AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Louisa sneezed daintily into a minute handkerchief, dabbed at her pink nose and sighed as she reached for a very much larger linen square. ‘Harper does have very good taste, I will admit, and we have already prepared the list of what you need. Provided you have a footman in attendance, I suppose you can do without me.’
‘Where do I purchase a domino?’ Madelyn asked. ‘That is the correct thing to wear for a masquerade if one is not going in fancy dress, is it not?’
‘Why, yes. Harding, Howell or the Pantheon Bazaar would be best. It is not as though one need worry about fitting for size. But which masquerade is that, dear?’
‘We had an invitation yesterday to accompany Lady Hitchin and her party, do you not recall? It is in two days’ time.’
‘No, no. Carola Hitchin is not at all the thing! Received everywhere, of course, but she is fast to a fault and those sisters of hers are as bad. Any masquerade that she thinks of attending will be a sad romp. I was about to reply and regret that we had another engagement.’
‘Oh. I see. Never mind, I will write. You really ought to be resting, Louisa, not worrying about correspondence.’
And so Madelyn did write to Lady Hitchin. As she had not said what she would reply, accepting the invitation for herself alone was not exactly a falsehood, she told her conscience. Nor had she said that she would not buy a domino to wear. Her immediate thought on hearing about the fancy dress was that she should go in medieval costume, but that, she realised, was exactly the sort of thing that Jack had meant. People would be reminded about her father. But she was determined to go to the masquerade and use her own judgement about how to behave. Jack thought she could not navigate the shoals of London society: she would prove him wrong, show him that she could be trusted to behave appropriately.
* * *
Louisa’s cold developed rapidly and she took to the couch in her bedchamber with a pile of handkerchiefs, peppermint lozenges and a stack of all the lightest and most frivolous novels the circulating library at Hatchard’s could find for her.
And that, without any necessity for evasions or downright lies, gave Madelyn all the freedom she could wish for to interview a very bemused modiste and place a large order—free of Harper who was dispatched to purchase everything on a long list of trifles from handkerchiefs to silk stockings, including a wide range of soaps and lotions, veils and chemises. ‘I’ll not need you while I’m looking at patterns,’ Madelyn said airily. ‘And you’ll know far better than I where to find all these small things. But leave anything we can obtain from the Pantheon Bazaar—I have heard so much about that I want to see it for myself.’
Harper had thought nothing strange about Madelyn buying a domino, ‘Just to have handy in case of an invitation, you know,’ she said airily.
‘And you’ll need a mask, Miss Aylmer. There are some very pretty silk ones here. Velvet looks lovely, but it gets so hot and you don’t want a shiny nose.’
‘I assume masquerades are respectable entertainments,’ Madelyn remarked as they waited to be served at a crowded counter.
‘Some are, some aren’t, Miss Aylmer. Those like the public ones where anyone who can afford it can buy a ticket—why, they are very unseemly, from what I’ve heard. You get women of a certain profession, if you know what I mean. And flash types and all sorts.’
‘But the kind a society lady would go to?’
‘Oh, those would be perfectly acceptable, I should think.’ Harper finally reached the head of the queue. ‘Here’s a stool for you, Miss Aylmer.’ She turned to the assistant. ‘The tray of masks for the lady to try, if you please. The silk ones. And a selection of dominos.’
* * *
So that was all right, even if Louisa did not approve of Lady Hitchin. But, Madelyn rationalised, if she was received everywhere, she could not be that bad. And she had said she was making up a large party, so it was not as though Madelyn would be forced into her close company for the evening once she had paid her respects to her hostess. Presumably the masquerade itself was at the home of one of her friends.
The problem was to leave for the evening without alerting Louisa, but the doctor—summoned when none of the housekeeper’s infallible home remedies made any impression on the sore throat and cough—ordered early nights and complete rest for a week. Louisa tottered from couch to bed and Madelyn went to her desk and penned a note that she sent off to Lady Hitchin with a footman.
The reply came by return. Lady Hitchin would be delighted if Miss Aylmer joined the party at her house before they set off and sent the afflicted chaperon her best wishes for an early recovery. Madelyn decided to keep that to herself, at least until tomorrow morning.
Now, all she had to do was to choose a gown, have Harper do something with her hair that would not be completely flattened by the hood of the domino and she would be ready. The thought of the mask gave her a really surprising amount of confidence. Or perhaps she was simply becoming used to London social events. That was good. That would show Jack that she did not care for his opinion or need his patronising attempts to manage her life.
Chapter Eleven
‘Kicking over the traces, are you?’ Charlie Truscott lounged in the far corner of the carriage. Jack could not see his face in the darkness, but he could tell he was grinning. ‘Never thought you’d agree to come to this with me.’
‘I’ve been to masquerades before,’ Jack tried not to snap.
‘Not ones like this one, not when you’ve got a fiancée,’ said the man who was supposed to be his best friend and who was about to end up on his backside in the streets of Chelsea if he kept on needling. ‘Still, if you are going to become a respectable married man, then it is good to get these things out of your system.’
Jack growled.
‘They say that Grover has arranged for an entire troupe of opera dancers to attend, just to liven things up,’ Charlie persisted, then, failing to get a rise with that remark, added, ‘Shouldn’t you be squiring Miss Aylmer around somewhere this evening?’
‘We do not live in each other’s pockets.’
‘That’s plain enough. I’ve never seen a cooler lover than you. If you want my advice—’
‘Which I do not.’
