A blush entered her maid’s cheeks. “I’ve never been very good at mathematics.”
“I’ve already had Cook begin to plan the menu for the wedding breakfast. Your sister-in-law intends to bring her famous apple tarts.”
“That’s mighty kind of her,” Nelly said, biting her lower lip. “Will you be my attendant, Sarah? You’re my oldest friend, even if you are my employer and a lady.”
Sarah hugged her friend tightly. “I thought you would never ask. I have already planned which gown to wear—it’s pretty but a muted blue, so as not to outshine the bride.”
Nelly tugged on one of Sarah’s curls. “You couldn’t outshine me if you tried. I’ll be wearing your wedding dress. Now, off with you, and don’t forget to flirt with your husband. But try not to bare yourself in public. It’s frowned upon in company.”
Raising her eyebrows, Sarah said, “I shan’t.”
She felt as if she were floating instead of walking down the main staircase. Her green silk gown shimmered and moved like the waves of a river. She would need to sew bathing gowns for Margaret and Deborah. Or she could give them her mother’s. For seven years, her mother’s clothes had been in four trunks. One by one, Sarah had taken the dresses and remade them to expand her own wardrobe as her pocket money diminishedto farthings. The last trunk held her mother’s favorite gowns. Perhaps it was time to put them to use. Even if her mother returned, Sarah doubted she’d wish for outdated clothes. Bathing suits were a simple affair and didn’t change much over time, but the fashion for evening gowns had completely changed. All she could do was make her mother’s gowns over or reuse the material and lace. She would ask Nelly to have the last trunk brought to her bedchamber.
Following the sounds of music, she entered the sitting room. Margaret was playing the pianoforte while Ralph and Deborah sang loudly—and, in her cousin’s case, a bit off-key. Ralph waved for her to join them, and Sarah, whose voice was nothing special, added her whispery soprano to the song. Christopher came in a few minutes later and joined in with a deep baritone.
Their singing set a jolly mood for dinner, and Sarah didn’t think Ralph stopped talking once through all twelve courses. Everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves. Christopher, who had been so select in his smiles, was grinning freely. The only thing that could have made the dinner more enjoyable would have been to be at his side instead of at the opposite end of the table. Still, her chair was not without certain advantages. She got to watch his handsome face all throughout dinner.
After the dessert courses, Ralph suggested a game of jackstraws. “I should warn you all,” he said in a conspiratorial whisper. “My cousin Sarah is impossible to beat. She has the steadiest hands I’ve ever seen.”
Deborah stuck out her chin in defiance. “Well, she hasn’t played me.”
It was only a silly game, and Sarah should have let her sister-in-law win, except that she wished to impress Christopher. Ralph set up the game, and everyone took a turn. Christopher bumped another straw on his first turn and was out. Margaret managed to remove three pieces successfully before she bumpedanother. Ralph, Deborah, and Sarah had five straws each when Ralph got out. It was only Deborah and herself now. With a steady hand, Sarah removed a straw that was partially on top of another. Happily, it did not move at all. Deborah attempted to take a piece that was touching two others and managed to pull it off, but Sarah thought the bottom straw shifted a little.
Margaret pointed. “It moved. Deborah, you’re out and Sarah wins.”
Her little sister set down the straw. “It did not. You’re just saying that because you want Sarah to beat me.”
“Christopher,” Margaret said, appealing to him. “You saw Deborah’s straw move the one beneath it, didn’t you?”
The look of contentment that had been on his face the entire evening was gone. In its place was the old mask of indifference. “It is only a game, girls. One that is rather stupid. Let us do something else.”
“It’s only stupid because you lost,” Ralph teased.
Sarah smirked but wished that her cousin had let the conversation and the game die.
“It is not a stupid game, and I did not move a piece,” Deborah said, standing up and stomping her foot as if throwing a childish tantrum. “Margaret was just lying for Sarah. She always has to be the favorite. The teacher’s pet. The Goody-Goody-Two-shoes.”
What little color was in Margaret’s face drained from it. “That is not true.”
Deborah stomped her foot again. “You’re nothing but an ingratiating toadeater!”
“It is not my fault that you refuse to follow even the most basic of rules,” Margaret said, anger spilling out of her voice like bubbling champagne. “At least I didn’t kiss the dancing master, which disgraced us both.”
Sarah had suspected there was a reason Deborah had left finishing school before she was at least seventeen years of age. She felt a surge of sympathy for Margaret, who had not made any mistakes but had been shamed and punished as well.
Ralph barked a laugh, which might have cleared the tension in the air if he had not added, “I daresay it was a handsome Frenchman with a mustache. Hard to resist that. Sarah had a tendre for her own dancing teacher, didn’t you, Cousin?”
Nodding, Sarah tried to hold in her mirth at her own youthful ridiculousness. She needed to soothe the situation and not add sticks to the fire.
Deborah’s hands clenched into fists. “Headmistress Mason would never have known if you hadn’t told her!”
Red blotches formed on Margaret’s face, and Sarah wondered if there was any truth in her sister’s accusation. “Mr. Woodeford was preying upon innocent girls. He should not have been anywhere near the school.”
“Yet we had to leave, and he did not.”
“Because the lecher was the headmistress’s nephew, and any fool could see that he was only after Christopher’s money. He made up to all the young students with large dowries.”
Deborah’s eyes widened, and her jaw dropped. “How dare you say such a thing! Mr. Woodeford was not using me. How dare you!” She spun on her heel and ran from the room.
