The Lady

Chapter 10

“Shall we sit for a few minutes and watch the dancing?” Elizabeth asked me after having a sip of her punch.

Clutching my second helping of the cool liquid I have a look around the room before answering.

I force a smile to my face and answer her.

“Certainly, could we stay here for just a moment until we have finished our drinks?”

“Of course, Rachel.”

There is a small ensemble at the front of the room who I can hear playing Lady Mary Ramsay and my foot, like it has a mind of its own, starts to tap to the beat of the music and I close my eyes for a moment, soaking in the sounds of the flawless players. It has been much too long since I have had the joy of listening to music and I regret the months of silence that I have had that were completely self imposed.

I haven’t been in the company of this many people for a long time and I still don’t know if I am quite ready to be at this kind of gathering. I have never been very shy but after only speaking to a handful of people for so long I feel as though I have almost lost the knack for talking to strangers about inconsequential things.

Since staying with my friend I’ve kept to myself which has not been the easiest thing to do when all of the ‘well-meaning’ women of the county have been trying to call upon Elizabeth. I’m sure it’s been killing them to know that Elizabeth has a lady guest who hasn’t been introduced to the community.

I notice that there are a number of women who are trying to be discreet in their assessment of me but really, to me it is rather obvious. As I catch the eye of a well dressed young woman she outright glares in my direction and sniffs, sneering she looks me up and down and giggles to her friend.

Wonderful. This is exactly why I did not want to come here tonight.

Well, this was the reason why, but now Charles is the reason I don’t want to be here.

Oh blast, Charles. I had a couple of moments that I was able to forget about the man but now he is all I can think about. Thank goodness he seems to be occupied with a group of older men, hopefully they will keep him occupied long enough that he will forget about wanting to dance with me.

As I pull my eyes away from his small group I notice that he is staring over at Elizabeth and I. Oh I have all the luck, I think to myself as I see him nodding to his group and looking back at me he starts to walk this way.

Fortunately, he is soon stopped a middle aged couple. He seems eager to move on though and I start to feel myself perspire, dreading the moment that he insists on sharing a dance.

“Elizabeth, if I asked you to leave would you accompany me?” I hurriedly whisper, hoping that only she will hear me in the crowd.

I look over to where Charles is trying to get out of the conversation with the older couple and avoid his eye as he looks towards me with longing evident on his face.

Elizabeth frowns at me then leans closer and says, “I beg your pardon darling, I didn’t quite catch what you said.”

As she starts to bring her glass up to her mouth while waiting for my reply, the two women that had been laughing at me before came up behind Elizabeth and purposely jostled her. Out of sheer reflex I dropped the glass that I was holding and tried to break her fall.

Glass shatters at our feet as not only my glass hits the floor but Elizabeth’s one slips out of her grip, too. Red punch splashes about at our feet and not to be outdone my skirts soak up a good deal as well.

As I grasp Elizabeth’s nearest body part I take an automatic step forward to steady our weight. As my foot hits the ground I cry out as it slips straight up in the air and I lose my balance. My hands release their hold on Elizabeth and I quickly try and grab onto whatever I can but it’s too late. I start to fall backwards, even though I close my eyes waiting for the impending impact I still yell as I hit the floor. The back of my head bouncing off the hard wooden floor, I scrunch up my face as the pain ripples through my body.