Mary knew that it was sheer vanity, but she could not help turning this way and that in front of the mirror. This, she thought, was what she would wear downstairs this evening to supper. Let Royce see her in this!
“You must wear that tonight.” Vivian echoed Mary’s thoughts. “With a gold ribbon wound through your curls. And, I think, this cameo.”
She held up a gold chain from which hung a white cameo against a brown background. Mary let Vivian clasp the necklace around her neck, and her eyes glowed as she gazed at her reflection.
“Perfect,” Charlotte agreed.
Mary tried on several more, including a dimity round dress with a pale blue pelisse that matched the tiny pattern of the fabric, not to mention another evening dress in white and soft pink. She could not find any that didn’t make her lips curve up into a smile, but the white and champagne evening gown remained her favorite. Prue, the upstairs maid who took care of Mary’s clothes, had been trying to arrange her hair as well, ever since they’d arrived. Tonight, Mary thought, she was going to let Prue do it.
As the girls worked their way through the clothes, Vivian and Charlotte returned to the subject of the girls’ confrontation this afternoon.
“Were you terribly frightened when he ran at you like that?” Charlotte asked. “I should have been terrified.”#p#分页标题#e#
“It was scary,” Rose admitted. “But then, I am always the biggest coward. I’m sure Camellia was not.”
“No, he was frightening,” Camellia admitted. “He was very big. And I hadn’t expected him to appear.”
Mary nodded. “I didn’t think we would ever see him again.”
“That’s why it took me so long to get the gun out of my pocket,” Camellia went on. “By then he had Rose, and I couldn’t get a clear shot.”
“It’s wonderful that you can shoot,” Vivian told her. “Would you teach me?”
Camellia looked at her, surprised. “Really?”
“Yes, really. It seems a much more useful skill than most I possess.”
“I am sure Miss Dalrymple would not say so,” Lily put in. “No doubt you can play the piano and sing and paint. I bet you even know French.”
“Enough to buy a dress in Paris,” Vivian answered with a laugh. “Or converse with the cook. But I can tell you that if you were ever stopped by a highwayman, he would not be overcome by a song or a phrase in French.”
“Have you ever been stopped by a highwayman?” Lily asked, her eyes round—as much, Mary suspected, with envy as with horror.
“No,” Vivian admitted. “But if I were, I’d rather pull out a pistol than my purse.”
Finally, as the fashion parade slowed, Vivian sighed and said, “I am sorry not to see the others’ reactions when you come downstairs tonight, but I should be going.”
“But you must stay for dinner, surely,” Charlotte protested.
Vivian smiled. “I fear it would be most unkind, even for me, to roll up to Halstead House this evening after everyone has gone to bed. Fear not, I will return often to visit. Constant companionship would not suit Lady Sabrina or me.”
“Does she not like Lady Sabrina?” Lily asked Charlotte after Vivian had gone.
Charlotte turned to her, somewhat surprised. She hesitated, then said carefully, “Lady Vivian and Lady Sabrina are, um, rather different in character.”
“Lady Sabrina said that they used to be great friends.”
Their cousin shrugged. “Yes, they did. Many years ago.”
“I don’t much like Lady Sabrina,” Camellia announced.
“What?” Her sisters swung around to stare at her.
“Since when do you not like her?” Lily asked.
“I thought you found her charming,” Rose added, puzzled.
Camellia shrugged. “I didn’t mean that I dis like her. I liked her more at first. But last time … I don’t know. She seemed disappointed that the vicar’s wife and the squire’s wife liked us.”
Mary stared at Camellia for a moment, frowning. “I think Lady Sabrina did not feel well. She had a headache.”
“I am sure you must be wrong, Camellia.” Rose looked troubled. “She has been most kind to us.”
“Well, you shall have ample time and opportunity to discover exactly how you feel about Sabrina,” Charlotte told them. “In the meantime, I think we had best get these things sorted and given to the maids to put away. It’s almost time to dress for dinner.”
As Mary had suspected, Prue, happy to at last dress Mary in clothes that befitted a lady, was almost ecstatic when Mary suggested that she also arrange her hair in the manner Lady Vivian had suggested. It took her far longer to dress than Mary was accustomed to—and was more than she was willing to do on a daily basis. But the results, she couldn’t help but think, were worth it.#p#分页标题#e#