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A wretched, hacking sound issued from a doorway to Ellie’s right. Eyes wide, she rushed across the room and into the bathing chamber. Lizzy May, her nightgown embroidered and touched with lace, knelt on the bathing room floor clutching a chamber pot, into which she retched.
“Lizzy May.” Ellie dropped to her knees beside her sister. “Whatever is the matter?”
Lizzy May looked up, her grey eyes dull and her face white, save for bright spots of pink on her cheeks.
“I believe I ate something yesterday that no longer agrees with me.”
Ellie looked about.
“Do you need water? Towels? What can I do?”
Lizzy May groaned.
“Damp towels, yes, please.” She gestured vaguely at a dressing table, atop which stood a shallow basin and a ewer. “Oh, my poor maid.”
“Never mind your maid.” Ellie rose and hastened to pour water into the ewer. She swiped up a clean towel from atop the table and returned to her sister. “Here.”
“Thank you.”
Lizzy May set the chamber pot aside. She dipped the towel in the water and applied it to her face.
“Do you think you’ll be well enough for our outing with the Dowager Duchess?”
Lizzy May looked up from the towel, blinking dully.
“Our outing with the Dowager?”
A pang of disappointment filled Ellie. She squelched it down.
“Never mind that. We need to get you well. What can I do? Should I help you back to bed?”
Lizzy May squeezed her eyes closed, scrunching her entire face along with her lids.
“Our outing with the Dowager Duchess.” She groaned.
“Surely, she’ll understand that you’re ill.”
“Only if I vomit on her feet,” Lizzy May muttered.
Ellie stared at her, unsure what to say to that.
Lizzy May opened her eyes and let out a long sigh.
“I’ve worked so very hard to get her to stop hating me. We’ve been corresponding for months. This was to be our first outing.” She pressed a shaking hand to her forehead. “She won’t believe I’m ill. She’ll take this as a deliberate slight. She organised today to show me off to her circle, against my express wishes.” Vigour flashed across Lizzy May’s face. “I am not a show pony.”
She slumped, as if that small display of defiance had cost her the final remnants of her energy.
“I’ll explain to her. She’ll understand. She must.” A thought a bit more selfish than generous entered Ellie’s mind. “Maybe the day isn’t ruined. She can still take me. At least that way her friends will know what you look like.”
“She doesn’t have friends,” Lizzy May muttered, towel pressed to her face again. “She has people she graces with her presence.” She looked up, her eyes narrowing. “You’ll have to pretend to be me. We’ll tell her you’re the one who’s ill. She’s rarely spoken to me in person, and those few times months ago.”
Ellie shook her head. “I can’t pretend to be the Duchess of Aspen. Isn’t impersonating a member of the peerage a hanging offense?”
Lizzy May rolled her eyes.
“Only if the real Duchess wants you to hang. Ellie, you must. I’ve worked too hard to turn the Dowager to civility. You have to help me.”
Ellie sat back on her heels, legs starting to cramp from crouching beside her sister. She did want to go out. She’d been looking forward to today for months.
