Chapter 7

Chapter

Seven

Kathryn

" W hat will Mama say?" Kathryn whispered as she prodded at the toast on her plate in front of her.

It was easy to see that her first day at Lady Georgiana's house had been a disaster, and she was certain her blush of embarrassment wasn't yet gone. As well as falling catastrophically from the carriage, she had argued with Lady Georgiana's doctor, and he had mistaken her for a maid.

A maid!

Kathryn looked down at the gown she wore today, in an effort not to be thought of as a maid again. It was a pale sage green with a small pattern of white lilies along the bodice, just above the empire-line hem. A little finer than the gown she had chosen the day before, she supposed the biggest difference was that this one had no dirt upon it, as the one the day before had done from when she had fallen off the carriage.

"Oh God," she whispered, looking around the room and awaiting Lady Georgiana's presence. She thought she heard sounds from beyond the window of the dining room and moving to her feet, she peered through the lead-lined glass, looking out to the drive. Yet the view was masked by flowers, and she could see nothing more beyond a horse and a man who stepped down.

He disappeared inside and when she discovered no more, Kathryn huffed and returned to her chair. She sat down heavily and rested her elbows on the table, placing her face in her hands.

Mama would despair if she heard I'd been mistaken for a maid.

She closed her eyes, thinking of the way Doctor Beille had stared at her with what could amount to distain the day before. He was a handsome man, something that had shaken Kathryn when he'd stepped into the room. She thought like a lot of doctors, Lady Georgiana's would be an old and wizened man, but Doctor Beille was far from that. A young man, quite tall with a level brow and light brown hair the curled at his temple, he was striking. Those light blue eyes were shocking too, when he looked at her. The mustache on his upper lip was trimmed well, and he clearly took care of himself. The mere sight of him had done something to her stomach.

She was reminded of something Sebastian had once said after seeing Elizabeth again.

"The stomach feels all a quiver, as if moths danced within it!"

"Elbows off the table, child," Lady Georgiana said with ease.

Kathryn snatched her head out of her hands and leaned back as Lady Georgiana walked into the room.

"How are you feeling today?" Kathryn poured out the chamomile tea she had asked for the maids to prepare and placed a gup down for Lady Georgiana.

"Better, though perhaps a little tired." She put herself down at the head of the table, sighing as she smiled and reached for the chamomile cup. "Yet I have had no more fluttering, so I'd say that is a good sign. Sit straight, dear."

Kathryn did as she asked, finding it difficult to raise her eyes to meet Lady Georgiana's.

"Come on, out with it." Lady Georgiana waved the cup at her before she set about her breakfast, gathering toast form a basket and lathering it in jam.

"I'm sorry?" Kathryn asked in a small voice.

"You were thinking intently of something just now." She nodded at Kathryn and then mimicked her posture, head in hands with spine slumped, before returning to her toast. "What were you thinking of?"

"Doctor Beille," Kathryn said in full honesty. One of Lady Georgiana's grey eyebrows arched high.

"Handsome man, is he not?"

"What? Yes, no. I mean…" Kathryn shifted in her seat and managed to knock her knife off her plate. She caught it in the air narrowly before it could fall to the floor yet managed to grab it by the used end so got jam all over her palm. "I mean I was thinking about how he mistook me for a maid yesterday." She wiped the jam off her hand. "My mother would be most displeased."

"Doctor Beille is an unusual man." Lady Georgiana sat back in her chair with a smile on her lips. "His humor is not understood by everyone, just as his manner is not. His priority is his patient, always, and when that happens, he does not notice other things around him. I imagine he gave you a casual glance and upon seeing the dirt on your gown yesterday, he made a quick presumption. That is all."

Kathryn nodded, trying to persuade herself that her cousin was right, but she struggled.

He thought I was a maid.

The fact he may have looked down on her so made her fidget once again, angered that she had spent so long the day before thinking of that handsome face when he had probably barely noticed her at all.

