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Lady Edith smiled. “Perfect. I can depend upon you to provide them with the gown?”
“Oui, madame. Now, if that is all, we must begin measurements.”
Madame Rousseau was thorough in her measuring, and by the time she had finished marking my size from every angle, Lady Edith had amassed a pile of fabrics large enough to supply a dozen gowns.
“Goodness,” I breathed. “That is excessive.”
Lady Edith ignored my ill-bred remark. “I have gone through Ackermann’s and marked the gowns I would like supplied. This ball gown is of the utmost urgency, but the remaining can be made in whatever order you wish.”
The sheer number of gowns and some of the selected colors made me feel uneasy. “Shall we review each one—”
Lady Edith ignored me. “I trust your judgment and taste, Madame Rousseau. I am certain Mrs. Bradwell does the same.”
Perhaps if I knew the woman well enough to trust her judgment, I would. It was a good deal of money to spend without giving explicit instructions. But what could I say? “I defer to Lady Edith, of course.”
My mother-in-law smiled in approval. At least I had done one thing correctly today.
“I will send round a note when the gown is ready for final alterations,” she said.
We turned to leave the shop, and I glanced back at the piles of fabric. There was a good deal of green, pink, and yellow, but no blue. Perhaps when I returned for my fitting, I would need to swap out some yellow for blue. It was not a good tone for my complexion, and the pink sometimes clashed with my strawberry-colored hair.
“Should we hold the fabrics near my face, Lady Edith?” I asked, pausing near the door. “I would hate to receive a gown that does not sit well beside the copper in my hair.”
She looked from the pile of bolts to me. “I do think I can be trusted to select fabrics that will not make you look awful, Felicity.”
“Of course.” What else could I say? My mama’s modiste had always taken special care to show me the colors that did not work for my skin, but I did not wish to argue today.
Besides, there was still time to change things.
We moved toward the door again when another woman walked in, a younger woman behind her.
Lady Edith stopped, and I paused beside her. “Lady Whitstone, it is so good to see you. It’s been an age. And Miss Whitstone, you are looking lovely today. That color of pink suits your complexion very well.”
So Lady Edith was aware that some colors and complexions did not suit, evidently, if she could notice when they did.
Miss Whitstone curtsied, her cheeks blooming with twin spots of color. “Thank you, Lady Edith.”
Lady Whitstone looked pointedly at me, and my mother-in-law seemed to remember my presence. “Oh, of course. Please allow me to introduce James’s new bride, Mrs. Bradwell.”
Miss Whitstone paled, her blush immediately receding. She looked to her mother, whose lips were suddenly pinched.
“Felicity, this is one of our neighbors and good friends, Lady Whitstone and her daughter, Miss Phillipa Whitstone.”
I dipped in a curtsy. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”
“You shall receive an invitation shortly, ladies. We hope to throw a ball at the end of the month.”
“So soon?” Lady Whitstone asked. Her daughter had appeared to lose the ability to speak.
“It will take a good deal of preparation, but it is nothing we cannot manage. Once Felicity has made the acquaintance of a few local families, I dare say it will be entirely proper. We must celebrate our bride, you know.”
“Chelton has not hosted such an event in an age. I hope you are prepared for a crush. There is not a family in Cumberland who will turn down an invitation to grace its halls.”
Lady Edith pressed her lips together. “I do not set such high expectations, of course, but I will be gratified to host regardless of how many people we receive.”
“The last ball we hosted was such a crush we were forced to open the back doors and allow people onto the lawn.”
“Did you not set out torches for that very purpose?” Lady Edith asked, tilting her head softly in question.
