AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There were several small pieces but not one large enough for a whole panel. She would need some ingenuity to refashion the skirt to make use of them. A join could perhaps be disguised with a band of ribbon, but she would have to put it on all the panels to make it look as if it were meant it to be like that. She would have to unpick some of the embroidery and redesign it around the ribbon. It could be done, but what worried her more and had been doing so for some time now, was her sister’s attitude to the wedding. She did not seem to be able to look beyond it to what married life would really be like. ‘But what do I know about it?’ she murmured to herself, as she sat down and began unpicking. ‘An old maid with no prospects of ever enjoying the role of wife.’
* * *
She had been working there perhaps half an hour when her mother joined her. ‘I have given Isabel a tisane and she has gone to sleep,’ she said. ‘She was a little calmer and is relying on you to rescue the gown.’
‘I think I can, but I will need to have a join halfway down the skirt. I thought of disguising it with ribbon. I am unpicking the skirt now.’
‘It was very naughty of her to blame you. I am sure she will apologise when she wakes up.’
‘It doesn’t matter.’
‘Jane, are you very unhappy?’
‘Unhappy, Mama, what makes you think that?’
‘I thought perhaps the arrival of Mr Ashton might have cast you in the suds.’
Jane managed to laugh. ‘After ten years, Mama? Certainly not.’
‘I am glad. I know he is now wealthy and sure of himself, but his wealth has come from trade; he is still not a gentleman, nor ever can be.’
‘Not in the sense you mean it, Mama, but gentlemanly behaviour and good manners can be learned and I doubt Mr Ashton’s antecedents, or lack of them, will make him any less popular in the ton.’
‘So, you do still have feelings for him?’
‘No, Mama, I do not. I was simply trying to be fair to him.’ She realised suddenly that what she had said was true. It was not Andrew Ashton who disturbed her heart, but someone much closer to home.
‘It is so like you to see the good in everyone, Jane. But if it is not Mr Ashton, what is troubling you?’
‘It is Isabel. She seems not to be able to look beyond the wedding day itself and I am afraid she is in for a rude awakening.’
‘I cannot think why. Mark is the best of men, he can be relied upon to do his best to make her happy. You must not begrudge her her day, just because...’ Her ladyship stopped in mid-sentence.
‘Because I will never have one of my own, is that what you were going to say, Mama? Do not think it. I do not. I am content with my life as it is.’
‘But every young lady dreams of being married.’
‘Not every young lady, Mama.’ She was firm on that score, as much to convince herself as her mother.
‘You are a good daughter and a good sister, Jane. I would not change you for the world. Teddy tells me you are going to help him out of the coil he is in, since his papa will not, in spite of my pleading.’
‘I didn’t exactly say I would, I said I would think about it. It will take all of Aunt Matilda’s bequest and I so wanted to use it for my orphanage.’
‘Papa will make it up to you, when he has calmed down, I am sure.’ She watched as Jane detached the stained skirt panel and set it aside. ‘Now, put that away and come downstairs for nuncheon. I have no doubt the gentlemen will be back later this afternoon and we must offer our excuses for Isabel and make little of this morning’s episode.’
* * *
Jane had done as she was bid and was back at her sewing in the parlour while her mother finished off the invitations when Mark and Drew returned.
‘Forgive me for returning so soon,’ Mark said, bowing to her ladyship. ‘But I was concerned for Isabel. She was so distraught, I feared she was going to make herself ill.’
‘It was the shock of seeing the ink on her lovely wedding gown,’ her ladyship told him, beckoning the young men to be seated and instructing the maid to bring refreshments. ‘She is calm again now that she knows Jane can put it right.’
‘I am working on it now,’ Jane said. ‘I am hopeful that no one will ever know it has been altered.’
‘Dear Jane,’ Mark said. ‘So dependable, so calm in a crisis. We are indebted to you.’
Jane felt the colour flood her face. ‘You are a flatterer, sir. I beg you to desist. I only do what any sister would do.’
