AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘I know. Oh, dear, I do not know what it is, but you have presence.’
‘I have a bust,’ Madelyn corrected, peering down at the effect that tight lacing had on the area exposed by the low neckline of the gown. ‘And I think it is rather more...generous than is ideal for this style of gown. Could I not leave off the stays?’ she asked hopefully.
‘No. Oh, whatever will you say next? Harper, bring the curling tongs, Miss Aylmer’s ringlets are drooping and, yes, Madelyn, you must have ringlets unless you want to appear quite out of the mode. Perhaps some rouge... No, too obvious on that white complexion.’
I look like a perfectly blanched stick of celery with the leaves still on top, Madelyn thought as she stared resentfully at the long glass in the corner of her bedchamber. If someone had pondered for a year on how to create a gown and a hairstyle to suit me as badly as possible they could not have done better than this.
* * *
The sight of the other guests at the soirée did nothing to lift her mood. She could see exactly what Louisa meant as she looked at the throng of unmarried girls, all fluttering like fragile butterflies in their pale gauzes and muslins. Their cheeks were pink, their lips were rosy, their hair glossy and curled and all without any evidence of the slightest artifice. They took small steps, they kept their eyes modestly lowered and yet somehow managed to cast winsome, innocently flirtatious glances at passing gentlemen as though they had spent two hours a day practising. Perhaps they do.
Madelyn caught a glimpse of herself in one of the mirrored panels on the landing as they approached the receiving line for her to make her first curtsy to polite society. She repressed a shudder. She was not vain, but she was used to the way she usually appeared and fancied that it suited her height, her figure and her looks. This, on the other hand...
‘My dear Hortensia, what a charming party, exactly what we need to enliven a London summer.’ Louisa Fairfield was exchanging kisses in the air with a handsome middle-aged woman whose diamonds made Madelyn blink. ‘So good of you to invite my young friend, Miss Aylmer—this will be her first party in town, you know. Lady Dalesford, Miss Aylmer from Kent. Madelyn, my dear friend Lady Dalesford.’
Madelyn curtsied, smiled, did her best to sound grateful for the treat in store and pretended not to notice the older woman’s sharp scrutiny.
‘Charming,’ Lady Dalesford murmured, almost managing to sound convincing. ‘So pleased to meet you, Miss Aylmer. Are you related to the Aylmers who have that castle?’
‘Castle Beaupierre? Yes, ma’am. It was my late father’s life’s work.’
‘How...interesting. I expect you are very glad of the opportunity to come to London.’
Madelyn was still smiling through gritted teeth when they entered the first of what looked like a series of large reception rooms.
‘The ballroom has a partition which has been brought across,’ Louisa explained, pausing for an instant on the threshold to survey the throng of guests. ‘With the anteroom it makes three more intimate chambers.’
Intimate was not the word Madelyn would have chosen, but she kept the smile in place as she followed Lady Fairfield, concentrating on taking small steps, on not stooping, not staring, not worrying about the amount of ankle and bosom that she was displaying. Perhaps if she bent at the knees a little... No, she felt she was walking like a duck when she did that.
Louisa seemed to have a destination in mind, even as she worked her way from group to group, introducing Madelyn as she went. She was picking out matrons of her own age, but no men, Madelyn noticed, and the group sitting in a far corner seemed to be her target.
‘That is Lady Macclesbourne. She has three delightful daughters,’ she murmured in an aside. ‘Such lovely girls, such a success, two have made the most eligible connections last Season and the youngest cannot be far behind her sisters. You could do worse than to model yourself on them.’
Lady Macclesbourne—Dearest Eliza to Louisa—professed herself delighted to make Miss Aylmer’s acquaintance and introduced Dorothea, a lively blonde, Daphne, a pert blonde and Caroline, a grace
ful blonde. They all managed to look enchanting in cream, ivory and shades of pale blue and not in the slightest washed out, despite their hair colour.
No wonder their mama seemed pleased to see me and asked me to join them, Madelyn thought. I must show them up to perfection.
The sisters turned periwinkle-blue eyes on Madelyn and proceeded to interrogate her thoroughly. She lived in a castle? How romantic and Gothic! But perhaps there were draughts or ghosts? And a moat with swans? So pretty! And had she any brothers? No? What a pity, they would love to meet a knight in shining armour, just like a hero of Walter Scott’s poems. Did she not just adore Mr Scott? Did her father wear armour? Or perhaps she had one of those pointed hats which must be so difficult to keep in place. Miss Daphne had worn one to a fancy dress ball and had been forced to abandon it after half an hour.
‘Oh, see by the door.’ Miss Caroline, the only unengaged one and therefore the only one supposed to show any interest in eligible gentlemen, nodded towards the entrance. ‘It is that mysterious Mr Ransome just come in. Do give us your opinion—do you not think him good looking, Miss Aylmer?’
Madelyn looked. ‘Very,’ she said, attempting a slightly patronising, light tone and failing dismally. Jack was a good-looking man when he was dressed for riding or for paying calls about town, but in evening dress he was... ‘Er, yes. Quite distinguished. Very...um, acceptable.’
Acceptable? You have certainly accepted him, you ninny. Will this be another trial of being married to him, that he will be ogled and pursued by other women?
Severe black and white suited Jack and showed off an athletic figure to full advantage. As he strolled in their direction, showing no sign that he had seen her, she saw that the gaze of the ladies followed and that some of the gentlemen watched with speculation clear in their expressions.
‘Acceptable?’ Lady Macclesbourne said sharply. ‘His breeding is excellent, but he has no lands. The man does not even use his title. Such eccentricity is beyond what is pleasing. I am very surprised to see him here. He tends not to be invited, you know. One can hardly cut an earl to his face, even under the circumstances, but he is not good ton.’
‘Possibly he has other attributes,’ Madelyn remarked, earning herself a very pointed look from the older woman.
‘He is a fortune hunter, I have no doubt. I would take care, Miss Aylmer.’
Too late. ‘But the proverb tells us that fair exchange is no robbery,’ she said, marvelling at her own courage in the face of the Lady Macclesbourne’s disapproval.
Beside her Miss Caroline tittered and Madelyn felt herself blush at her unintended suggestion that one would be buying the Earl’s undoubted physical attributes. Or was it unintended? She would certainly be in possession of them... The heat in her cheeks burned.
