Shadow in the North

Chapter Ten - A Godfather and a Gown

Now, Mrs Hale was still very much the invalid, despite all Isabel's medicines and treatments, and so it was that she found herself quite swept up in the excitement of the Thornton's annual dinner. Confined to the house as she was - and having no friends of whom could call - Mrs Hale sought her diversion from the three ladies of the house (loyal Dixon ever in attendance), and in the post. Nothing new being brought from Sorrento - or perhaps Aunt Shaw had been forced elsewhere due to extremes of climate - the post could not hold Mrs Hale's thrall for any length of time. It was, therefore, the Thornton's dinner which occupied her many hours of decline. She dwelt, with an almost-childlike wonder, upon the menu that might be served. She speculated over the side dishes Mrs Thornton would provide. She considered silverware and crystal and attempted to envisage the floral decorations which might adorn the room. Having never been to the mill house - and so not knowing its cold, austere ambience - Mrs Hale conjured such romantic visions in her mind as to lull her into a blissful cloud of reminiscence as Lady Beresford. She sighed at the happy memories, regretted that such occasions had not been her lot, the past twenty five years in Helstone, but smiled with a maternal satisfaction at the thought of Margaret dining with the first families of Milton.

Where Mrs Hale could not exhaust the topic of conversation, where she could not fail to find diversion, Margaret - although happy to indulge her mother with prophecies and estimations - could not conjure any true amusement. She felt it would be a dull and tedious evening, and was only mollified by the supposition that to go would bring joy to her parents and set Isabel before Mr Thornton.

Mrs Hale had been fearful that Margaret would have no suitable dress to wear for such an event. Margaret had suggested the white silk, worn only the year before, to her Cousin Edith's wedding. Mrs Hale, nervous in her incarceration, fretted that the dress would no longer fit.

'I'm am sure it shall, Mamma. Perhaps it may be a fraction longer or shorter on me, depending on whether I have gained or lost any weight, but I hardly think I have,' comforted Margaret.

'But white! Margaret. It may have yellowed, being stored away.'

'I have a fine pink dress, then. Aunt Shaw gave it to me only a few months prior to Edith's wedding; that shall do nicely, and will certainly not have yellowed.' The invalid thought, and - unwilling to allow herself a moment of relaxation - for that is not what invalidism is about - she pouted with a weakened frown.

'But it may have faded,' came her trembling reply; voice weakening with the body.

'Then I have a lovely green.' Mrs Hale was anxious still. She wished she could know for a certainty that Margaret would look well, and seeing that her mother was not reassured, Margaret took herself upstairs and proceeded to put on each dress for her mother, in order to attain her approval. The white silk was selected, and the remaining two dresses turned over to Isabel, who simply gasped in horror.

'Oh! I have never worn such a dress. It is not even a dress, but a gown! No, I have never worn a gown.' Margaret smiled at her companion's endearing discomfort, and pressed upon her, the pink and green dresses.

'But you must wear a gown. Which should you prefer; the pink or the green? I myself, think the green more suited to your colouring - certainly your eyes.'

'But we are different sizes, Margaret!' announced Isabel, plaintively. She certainly could not wear either dress unaltered; being several inches shorter and of a much smaller, straighter frame, and she would not see one of Margaret's fine dresses dismantled and re-stitched for her benefit.

'Then we shall alter it, for certainly we have time, and the green - that is my least favourite. Personally, I prefer the pink, so you may wear the green and keep it; I need not three fine gowns.' Seeing Isabel's reluctance to accept, caused a smile to light upon Margaret's face. She had thought her friend quite fearless, but it seemed she was greatly discomposed by dresses.