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Chapter Six
“Ihope you don’t mind that I’m here,” the Duchess of Ashbourne told Eleanor the next day as the two had tea in Eleanor’s drawing room. “I usually help match couples up for marriage, but when I learned about your situation, I thought it would be fun to see if I could offer assistance.”
Eleanor surmised that Mr. Tumilson picked the duchess for the task of making her more appealing to potential suitors because the duchess was a beautiful lady. She was older, too. Eleanor guessed the duchess might be in her late thirties. Beauty and experience. What more could anyone ask for when helping a naïve lady who was failing her first Season?
Eleanor’s father had been delighted when Mr. Tumilson sent the missive telling him the duchess had agreed to help her. “The Duchess of Ashbourne is one of the finest ladies in London,” her father had remarked. “I know her husband. He’s a member of White’s. Her reputation is flawless, and she’s had great success in helping many ladies find husbands. I’ll send a missive to her right away.” Then her father had hurried out of the room as if this was the best thing that could ever happen to her.
Eleanor sipped her tea then asked the duchess, “May I inquire as to how you know Mr. Tumilson?”
“I don’t know Mr. Tumilson,” the duchess replied. “However, I do know Lady Reddington. Her husband is friends with Lord Davenport who happens to know Mr. Duff. Mr. Duff is Mr. Tumilson’s brother-in-law.”
Eleanor tried to keep up with the progression of people the duchess mentioned, but she’d only heard of Lord Reddington, and that was only because her father had mentioned him. “You will not dance with any gentlemen who are prone to scandalous behavior,” her father had told her. “Take Lord Reddington, for example. He convinced a newly widowed lady to run off to Gretna Greene to marry him.” Eleanor was surprised her father allowed the Duchess of Ashbourne to come here since the duchess was connected to someone who’d caused the Ton to go into what he termedan uproar.
The duchess chuckled. “London is a small place. Eventually, you encounter someone who knows someone you know.”
Perhaps that was true, but Eleanor didn’t think she’d ever come to think of London as a small place. It was overwhelming at times. Eleanor cleared her throat. “What will you do with me?”
The duchess put her cup down and turned to her. “My job is to enhance what already makes you appealing. You have a quiet beauty. We just need to draw it out so gentlemen notice it. You’d be surprised how a few small changes can make big differences. I have a feeling that you’ll turn gentlemen’s heads when I’m done with you.”
Eleanor wasn’t convinced that the duchess could perform such a monumental task, but she was willing to let her try.
“The first thing I need to do is see what you already have,” the duchess continued. “Can I see your clothes, jewelry, and hair accessories?”
Since the lady looked at her expectantly, Eleanor hurried to nod then set her tea down. “Of course.” She rose to her feet and escorted her to her bedchamber.
The next hour was surprisingly long as the duchess held up different gowns to Eleanor. The duchess said she wanted to find the right color for Eleanor, but Eleanor had no idea what that meant. Afterward, the duchess tried out several hairstyles on Eleanor while Eleanor’s lady’s maid was in the room. The duchess offered the lady’s maid advice on what she deemed to be the best styles to use. Then she took considerable time in evaluating every piece of jewelry Eleanor owned.
In the end, the duchess wrote down things to add to Eleanor’s wardrobe, and Eleanor was stuck shopping with her. Eleanor was relieved the duchess picked out the things to buy. If Eleanor had to make those decisions, she would have panicked and begged her father to send her back to the country estate. She didn’t have the slightest idea of what was fashionable in London.
Upon returning to the townhouse, the duchess removed over half of the gowns in Eleanor’s armoire. Then she summoned a maid in and instructed the maid on what modifications to make to the gowns that were left behind. There were only two gowns the duchess felt were already suitable to wear, and those were gowns Eleanor hadn’t worn yet. The gowns were quite lovely, but her father had insisted she wear the others instead.
When the afternoon came to an end, the duchess looked very pleased. “That is a good start. I’ll be here tomorrow afternoon.”
Confused, Eleanor hurried after her as she left the bedchamber. “You mean there’s more?”
“What we did today was give you a foundation to work with,” the duchess said. “How you look is only half of what it takes to attract gentlemen. The other half is in how you present yourself. That will take more time. We’ll start those lessons tomorrow.”
Eleanor didn’t know what to say. She had no idea that attracting gentlemen could be so complicated. But, considering the fact that she didn’t have a single suitor, she wasn’t all that surprised. She was a wallflower. The Duchess of Ashbourne was going to teach her how to stop being one. It was the only way she was going to succeed in finding a husband. Like anything in life worth doing, the effort would pay off in the end.
“All right,” Eleanor said when they made it to the entrance. “I’ll be ready tomorrow afternoon.”
The duchess turned to Eleanor as the footman opened the door. She offered Eleanor an encouraging smile. “I know all of these changes are a lot, but I think you’ll like the results when your biggest challenge is picking which of your suitors to marry.” With that said, she left the townhouse.
***
The next afternoon when the Duchess of Ashbourne arrived, she gasped as soon as she stepped into the drawing room. Eleanor’s eyebrows furrowed in concern. She thought she had picked out one of the gowns that met with the lady’s approval, and she was sure her lady’s maid had created an attractive hairstyle and selected the right jewelry to go with her outfit. But maybe they had missed something.
“I can’t believe I’m looking at the same person I was with yesterday,” the duchess said as she moved forward. “You look like a different lady. Did your father recognize you when he saw you this morning?”
Eleanor relaxed. Thankfully, the duchess wasn’t upset. “Of course, he recognized me. I’m his daughter.”
The duchess offered her an amused smile. “I didn’t mean it that way. Did he say anything about how wonderful you look?”
She wasn’t sure what the lady was hoping for, but she told her the truth. “My father said he didn’t think even the most reputable of gentlemen deserved me.”
The duchess seemed satisfied with that, so Eleanor sat on the settee. The duchess sat next to her. Eleanor was sure the duchess didn’t mean to intimidate her, but it was hard to get comfortable with someone who exuded so much confidence.
The duchess waited for the butler to pour tea into their cups before she said, “You’ll have no trouble drawing gentlemen to you.” She chuckled. “I think you’re going to be surprised when you realize just how pretty you are.”
