Chapter 17

On their return to Northriding Castle, Georgiana and Miss Spry enquired as to the whereabouts of their hostess, and were directed to a room in some distant part of the building, previously unknown to them, where they found Louisa and Lady Blanche, surrounded by open trunks and piles of rich fabric.

‘The ball,' explained Lady Blanche. ‘It is to be a masked one, as always, and it is generally understood that guests wear black and silver if they are able to do so, with perhaps a touch of white if they cannot, as that is always easy to find for young ladies. Our Northriding colours, you know, since ancient times, taken from our hair and our eyes, as you may see from many of the portraits going back for centuries. Some of the older people do not trouble themselves to follow the theme, or perhaps think it unlucky to wear black when not in mourning, but the younger people always seem to enjoy participating. It does make a great show in the hall, when everyone is masked and dancing, and the silver lace glitters in the candlelight. I have already helped some of our other guests choose costumes from our store, if they did not bring anything suitable, but now I think we must find something for you. Louisa has a silver ballgown with her that will be perfect, but she tells me you both need our aid?'

Georgie had not been able to repress a shiver at the thought of being masked, and seeing the Duke masked again – she was bound to recall all that had happened between them on their first meeting, and how he had told her just a few hours ago that he bitterly regretted it now. But that was a disturbing train of thought, and she pushed it aside with deliberate effort, and tried to lose herself in looking over the gowns that Lady Blanche pulled out for her inspection.

Miss Spry pronounced herself satisfied with a costume some thirty years old that had once belonged to the late Duchess – Jane declared that she had always thought the slightly raised waists and full skirts of the time following the Terror in France to be most becoming. The silk was striped in black and silver, and the low bosom would be filled with a white fichu, and her blonde locks piled up on her head to be dressed with grey powder and feather plumes. ‘It will be like seeing my mother in the mirror, I am sure, at the age of my earliest recollections,' she said with a smile. ‘I wish there were some means of preserving the impression, so I could show it to her when next I see her, for I am sure she would be most amused.'

Georgiana considered several gowns, oddly indecisive when surely it did not matter in the least what she wore, and at last with her hostess's encouragement settled on one of black velvet embroidered with silver thread and brilliants, which Lady Blanche thought might have belonged to her grandmother, a French lady, when she was newly married. The skirt was not set on an exaggerated frame, in a fashion which looked ridiculous to modern eyes and must have made it nigh on impossible to pass through doorways, but was nevertheless wide and full, supported by numerous stiffened petticoats. The black velvet skirt opened in a wide vee over these petticoats, which had been designed to be visible and were heavy with rows of silver lace. The same costly material also showed in a cascade from the elbow. The bodice was low, and Georgie would have to be trussed into it with some force. ‘It should really be matched with a wig,' said Louisa, raising her glass to inspect it, ‘for your hair is too short to look quite right in powder, but I hardly think you will care to wear one even if one can be found. Horrid, insanitary things. People in the past were so peculiar, I declare it makes me shudder to think of it now. One's own parents, even! But perhaps we can find a false curl, a ringlet of some sort, to attach to your own, to make it appear longer?'

‘I have the very thing!' said Lady Blanche. ‘I will be sure to have it sent to your chamber, and some pins along with it. I am sure your maid will contrive something. And do you have a mask…?'

Georgie had a mask. She scarcely knew why she had brought it to Yorkshire, though it took up little space in her luggage, but she had it none the less, and would wear it. A servant was summoned to carry the chosen gowns to the ladies' rooms, and they set about packing away the items they had rejected. The ball loomed large in her mind, but she told herself that this was folly; she would be prudent, treat it as any other social engagement, and as soon as it was over they could leave, and if she was lucky she would never set eyes on the Duke again, for he would be married to another woman, and presently, she was sure, she would succeed in banishing him from her thoughts and from her treacherous dreams.