Hyacinth eyed the tongs with trepidation. It would be a lie to say she wasn’t terrified—no doubt she’d spend the entire evening shaking in her sweetly-embroidered violet slippers—but if a young lady chose to wear a dramatic violet-colored gown with a tight bodice and scandalous décolletage, what was the sense in quibbling over a few curls?
She crossed back over to her dressing table, and plopped down in the chair. “Very well, Jenny. I leave myself entirely in your hands.”
* * * *
Hers wasn’t the most daring gown at Lord and Lady Sedley’s ball. It wasn’t the most fashionable, or the most extravagant, or even the most revealing.
But it may as well have been. Never again would Hyacinth underestimate the uproar a single gown could cause.
If any other lady had been wearing it, it wouldn’t have caused the scandal it did, but she wasn’t just any lady, and thetoncouldn’t have reacted with more astonishment if she’d strolled into the ballroom wearing only her shift and a pair of dancing slippers.
Every head turned, and a hush followed in her wake as Hyacinth made her way quietly across the floor at her grandmother’s side, but she’d hardly taken a dozen steps before the thick silence gave way to furious whispers and audible gasps.
“By Gad, it seems the mouse has a bit of a roar after all, eh, Giles?” remarked one gentleman, nudging his friend in the ribs as Hyacinth approached.
“Long overdue, if you ask me.” The other gentleman peered at her, his avid gaze sweeping from her jeweled headband to the toes of her violet slippers. “Lovely. Looks just like her sisters.”
If one could judge by their appreciative gazes, the gentlemen heartily approved of her gown, but the ladies weren’t so enthusiastic. When she did dare to raise her eyes, Hyacinth found at least a dozen feminine glares directed at her over the top of more than one wildly flapping fan.
“Shameless! As if the girl isn’t already notorious enough this season!” hissed one outraged matron, as Hyacinth passed.
“Perhaps that’s why she did it,” her daughter suggested, giving Hyacinth an appraising look. “She’s notorious no matter what she wears, so she may as well wear a daring gown. I think she looks rather dashing,” she added.
Hyacinth flushed with pleasure at this unexpected compliment, but alas, her satisfaction was only temporary. It faded the moment they crossed paths with Lady Bagshot, who stood on the edge of the dance floor, her towering yellow turban quivering with outrage as she shot daggers at Hyacinth through her beady brown eyes.
“Shocking!” that lady exclaimed in scathing tones. “I wonder she was permitted to leave the house dressed in such a scandalous manner. Why, I’d sooner face the executioner than I’d allow any granddaughter of mine to parade about at a respectable ball in such a…a…that gown! Indeed, I blame Lady Chase for it.”
Oh, no.Hyacinth slid a guilty glance at her grandmother, but Lady Chase marched on, her face composed, and her chin high.
When she’d met her grandmother in the entryway to depart for the ball, Hyacinth had been braced for horrified gasps, and a stinging scold that left blisters on her ears. Instead, her grandmother had surprised her. She’d raised her brows, looked Hyacinth up and down, and then poked at a fold of the skirt with the tip of her cane. “Are youquitecertain you wish to wearthisgown to the Sedleys’ ball, my dear?”
Hyacinth wasn’t certain of a blessed thing by then, but she’d swallowed her doubt, and replied with as much bravado as she could muster. “Yes, Grandmother. Quite sure.”
“Hmmm.” Lady Chase had studied her for another long moment, then she’d nodded. “Very well. Eddesley, have the carriage brought round. We’ll need a few extra rugs,” she’d added, with a glance at Hyacinth’s low neckline. “So Miss Hyacinth doesn’t take a chill.”
Until now, it hadn’t even occurred to Hyacinth wearing the gown might reflect poorly on her grandmother. Oh,whyhad she let Jenny coax her into this? What had she been thinking, engaging in such a reckless stunt? For goodness’ sake, she must have lost her wits—
“My dear Miss Somerset!”
Hyacinth’s gaze jerked up. They’d made it to the other side of the ballroom and come to a halt in front of Lady Atherton, who raised her quizzing glass to her eyes, and subjected Hyacinth to a long, slow, and torturous perusal.
“Well,” Lady Atherton murmured at last, lowering the glass and turning to Lady Chase. “A questionable choice for a debutante, perhaps, but the color suits her, and every young lady should have at least one scandalous gown. Don’t you think so, Anne?”
Lady Chase paused for a long moment, then reached for Hyacinth’s hand with her gnarled one. “I don’t deny it took me by surprise, but I think you look just beautiful, dear. Very much like your mother.”
For a moment, Hyacinth was too stunned to speak, but then her eyes filled with tears. Her grandmother could be a fussy old thing, and prone to stern lectures and rigid propriety, but when it came to her love for her granddaughters, she never wavered.
“I-I beg your pardon, Grandmother.” Hyacinth squeezed Lady Chase’s hand. “I should have asked permission before I—”
“Well, well, of course you should have, but then every lady is entitled to an occasional secret.”
To Hyacinth’s surprise, both Lady Chase and Lady Atherton cackled at this, but she didn’t have time to consider it, because just then a hand landed on her arm, and she turned to find Isla standing there, beaming at her.
“Oh, my goodness, Hyacinth, you look utterlydivine!Oh, I wish you could have seen Lady Joanna’s face when you walked into the ballroom in that gown! As it happens, jealousy and anger turn her complexion a rather unattractive shade of blotchy red. And that odious Miss Tilbury was so shocked she spilled a glass of negus on Lord Clement’s new gray coat. He was quite put out about it. Why didn’t you tell me you were going to wear that gown?”
“I, ah…well, I didn’t know I was, until I…did.”
“I’m ever so glad you did! You’ve put every spiteful gossip in this ballroom in her place tonight. But I must dash,” Isla rushed on, breathless. “Lord Sydney has this dance. I just darted away for a moment to warn you about Lachlan.”
