Page 29 of Leap of Faith
Faith was relieved. It had been her main concern about having Grace presented with the rest of them, but Joy would wilt under a strict duenna.
“Would you like to help us plan the ball as well, Joy?”
“Me?” No one had ever asked her such a thing.
“Oh, yes. Balls in London are spectacles,” she said, as if confiding a great secret. “Some, of course, are mundane, but a superior hostess does something special that leaves her guests treasuring the memories for Seasons to come. Lady Ashbury, who is a great friend of mine, does something original every year. She has three identical triplet daughters, who I dare say may be the only group of sisters to ever have rivalled you. When she presented them at a ball, her theme was a night with Beethoven, and her ballroom had been transformed into a replica of Vienna! There was a miniature Hofburg Palace, the Rathaus, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, and an actual water feature of the Donau River running through the ‘city’!
The girls gasped trying to imagine such a thing.
“Then, to present the girls, the building, shaped like the Viennese Opera House, began to rotate. On the other side of the building were the triplets, one behind a pianoforte, another sitting behind a cello, and the third held a violin! There was even an enormous cake shaped like a pianoforte.”
Her sisters gasped in astonishment.
“Needless to say, I welcome your fresh ideas. I will have my secretary review the social calendars and decide upon a date as soon as possible becausewe must not wait. Therefore, I need all of you to help with this. Consider the matter, if you will, while I speak with Jones.” Lady Westwood left the room.
“How exciting!” Hope exclaimed. “What could we do to rival the Ashbury ball?”
“Make it into a garden?”
“Make it into a starry night?”
“An enchanted forest?”
“A masquerade?”
“I have a feeling all of those will have been done before,” Faith remarked, “but I have no better ideas myself.”
“How about the Exeter Exchange and everyone can dress as their favourite animal?” Joy said, brimming with excitement. “Or the Tower of London, and the gentlemen can dress as Henry the Eighth and we can dress as one of his wives.”
“Before or after he had them beheaded?” Patience asked dryly.
“Either, of course,” Joy replied.
“What a bloodthirsty wench you are, imp,” Lord Westwood said, strolling into the room in moulded buff pantaloons, a well-fitted blue jacket, and riding boots, looking very modish. “Why are we discussing our unfortunate monarch who had a predilection for beheading?”
“We are trying to think of a theme for our ball!”
“Of course, a ball,” he said with aplomb. “My mother has left you to think of a thing to rival Lady Ashbury, I gather?” he asked rhetorically, as he took a seat in a chair next to Faith and crossed his legs.
They told him their other ideas, and he assured them they had all been done—except for Henry the Eighth’s wives.
“There must be something besides the Tower of London, though it would be original, and require every carpenter in London to pull it off,” Westwood pointed out.
“Is there any story that has five females?” Hope asked.
They all wrinkled their brows in thought.
“Henry the Eighth did have six wives,” Joy said, clinging to the idea. “Lady Westwood could be Catherine of Aragon.”
“That is not how I want my sisters to be remembered for years to come, thank you! I cannot believe we are discussing it as a serious option,” Faith said in exasperation.
“I apologize, Faith,” Joy sounded disappointed.
“No, no. I beg your pardon. I did not mean to snap at you.”
“Here is an idea. You could all be different goddesses and make the ballroom up to be the heavens with clouds and harps and such—what do you say? I cannot think that has been done in my recent memory, anyway.”
“Would you be Cupid, shooting arrows at us?” Grace asked with a devilish smile.
