A Season of Masks and Masquerades

Chapter 2: The Plight of Esther Sherborne

"Didn't you pick the perfect day for ribbon shopping, my dear!" Exclaimed the warm and too graceful for her age, Lady Hannah Sherborne. The pink glow of her cheeks contrasted loudly with the blue of her eyes, she was just the woman, any other would die to be.

With a husband of great business, a son tall and handsome and a daughter sought-after by every man, she had every reason in the world to keep her head high.

"Why, mother, you sound excited?" Esther reciprocated her mother's smile as she walked into the exquisite Sherborne drawing room with Miss Florence Lewis, her only dearest friend since their early childhood. Two footmen carried the yield of their market exploration behind them.

"Oh I am, show me your ribbons now, quick." Florence sprung to work at her Lady's command, as always. Being the daughter of the housekeeper of the Sherborne household, she'd been taught to act on their word by her mother.

While Lady Hannah Sherborne examined the freshly bought fabrics, Esther allowed herself to retire on the comfortable sofas of the drawing room. It was a space that symbolised relaxation and richness both at the same time with its rich ivory walls and pillars with golden carvings in all the right places. There were flowers at every one of the six corners of the room and windows were wide enough to let ample natural light adorn the space, the curtains were a pair of white cotton and gold silk.

She was only about to close her eyes when a fresh bouquet of flowers on the tea table caught her attention. "These are beautiful blooms, mama!" She said.

"They are, indeed." Her mother replied but with a lack of expected enthusiasm.

"Who are they from?" Esther asked, as she felt the petals, that still had droplets of moisture on them, under her silk skin.

"Ah." Sighed Hannah almost dismissively, clearly showing the least interest in this conversation her daughter had stirred. "We had a guest."

Esther's eyebrows arched slightly and just in time she spotted a cup of tea on the table, the steam from which was still rising. "Not long ago it seems."

"Yes, he only left mere minutes before your entrance, fortunately." She added the last word in sarcasm and rolled her eyes giving Esther just the answer she was looking for.

"Was it Lord Gardiner?" She jumped to a stand, forgetting all about her fatigue.

Hannah half smiled at her daughter.

"Oh mother, did you dash him away?"

"I did not!" The woman defended herself loud. "I just reminded him that he needed to prepare better costumes if he was to secure the attention of good ladies at the ball this evening."

"Oh, mother!" Esther sighed in defeat, a hand flung up to hold her aching head as she fell back on the sofa beneath her. As tired and done with the demure manners of a lady she was, all those years of training and practice of being the perfect debutante had seeped into her veins a way of doing the appropriate thing the acceptable way in any situation. She would be intensely exhausted and out of her senses yet her hands would fall on her head so beautifully as she would sigh that it would make swooning get in fashion. She just couldn't help it.

"Which reminds me," added Hannah, not giving a care to Esther's overreaction. "your costumes are to arrive in an hour or so, both of your costumes." She notified, directing a smile towards Florence.

"Thank you, Lady Sherborne, but I'm not certain we will be attending the masquerade." Florence softly added, and before the daggers from Esther's eyes could kill her, she left the room.

"What was that about?" Hannah enquired.

"I don't know."

"Esther Sherborne," Hannah's voice switched tones in an instant. "You are going to the ball, aren't you?"