But then after that ridiculous rumor of Winsome being compromised at the scavenger hunt went round, she’d had an idea. She could blame both circumstances on some villain nobody knew.
It seemed she’d come through it. It seemed Lord Manderbey had come through it too. Valor, that naughty little thing, had managed to get another letter out of the house. She’d posed as Winsome and screamed a bunch of insults of the written variety. Then Lord Manderbey had the temerity to scream back. What a letter he’d sent to her poppet.
Winsome was delighted with it, though Valor was in a stormy frame of mind on account of being poked fun at. Mrs. Right had counseled her that she must not do anything further, lest she was thinking up some plan of revenge. Someday, she promised, Valor would look back and laugh about this circumstance.
Considering the poor mite’s expression, that someday would not be this particular day.
She had cheered Valor by letting her in on the plan for this evening. Winsome was to go to the masque and Mrs. Right had sent notes out to all her sisters. They were coming early and in force to escort her and it was a surprise. Valor was much mollified over the news, and then further cheered when she decided she’d better wear her hostessing clothes to greet their guests.
Mrs. Right had nodded gravely. Though Valor would not attend the masque, her hostessing clothes were more suited to it than any other occasion, including hostessing. She might have attended claiming she was an old dowager and nobody would have blinked.
Just now the housekeeper bustled into Winsome’s room to help her into her Cleopatra dress. She found Valor in there too, sitting primly on a chair and already dressed in one of those ghastly hostessing dresses. The particular look for this evening was a dull green brocade with a very full skirt and the requisite lace fichu. She’d made some strange attempt at arranging her hair, with the crown pinned and some limp curls hanging down either side.
“How did you get dressed without me?” she asked Valor. Those dresses had at least a thousand buttons running down the back of them.
“Meggy,” Valor said, smoothing out her skirt. “She came in to clean out the ash in the fireplace and I had her do my buttons and curl some of my hair. I assured her you would not mind that she stopped her work to do it.”
This was all said in a graciously condescending tone so Mrs. Right presumed her little poppet was working hard to sound like the mistress of the house.
Winsome had so far said nothing, but only stared into her looking glass.
Valor pointed at her and said, “I haven’t told her anything. I am getting very good at keeping secrets.”
Winsome turned. “What secret?”
Mrs. Right sighed. Perhaps the first step in keeping a secret was not announcing you had one. Nevertheless, it was just as well it did not stay secret—Winsome could use some bolstering up just now.
“See? She doesn’t know!” Valor said.
“It is not so much a secret as it was to be a surprise,” Mrs. Right said. “Every single one of your sisters is coming to the house to escort you to the masque. You will arrive to Lady Darlington’s as a regular ladies’ army.”
“What a splendid idea!”
“I would have thought of it,” Valor said, “if somebody told me tothink of something.”
“Of course you would have,” Mrs. Right said soothingly. She turned to Winsome. “Let us get you into this dress.”
Winsome nodded. Valor jumped out of her chair. “I heard a carriage stop. I will go downstairs to hostess until you come down, Winny. Take your time, I’ve ordered champagne for the drawing room.”
Valor skipped out of the room. Winsome said, “Since when can Valor order champagne for the drawing room?”
Mrs. Right shrugged. “Since now, I suppose. I imagine she directed Thomas to do it, she’s always had that footman wrapped round her finger. Never mind what your imp of a sister gets up to. It is time to dress, Cleopatra, and go find your Antony.”
*
Winsome was verymuch buoyed that her sisters had come. Mrs. Right always knew just what to do to help them all. She would be supported on all sides by five ladies who knew her through and through and would always stand behind her, even if she was wrong.
She’d come downstairs to a full drawing room. The duke was delighted to see all of his daughters together and thought it a very good game to go to the masque in force. He was just now getting a report on his grandchildren from Felicity and Grace, Felicity dressed in a medieval gown and Grace as a milkmaid. The duke himself wore his favored costume—a white domino with red flames painted on the bottom of it that was supposed to represent the two times he’d set a lady’s curtains afire. He would not give a toss for the idea that it looked very much like a vicar in a surplice going to the devil.
Valor had indeed managed to get champagne served and everybody seemed very jolly over the idea. She appeared enormously proud and carried round her own half glass of it, though Winsome knew shewould not drink it as she thought it tasted terrible and the bubbles itched her nose.
Patience, Verity, and Serenity were dressed as the Fates—the Spinner, the Allotter, and the Inevitable. Each was dressed in similar Greek robes, only their hand-fashioned tiaras indicating which role they took. The Fates surrounded her just now as she told them everything she knew about the gossip going round about her, the newspaper mentions, and Lord Manderbey’s hilarious response to Valor’s letter.
After they took it all in, Serenity said, “Here is a strange thing, Winny. Thorpe was out all day and I’d not had a chance to tell him I would be coming here and I would see him later at the masque. He would not mind it, I know, so I was not concerned about it. He got home as I was dressing and I informed him of it and he asked if I was certain.”
“So he did mind it?” Winsome asked.
“No, of course not, he’s too darling to mind it. He wondered over it because while he was out he encountered Lord Manderbey who wished to know if you had returned from Kent. Thorpe said he did not know. Then my dear husband asked me if youhadgone to Kent and if I was certain you had returned.”