"Now, if you are worried about men mistaking you for a maid, there are things we can do." Lady Georgiana smiled. "Which leads me well into our first lesson today. Fashion!"

"Fashion?" Kathryn said, wrinkling her nose. She liked fine things but had never considered herself a fashionable woman.

"No need to curl your nose so as if you have scented something rotten." Lady Georgiana rolled her eyes. "All fashion is truly is choosing gowns you like to wear, dear. There are many great names of designers and modistes out there, not just associated with Covent Garden, but Paris and Milan too."

Kathryn gulped, feeling somewhat daunted by the names of such places.

"No need to look so afraid." Lady Georgiana laughed once more. "Here, eat up your breakfast and enjoy it. I have asked Lady Nightburn to come by and talk to you about fashion. She is the font of all knowledge on the subject, after all."

Kathryn smiled once more, excited by the prospect of seeing Lady Nightburn again.

"Yes, thank you." Kathryn nibbled at her toast as she looked at Lady Georgiana, checking the woman over for any signs of a repeated of what had taken place the day before. Fortunately, she seemed at peace today, with not a care in the world and a soft smile on her lips. "You look content," Kathryn observed.

"I am, dear." Lady Georgiana smiled broadly now. "Very content with my life. Besides, I am happily distracted at this moment, thinking of something that took place yesterday."

"What is that?" Kathryn asked around a mouthful of toast. When Lady Georgiana arched an eyebrow, she apologized and went back to chewing, not daring to open her mouth again when she was eating.

"I was just thinking of that curious exchange between you and Doctor Beille. You never did quite answer my words about finding him handsome. Do you, dear?" Lady Georgiana asked, smiling and seeming very determined to have an answer.

"Well…" Kathryn pressed her lips together, thinking hard about an answer. When she thought of Doctor Beille, she saw that handsome face again, but he had never once smiled in her company and his words came back to her. "I think his manner quite dispels any charm from his handsomeness."

Lady Georgiana chuckled at her words but said nothing more.

Kathryn sighed and flung herself back on the chaise longue in the sitting room.

"I remember that exasperated look." Lady Nightburn mimicked her position, flinging herself down on the opposite settee. "I often thought that same in my younger days when sent to learn at my father's request. Yet today is supposed to be a fun day. We are talking about clothes!"

Kathryn laughed as she raised herself up, rather startled that Lady Nightburn had lost her posture and tossed herself down on the settee in such a similar fashion. There was something inherently elegant about Lady Nightburn, even when she attempted to be informal, she looked much finer than Kathryn.

"I fear I am not the fashionable sort at all." Kathryn winced. "As you saw yesterday, I inevitably end up getting dirt on clothes from my clumsy ways, and my choice in gowns is more about what I like than what is fashionable."

"As for the latter, it is the way it should be." Lady Nightburn gathered a magazine from a table nearby and moved to Kathryn's side, sitting down on the chaise longue beside her. "You should only ever choose what you like to wear. I was never one for choosing the modistes of Paris and Milan," she grimaced, clearly repeating Lady Georgiana's exact words, "and what I have discovered in my career is that those names do not matter anywhere near as much as one thinks. As long as it is something you like, there is a reason for it, and you will usually earn a compliment from somewhere for it."

"I suppose," Kathryn said, chewing her lip as Lady Nightburn stretched out the magazine in her lap.

"First, show me the gowns you like." She urged.

Kathryn turned the pages of the periodical, barely picking out anything at all. The more she looked, the more her mind dwelled on the matter of Doctor Beille and how he had been so convinced she was a maid or a companion. It irked her, that she could not separate her mind from the moment. The more she tried to push the memory away, the harsher it came back to her.

"Right, enough of this." Lady Nightburn took the magazine away. With drama, she tossed it over her shoulder, so it landed somewhere on the floor. Kathryn held a hand over her mouth, doing her best to try and stop her laughter.

