. Susanne meant no harm, but it was mortifying nonetheless to sound like an employee, which she was, and a charity case, which she most definitely was not.
