Page 5 of The Mysterious Miss Lydia
Lydia lifted one shoulder as she smiled.
No, she could have said. Not even a mask could help her to overcome the shyness that had been her burden to bear ever since she could remember.
“I think you’ll look quite striking with a mask,” Mary said, squeezing Lydia’s arm. “With your gorgeous red hair and red lips, we ought to find you a black mask.”
“Ooh, with feathers!” Eloise added.
This sent both of her friends into more chatter about what they planned to wear to the event.
Truly, the Season hadn’t even begun in earnest, so a party of any kind was a highly anticipated event.
Or a highly dreaded event, as the case may be.
Miss Farthington came up alongside Lydia while the other two were talking about gowns, and the kind headmistress gave her an understanding smile. “Is your mother insisting you attend?”
Lydia nodded. Miss Farthington was well aware of how badly her mother and her father wanted Lydia to overcome her shyness in order to make a good match.
Her parents might not have the titles of the peerage, but they had wealth and connections most would envy, as well as all the social graces one could ask for. Imogene, as well. It was just a pity that poise and grace hadn’t made its way to the youngest daughter.
Miss Farthington was well aware that the School of Charm was her mother’s last great hope to find herself with a daughter who might flirt and laugh and giggle like the other ladies of their acquaintance.
Really, they’d likely just be happy if she spoke. At all.
And perhaps if she could manage to do so without turning beet red...
Yes, they’d likely be pleased by that, as well.
“I only wish Charlotte could be here for a masquerade,” Mary said with a sigh.
Charlotte was Eloise’s younger sister, and a dear friend to Mary and the others at the School of Charm.
“I’m sure she’d love to be there as well,” Eloise said. “There’s nothing my sister loves more than causing mischief at masquerades.”
Everyone laughed at that.
“When will she return from her travels abroad? Did she say in her last letter?”
Eloise and Mary fell into a conversation about Charlotte’s adventures on the continent with her husband, and Lydia realized that Miss Farthington was still beside her, her demeanor one of expectancy.
Miss Farthington was lovely and gracious and poised and kind...but she was also stubborn. And absurdly patient. She’d decided on Lydia’s very first day at the finishing school that shewould wait as long as it took for Lydia to ‘come out of her shell,’ as she put it.
And right now she was demonstrating that fact as she waited quietly for Lydia to contribute to the conversation. When Miss Farthington’s sympathetic stare became too uncomfortable, Lydia wet her lips and asked quietly, “Will you be in attendance, Miss Farthington?”
The petite brunette tipped her head to the side to study Lydia. “Would you like me to be there?”
Lydia nodded so quickly, Miss Farthington laughed.
But while Lydia was grateful that Eloise and Mary would be in attendance, it went without saying that they’d be occupied by dancing with their husbands or chatting with the other couples.
Miss Farthington was well able to hold her own in a crowd as well, of course. The daughter of a viscount, she had more aplomb and grace than anyone Lydia knew. It was only the matter of some broken engagement that kept Miss Farthington from being the belle of the ball herself.
Lydia eyed the woman now. She wasn’t much older than her charges, and she was a true beauty with her dark hair and fair skin. If she wanted to make a match, she could have one. Not even a whiff of scandal would keep most men away.
But in taking the headmistress position, Miss Farthington seemed to have keptherselfaway. Taking herself out of contention for the marriage mart.
Lydia nibbled on her lip. Not for the first time, she wondered why.
If she were as beautiful and confident and brave as Miss Farthington, she’d embrace all life and society had to offer. Even intrigue and adventure.
