The thought of the Season and the proximity it would necessitate with her mother sent her stomach twisting with worry. Ellen could feel the bile rise through her gut, but she took deep breaths to calm herself down. A dull ache settled in her stomach instead as Clarisse began to wash her. She watched her mother pace around her chamber, hanging her gown and picking out feathers, the tiara, and so many bracelets that Ellen began to wonder if she would need to wear some on her feet too.
“Perhaps it is a symbol to show that I am bound in shackles to this dreadful requirement of duty,”she mused.
Ellen took the sponge away from Clarisse, preferring to wash her other regions herself. Her hazel eyes glazed wistfully as Clarisse began to scrub her back while another maid began to wash her hair in a sweet-smelling concoction that smelled like freshly cut grass in the spring.
Ellen sighed. There was no end to this dreadful matter. If only she had the sort of confidence Marjorie had to stand up for herself against her mother and brother. Only her father, the late Duke Bamber, had understood her, but he had died of a rare disease three years prior.
“Get out of the bath, Ellen,” Lady Bamber snapped, jolting Ellen out of her reverie. “Clarisse needs to clear the tub out for your perfume bath.”
“Mama, we don’t need this. I don’t want a perf—”
“Stop whining, Ellen. It is unbefitting of a lady.”
“Yes Mama,” Ellen sighed resignedly. She watched as the maids drained the bathtub and replaced it with mixed oils; pressed virgin oils from rose, lavender, and a dash of elmwood spice. Lady Bamber had outdone herself once again.
Ellen gingerly put a foot in and then the other before settling in. The water was just the right temperature — a better contrast to the chilly water she had just bathed in, but she would rather die than admit it to her mother.
“You’ll be there until I return—”
Eyebrows raised, Ellen retorted, “Mama, that’s ridiculous! Nobody cares if I am boiled in the most expensive oils!”
“I will leave you to attend to other important things now,” Lady Bamber said, ignoring her daughter’s protests. The maids trailed after her as she left the chamber, leaving Ellen alone with her thoughts for the first time that morning.
I hate every bit of this!she groaned inwardly. She did not care about the Season. She did not want to bear the excruciating preparations she had to go through in the name of outshining the other maidens.
Ellen was beginning to doze off when her doors flung open. Her mother was back, carrying a leather pad on top of which a pair of shoes sat gracefully.
“May I not even have some breakfast, Mama?” Ellen asked as her mother set the leather pad on her bed.
Lady Bamber sighed. “How do you expect your dress to fit if your stomach is bloated from eating? Sometimes, Ellen, I wonder if you are truly my daughter.”
The words stung. Ellen blinked rapidly to keep the tears from falling while Clarisse caught her eye with a sad smile.
“You’re going to catch the eye of every Lord in London this year. And you shall have a fine husband whom you will adore and respect and bear strong heirs for,” Lady Bamber said proudly as she placed the tiara on her daughter’s head. Ellen was finally fully dressed after hours of poking and prodding.
‘Now, don’t you look beautiful!’ Lady Bamber said and took a step back to observe her daughter’s magnificent beauty.
Ellen’s gown was a snowy linen, white as the cloaks of the heavenly, fitted snugly against her torso with a low neckline and a very full bloom into a full and long skirt. Her long sleeves showed a lining of gold satin. Masses of brown hair tumbled to her bare shoulders in thick curls. Around her slender neck hung a rope of diamonds and emeralds. The white made her look strangely innocent, almost maidenly, but there were points of color on her cheek.
“Here,” Clarisse said as she dabbed more rose-colored cosmetics on her cheeks. “You will outshine everyone at the ball tonight!” she exclaimed as she stepped back to admire her work on the impassive human before her.
“I don’t want to outshine anyone. I just want to be—”
“Take this,” Lady Bamber said, pushing a piece of paper into Ellen’s hands.
“What’s this?” Ellen asked.
“Your code of conduct,” her mother replied. “You cannot be alone with a man. You cannot stray from the ball to the garden without an escort. Never kiss a rake even if he asks you to—”
“You cannot be rude to either a gentleman or a lady. Don’t ever decline a dance…Mama, this is what you have always told me. You did not have to write this down,” Ellen said, not wanting to engage in another bout of fruitless banter with her mother.
“I could not take you to face thetonwithout you having those rules with you. I shall ask your brother to kindly keep an eye on you as well. Heaven forbid that we have a scandal in this family.”
“Yes, Mama. I shall follow these rules.”
“Good. Now let us be on our way. We are two hours behind schedule, but it was worth it.”
Everyone seemed to be either on the dance floor or chatting with someone while sipping from small wine glasses.
