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Chapter 5
When Percy arrived at home, he went straight to Georgiana’s room. He pounded on the ornate wooden door, as he was still quite upset with her after the events that unfolded at the ball.
When he heard nothing in response, he shouted, “Georgiana? Open the door this minute.”
There was still no response, but now Percy was convinced this was not because his sister was ignoring him, it was because she simply was not in her room. He charged down the hallway and up the stairs to the conservatory, where Georgiana was gently tending to her many varieties of exotic plants.
When he saw her, he tossed the hat box at her without saying anything. Georgiana thankfully looked up in time to stop the box from hitting her and managed to catch it, but she was both annoyed and surprised.
“You great bull calf!” she shouted at him. “You very nearly destroyed my Laurestinus, and if you had, you would have been in a world of pain!”
Percy rolled his eyes at his petulant sister.
“Your hat arrived,” he responded flatly, taking no notice of what she had said. “I think you chose the worst colour and style possible, by the way.”
Georgiana sighed and tossed off her gardening gloves while still managing to hold her hatbox.
“Then it is a good thing you know absolutely nothing about style, brother dearest,” she said, her voice dripping with malice, “for if you did, you would know that this hat is in the height of fashion right now. And I shan’t thank you for picking it up, as you stole a trip into town from me, you lobcock.”
“Don’t use that language,” Percy scolded her. “If Mama hears you, then I’ll be blamed for teaching it to you when the truth is that I never speak that way.”
Georgiana turned away from her brother to set the hatbox down upon a table at the end of the row of plants. As Percy watched her take the hat out of the box and put it on her head, he became aware of the heat and humidity in the conservatory.
He never understood his sister’s intense fascination with plants, nor could he see why she loved spending a great many hours in here each day, carefully tending to each of her species.
In almost everything else in her life, Georgiana moved very quickly and rather thoughtlessly. However, when it came to plants, she was patient, understanding, and enthralled by them. Percy truthfully admired Georgiana’s behaviour in the conservatory, and so he did his best to refrain from teasing her about that specifically.
When Georgiana had the hat upon her head, she looked quite contented. Suddenly, Percy almost enjoyed seeing his sister so happy, and their ongoing feud was put to the side for the time being. In her outfit, Georgiana looked like a child who had been playing outside in the dirt in her worst clothes, and who had then played dress-up with her mother’s hat.
“You have a sour look on your face, brother,” Georgiana said in a softer, but still rather harsh tone. “There is something about it that tells me your annoyance hasn’t completely been caused by me.”
Percy did not feel like revealing his feelings to his bothersome little sister, but as she was the only person who he consistently saw in a day, she frustratingly was also his confidante.
“While you are largely the cause of it,” Percy informed her, “you are correct. I ran into a young woman who I spoke with at the ball when I went into the haberdashery.”
Georgiana looked surprised. She took the hat from her head and placed it back in the box while she spoke.
“Was it that blonde-haired peasant ... I mean that blonde-haired young woman?” she asked.
Percy took a seat on one of the stools nearby. “Yes. Her name is Lydia Seymour; she’s the daughter of …”
“The doctor who attended to Mama the night I was born and saved me from dying of pleurisy,” Georgiana interrupted. “You already told me that.”
“Yes, right,” Percy responded, rubbing his temples. The overwhelming smell of all the plants was starting to get to him, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could stay in here.
“We had a wonderful conversation the night of the ball, but then when I apologized to her today for leaving so abruptly, she seemed to want nothing to do with me. There was something in her face that told me she didn’t entirely believe my apology.”
Georgiana came and sat on another stool a little way down from where Percy sat. “Well, did you show her that you were sorry?” she asked, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Percy knitted his eyebrows, drew his head back away from her and crossed his arms. “Show her I was sorry? Why should I need to do that? If I say I am sorry, then I mean it.” He did not understand how an intelligent young woman like Lydia could not understand that he was being truthful in his apology.
Georgiana let out a big sigh, leaned her head back, and then looked at her brother. “When you were drawn away by the sight of me speaking with Arthur, did you bid her farewell? Did you thank her for the conversation and tell her that you would very much enjoy the chance to continue it another time?”
“I did not have time to do that,” he barked. “I had to get to you as quickly as possible because if I didn’t, you would have ruined our whole family’s reputation in one fell swoop.”
It was now Georgiana’s turn to roll her eyes.
“Don’t give me that,” she groaned. “You know that I was only speaking with Arthur and that there was nothing improper going on between us. I may be a rebellious young thing, but I do not wish to make such an outcast of myself that I would make any moves on Arthurat a ball.You were rude to Lydia. And now, you need to show her that you aren’t really as rude as you seem ... at least to her.”
