Page 19 of Love Wasn’t Built in a Day

The dowager turned her steely gaze upon her, pointing with the gavel.

“Yes, you. The pretty chit with the strawberry blonde curls. Who are you?”

“Oh, I am Miss Caroline, your grace. The Reverend Honeywell is my uncle.”

“Ah. I’d heard he had young people staying with him. Well, you are welcome, my dear. You have a suggestion?”

Caro nodded, blushing as all eyes turned her way. “We could get everyone to decorate the church and the village hall, with prizes for the best entries, and then… with it looking so pretty, perhaps we arrange a little harvest ball or a small assembly?”

A murmur of interest rippled through the gathering, and the dowager laughed. “Ah, a young lady who likes to dance, I perceive. Well, a small assembly ain’t a horrible idea. Let’s have a show of hands. All those in favour?”

Caro looked around, smiling with delight as almost every hand shot up.

“Well done,” Mrs Adie said with approval. “That’s a fine idea. Though she’ll invoke the suggestion box now and that’ll drive Mrs Fairway to madness, poor creature. It’s no fun having to decipher everyone’s handwriting and make sense of their very odd ideas, so she says.”

The dowager banged the gavel once more. “Well, that settles it then. A harvest themed assembly. We’ll have to get the details settled so I’ll ask everyone to make notes and put them in the suggestion box.”

Caro watched an expression of resignation settle over Mrs Fairway’s thin face and bit her lip. “Oh, dear.”

“Don’t you fret none, dearie,” Mrs Adie said comfortably. “I’ll give her a hand, and you can tell how much the ladies are looking forward to it.”

Caro could tell. Everyone was chattering with excitement, and she looked around with pleasure as the ladies in front of her turned in their seats.

“A fine suggestion,” said a glamorous woman with riotous dark curls.

“Thank you,” Caro replied as the woman held out her hand.

“So, you are the Reverend’s niece. We are pleased to meet you. I am Miss Eustacia Foxworthy, and this is my friend Miss Halfpenny.”

The woman sitting beside Miss Foxworthy was as plain as the lady was beautiful and seemed rather more reserved, but she had kind, intelligent eyes and nodded a polite greeting.

“I am very pleased to meet you,” Caro said, meaning it. A flicker of excitement dared to stir in her breast as she wondered if she might, for the first time in heretofore prescribed life, make friends.

“Shall we still be here for this assembly, do you think?” Hetty mused as everyone got to their feet once the meeting had broken up. All around them the ladies gathered their shawls, drifting into smaller groups to converse or hurrying out of the door to carry on with their day. Though they were not resident in Little Valentine, Gee-Gee, as the dowager had insisted they address her, had invited them to attend.

“That rather depends, I suppose,” Cilly replied, an edge to her voice.

Hetty winced inwardly. It would depend on when their father announced her betrothal.

“She’s a beautiful creature, isn’t she,” Hetty remarked, eager to change the subject and nodding towards the girl whose suggestion it had been.

“Lovely indeed,” Cilly agreed, gazing at her with interest. “Do you think she looks familiar?”

Hetty turned, studying the girl again in more detail. “No. Can’t say she does.”

Cilly nodded, turning back to Hetty. “I heard they sell delicious ices at The Mermaid. Shall we try them?”

“Oh, a marvellous idea,” Hetty agreed at once, for she had a sweet tooth and would never turn down such a treat. Arm in arm, they made their way through the cluster of women and out into the fresh air.

“I wish we lived here. I think the Venturesome Ladies is a wonderful idea,” Cilly said as they crossed the promenade towards the hotel.

Hetty glanced at her sister. It was not the first time Cilly had expressed her longing to remain, and Hetty could hardly blame her. “Can you imagine what our father would say?” she said with a snort.

Cilly’s lips twisted. “Something vile about everyone knowing their place. If he discovered we’d been sitting in that hall, next to the kitchen maid from the vicarage, I truly believe his head would explode.”

“Perhaps we should tell him,” Hetty suggested, startling a bark of shocked laughter from her sister just as they entered the foyer of the elegant hotel.

Hetty snorted, hushing Cilly as the two of them looked guiltily around the quiet space.