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“Be careful of that one,” Delilah warned her darkly.
“He is nice. I like him,” Sophia replied with a hint of defiance. “You would too if you didn’t have so much to hide.”
She didn’t wait to hear what her aunt had to say. Her gasp of outrage said it all.
Jeb reluctantly left the house and made his way over
to Squire Trelawney’s next. Although he hadn’t planned to move things along so quickly, it was evident that he needed to find the thief before they stole too many more items.
He wouldn’t say so to anyone else, but deep inside rather suspected that he needed to get to work investigating the thefts with a bit more determination. If he didn’t, his stay in Framley Meadow would stretch into several weeks, or a month or two, and he would never want to leave again, especially with Sophia in the village.
Still, he made no attempt to consider the suspects as he walked. Instead he began to mull over his stay in Framley Meadow. In just a few days it had already started to feel like home. In fact, as he made his way over to the Squire’s house, he tried to think of ways to persuade Sophia to stay in the village so he could become better acquainted with her. She had made it clear that she was due to return to Buckinghamshire soon but, hopefully, she could extend her stay in the village if he found an adequate reason for her to do so.
He then realised that if he did persuade Sophia to stay then he had to remain in the village as well. Strangely, he didn’t find that prospect disconcerting at all.
Back at the house, Sophia only managed to get halfway up the stairs before Delilah’s sniping began.
“How dare you be so pious in my house?” she demanded loudly.
“Pious? Me?” Sophia gasped in outrage. “You are a thief. I am merely pointing out your crimes and the consequences. I am sorry if you don’t like it, but I am sure the people whose things you have stolen don’t like you helping yourself to their belongings. You are a thief, Delilah. Does that not mean anything to you at all?”
“I am running out of money,” Delilah snapped. “You are here to remind me of that fact, remember? You have no idea how expensive things are these days. There are household bills, food to buy, and I need a new dress.”
“No, you do not,” Sophia all but shouted at her.
Before her aunt could protest, she grabbed Delilah’s arm and marched her up the stairs to the spare bedroom. Throwing open the door, she waved into the cluttered room.
“Look at all of that. There must be a hundred dresses in here, with ribbons, hats, shawls, boots, and gloves, and anything and everything else you need to go out to a hundred occasions. Believe me when I tell you that you do not need another dress. You want a dress, but do not need a dress. This is rampant greed. It is ridiculous to purchase more.”
“They are old,” Delilah protested.
“Look at these,” Sophia demanded. She knew she had just made her aunt angry but didn’t care. “Some of these have hardly been worn. You don’t need to spend money you don’t have to on anything else. You can use these.” She randomly picked up a dress and sneezed when a cloud of dust billowed out of the disturbed fabric. “This needs airing a bit, that’s all. It hasn’t been worn for an age. Nobody would be likely to remember it. Look at it, Delilah? When did you wear it last?”
When Delilah merely frowned at it but didn’t speak, Sophia felt that age old sinking feeling. “Have you even worn it?”
She knew from the blank look on Delilah’s face that she didn’t even recognise it. “Look at it. With a few ribbons removed, and a feather adornment here and there, it can be altered to look completely different. You have nothing to do with your afternoon. Spend some time adjusting what you have and you can save a veritable fortune.”
Determined to get her aunt to see sense, she rummaged around until she found an old valise crammed with buttons, lace, and feathers, and selected several feathers. She carefully arranged the dress on the floor and rearranged the feathers around the shoulder area in an eye-catching arrangement that made the dress look completely different.
Delilah tipped her head to one side and rearranged the feathers a bit, and shook her head in disbelief. Thankfully, some of her anger melted away, but she still looked peeved.
Still, Sophia was not one to give up easily and nodded at the rest of the room.
“There is enough here that we can adjust slightly to give you an entirely new wardrobe that will be the height of fashion, and it won’t cost a penny. Look at this beautiful dress. This is perfect for Friday. All you need to do is add this fetching shawl and that reticule. Look at the new outfit you can wear, Delilah. It is wonderful. How could you not like this?”
“I didn’t realise,” Delilah whispered. It was evident from the thoughtful look on her face that Sophia had her hooked.
“Why don’t we rummage through this lot and select several outfits. We can then go through everything, clean it all up, and set about altering it. I can sew. Let’s get to work and sort you out an entirely new wardrobe that is so fresh nobody will realise you have worn any of it before. We can add some beading to the shawl, and a button or two to the reticule, and it will look completely different.”
Silence settled between them for several moments before Delilah nodded.
“It sounds fantastic,” she enthused. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. It is a perfect idea. But you must help me.” She frowned somewhat childishly at Sophia, her mouth pursed.
“Of course I can help. We have nothing else to do,” Sophia replied.
She heaved a sigh of relief that it had been relatively easy to convince her aunt to see life a little differently and, stolen items temporarily forgotten, both ladies began to rummage through the various items littered about the room.
Lost in the art of recreating Delilah’s new wardrobe, it was the first evening since Sophia had arrived in Framley Meadow, that neither lady ventured out of the house.