"What was that for?"

"To get your attention." Lady Nightburn tapped her temple, making Kathryn start in surprise. "You are not looking at the dresses, for you are thinking of something else. Come on, what are you thinking of?"

Kathryn had no wish to reveal her self-conscious thoughts to Lady Nightburn, so she opted for another conversation, something that had bothered her all night.

"I was admiring what you and your friends have accomplished." Kathryn's words clearly took her by surprise, as Lady Nightburn sat taller. "You have all had careers, and yet you have married too, and you all seem so happy for it." Kathryn's smile turned rather sad. "It reminds me of my aunt. She was a healer, for a time, and now she is a duchess. I love her dearly and admire her more than I can say. I guess I am wondering if such a path could ever be open to me."

"Well, it certainly can be." Lady Nightburn smiled without hesitation. "The true question is here, what is it that interests you? For me, it was of course clothes. For my friends, it was writing. And you? What interests you?" She cocked her head to the side, waiting for Kathryn to speak her mind.

"In truth…" She thought of all the notes that Arabella had given her and the way she would pore over those notes at night, trying to learn as much as she possibly could. "Healing. Yet in particular, the botany side. It intrigues me more than I can say how some old wives' tales turn out to have scientific applications. Such as echinacea for colds and St John's Wort for melancholy."

"Is that a flower?" Lady Nightburn asked with a wrinkled nose. "It sounds more like a medical condition!"

"Ha! Yes, it is a flower." Kathryn laughed with her.

"Well, if you ask me, you should keep doing your research." Chloe sat forward. "It was how all our careers began, so I would encourage anyone to follow their heart. Now that I have tossed the magazine away, let me approach our discussion about fashion in another way. Is there anything you truly like, Kathryn? Any item of clothing or accessory you are fond of?"

"Actually, yes, there is." Kathryn stood and urged Lady Nightburn to wait where she was. Hurrying out of the room, Kathryn went to her chamber and retrieved Arabella's earrings before returning to the sitting room and proffering the earrings to Lady Nightburn. "My aunt has allowed me to borrow these, yet every time I put them on, I do not feel worthy to wear them."

"Ah, I see." Lady Nightburn stood and held the earrings into the sunlight near the window. "So, what we need is a gown that will go with the earrings very well?"

"That would be wonderful." Kathryn followed her to the window. "Though I admit, I do not know what that would be."

"Leave it to me." Chloe smiled broadly. "I can design such a gown for you." She took out a sketchbook and drew a quick recreation of the earrings on the page before she handed them back to Kathryn. "Right, now, I must go. I shall return some day soon with your design for you to see, but in the meantime, remember this."

She stood beside Kathryn with a smile on her face. "I may love fashion, but I will be the first to admit it should not be the sum of our characters. Even if Lady Georgiana suggests it is at time," she added in a small whisper. "I urge you to wear what you wish to, Kathryn. Not what you believe others should want you to wear." She walked toward the doorway. "And one more thing, I meant what I said about your passions. Do not be afraid of researching more into botany. You might be surprised by what you find."

She waved in parting and was soon gone, leaving Kathryn standing in the sitting room with a smile on her face. For her first lesson in being a fine lady, it was not at all what she had expected it to be.

Imbued with a new energy thanks to Lady Nightburn's words, Kathryn decided she would indeed continue her research. Knowing she couldn't rely on Arabella's lessons completely, for there was more to learn, Kathryn left the sitting room and headed toward the library Lady Georgiana had shown her the day before. She traipsed through the corridors and appeared in the library near the front of the house, opening it wide where the scent of the books greeted her, old and musty.

She inhaled deeply with a smile and turned to the shelves, running her fingers over the myriad of russet red and brown book spines as she sought out a book to read.

"Lady Georgiana doesn't keep any of the periodicals in here if that's what you're looking for."

Kathryn dropped the book in her grasp and turned around at the voice.