Page 28 of Lady Beast's Bridegroom
So far, this marriage of convenience was exceeding his expectations in every way.
*
The mask thetwo girls presented just after breakfast was perfect for Arial’s ensemble, with the shades of the gown and the trim perfectly matched, and the flowers of the embroidery reproduced around the lower edge. She hurried up to her room to change the blank one for the pretty new confection.
Nancy was delighted. “The little ladies are very talented, my lady. I wonder that we never thought of matching the mask to your gown, but I could never have done it so well, and that is a fact.”
She brought out the bonnet in the same fabric as the gown, its only trim a concealing veil. “It seems a pity to cover the mask up,” she commented.
“Do we have some of the left-over ribbon used for trim?” Arial asked. The dressmaker often put a couple of yards of trim and a width of material in a packet with the gown, to enable any later repairs.
“We do, my lady.” And Nancy found it and quickly unpicked the veil, then pinned loops of ribbon around the brim, finishing with a bow on each side.
Arial went out to face the world feeling more confident than she had in years.
The ladies’ first stop would be a shop Miss Pettigrew knew where they might be able to buy the girls a good second-hand coat each just until the new ones were made. After that, they were off to be fitted for shoes, and then to call at the dressmaker’s again. They dropped Peter off outside of Mr. Richards’s office, his first point of business. “We will meet in one and a half hours at Fournier’s,” they agreed.
This first outing in London felt enormously challenging. Arial had to compose her face into a calm mask as unrevealing as the one she wore before they dismissed the carriage and set out to walk on their errands. Her instinctive reaction to staring had always been to shrink in on herself and hurry through whatever her business might be as quickly as possible so she could leave. It had become more tolerable in the village over the years, as people grew used to her.
Sure enough, she attracted both stares and comments. The colored mask, a pretty accessory in itself, prompted amazement and curiosity rather than horror. The errands, and the girls’ delight in buying pretty things engaged her attention. By the time they reached the dressmaker’s, Arial had almost dismissed her fears.
Until she saw was Miss Weatherall, sitting in the shop’s waiting area gossiping with another fashionable young lady. From the way Miss Weatherall blushed and stopped talking, Arial guessed the topic of the gossip. The friend’s eyes widened like saucers.
Then the dressmaker hurried up to greet Clara and Miss Pettigrew. When Clara presented her to Arial, the woman lookedher over with a professional eye, and nodded thoughtfully. “Lady Ransome, it is great pleasure to meet you. Am I to have the privilege of designing a gown for you?”
“I understand you made the lovely garments my sisters wore for my wedding,” Arial told her. “I have come to increase the order that Miss Pettigrew and Miss Tulloch made yesterday. My sisters need more of everything, for we are to stay in town, and the wardrobe for the country will not be adequate to their needs.”
That was music to the dressmaker’s ears. She called for refreshments and pattern books and fabrics.
Arial excused herself for a moment and crossed to where Miss Weatherall sat. “Miss Weatherall, I trust this morning sees you well?”
Miss Weatherall looked as if she had been sucking lemons. “It does, Lady Arial,” she said, her voice clipped. She lifted her chin, as if in challenge.
“Lady Ransome,” Arial reminded her. What a foolish woman, to be so petty in public as to ignore Arial’s new title. And how foolish Arial had been to let the likes of the Weatheralls prevent her from living her life to the full. Surely Miss Weatherall realized that, if Arial chose to cut her, Society would side with the earl’s daughter, and not with the commoner?
The other woman whispered a demand for an introduction and Miss Weatherall had to comply. Her obvious consternation was a small but decided revenge for Arial.
A few moments later, an aide brought out the package the pair must have been waiting for, for they left the shop. Miss Weatherall commented as she went, obviously desiring Arial to overhear her, “I wonder that she can bear to be out in public.”
The friend replied, “I don’t know. The mask is rather fetching. Pretty and mysterious. She might set a new fashion.”
Arial doubted it, but it was a nice thought.
In the end, she insisted on buying more gowns for Clara as well. “If you are to be our secretary, you will probably be going out with us,” she said.
Miss Pettigrew also needed new clothes, for she had left most of what she owned behind in the country. “I can send for them,” Miss Pettigrew suggested. Peter had expressed the opinion that the dowager Lady Ransome was likely to have destroyed everything. He and Arial were determined the governess should not lose because of her championship of his sisters.
The dressmaker was inclined to take exception at being asked to dress a governess. However, she found new enthusiasm for the task when her new and exceedingly wealthy client made it clear that otherwise, she would not be ordering anything for herself, and would furthermore be cancelling the orders made today. In the end, they left the dressmaker’s shop a little late, and exceedingly pleased with themselves.
Peter was already waiting at Fournier’s. So, it seemed, was half the polite world—taking tea and staring at Arial. Well, she had not cut and run at the staring and comments in the street or Miss Weatherall’s nastiness. She would see this through, too. Luckily, the girls were full of their doings, so Arial did not have to speak until she had recovered her equanimity.
Peter had found time to wander past Tattersalls, where a stableman had let him look at some of the horses being offered at the next auction. When the girls were busy with delectable little cakes and a hot chocolate each, Peter suggested, “I have been thinking we might wish to add a riding horse to the stables for each of us, and perhaps ponies for the girls so they can take lessons.”
“And a piano, for the same reason,” Arial suggested.
That was as far as they got, since the girls overheard the mention of ponies and wanted to go and buy a pair immediately.
“Ladies leave the purchase of horses to gentlemen,” their governess informed them. “I am sure your brother can be trusted. He was, after all, a cavalry officer.” The girls accepted the argument, but that did not stop them from chattering about ponies for the remainder of their outing.
