We hope that you are properly rested, and not yet entirely disillusioned by the chaos of London Society. If you are disillusioned, then you are precisely the sort of young lady we wish to recruit.
After careful deliberation (and by that we mean a spirited debate over tea), we have decided to extend to you an invitation of the utmost importance:
You are hereby invited to join the Corset Chronicles.
Before you panic, allow us to clarify that this is not a political society. Nor a charitable committee. Nor a sewing circle.
It is simply a gathering of young women who have discovered that the world is far more tolerable, and infinitelymore amusing, when one has friends to laugh and conspire alongside.
We meet monthly at Lady Thornwall’s home, where the tea is strong, the biscuits are plentiful, and the conversation is… well, unpredictable. But we promise that nothing will be asked of you except your presence.
We would be delighted if you would join us this week. Three o’clock in the afternoon at Thornwall Estate.
With sincere hope that you will accept, and with all the enthusiasm, two ladies can fit into a single sheet of stationery,
Theodora Dowell & Countess Thornwall
“Can you stop?” Evelina scolded Theodora.
She had been pacing for so long that her sister’s Persian carpet now bore a faint track. Theodora tried to stop moving, truly she did, but her body refused to obey. Her hands twisted nervously together, her mind raced, and her stomach fluttered with a strange mixture of hope and dread.
“Perhaps, she is not coming,” she muttered under her breath for the fifth time in as many minutes.
Evelina, lounging on her chaise with the serene confidence of a woman who had never once doubted her own social influence, lifted a brow. “She will come.”
“You do not know that.”
“I do,” Evelina said, sipping her tea. “BecauseIinvited her.”
“That does not guarantee anything,” Theodora insisted. “She did not respond to my note. Not a single line. Not even a polite refusal.”
Theodora blamed herself for getting distracted by Rosalind’s infuriating brother who had now turned her entire world upside down.
Anna, who was perched on the edge of the sofa with a slightly bulging stomach, chimed in, “Maybe she fainted from excitement and simply could not write back.”
Theodora shot her a look. “Anna, do not jest about her like that.”
“What?” She shrugged. “It is possible. The child had not been invited anywhere ever since she arrived in London. I, for one, did not even know she existed until Spencer told me about her.”
Maria sauntered in after setting up her famous lemon cakes on the patio table. She stopped and looked around. “Oh, I do hope she comes! I very much need a compliment on my baking again.”
Theodora rolled her eyes.
“Let us give her some time. She is not the type to faint over such trivial things, but she is the type to ignore an invitation.” Theodora stopped at the nearest window and stared out at Evelina’s grand garden.
What if Alexander forgot to give her the invitation?
Just as she had forgotten everything after their exceptional carriage ride. She even failed to write about her findings during their…experiment.
Theodora exhaled loudly and began pacing again. She found that if her body was continuously moving it would not have time to react to any thoughts of the Scarlet Duke.
Anna’s voice cut through her fiery thoughts. “I guess it is more possible that she is ignoring you. But then again, you did say that she was enjoying your company.”
Theodora nodded. “She was and she is shy. . And she barely knows us. And she has been through—well, I do not know what she has been through...”
“Poor young lady.” Maria tutted.
Evelina set down her teacup with a soft clink. “Which is precisely why she needs this gathering more than anyone, she is of age and needs to make her debut into society. I believe that she will learn a great deal from us!”
