Lady Griffith's Second Chance

Chapter Three

"Oh, no! None of that stuffiness between you and I! I always have been and always will be 'Maggie', if you please." She stepped back to regard Katharine, her light brown curls bobbing as she clapped her hands beneath her chin. "And who is this delightful young beauty? Surely, this cannot be your little Katie, can it?"

Katharine managed a curtsy a moment before Maggie reached for her hands and dropped a light kiss on her cheek.

"Oh, goodness. She has Sir Griffith's eyes, does she not?" Maggie said over her shoulder to Regan. "Such fine features. I can see who will be a favorite among the unmarried gentlemen in the drawing room tonight!"

Katharine looked over at her mother, a silent plea in her expression, but Regan simply shook her head and gave Maggie a gracious smile before they were led inside.

"Now we do keep country hours here," Maggie explained as they passed through the foyer and towards another large staircase that separated at the top, each side leading into a different wing of the house. "Though I understand that those just coming from town will insist on rising as late as possible, so you're free to keep whatever hours you wish as long as you are here!"

They followed Lady Polmerol past colorful tapestries, shining suits of armor, and hundreds of pieces of medieval weaponry that had been forged into sunbursts before they were fixed onto the walls as decoration.

"I've given you adjoining rooms," she continued as she led them down another corridor rich with the early Georgian touches still leftover from previous decades. "Of course, if you find anything not to your liking, let me know at once and I'll do everything within my power to remedy it!"

Their rooms were decorated in contrasting shades of pale greens and yellows, Katharine's in mainly yellow with green accents and Regan's in mainly green with yellow. A white door separated their rooms, and while each woman inspected the space that would be their home for the next several weeks, Lady Polmerol continued to chatter about dinners and picnics and a shooting tournament planned for the men on the following day.

"And we'll be having tea in the blue music room this afternoon," she continued, having hardly ceased to draw a breath during the entirety of her speech. "So you have a bit of time yet to rest and refresh yourselves before coming downstairs to become better acquainted with the other guests who have already arrived."

As soon as they were alone, Regan began to remove her bonnet and gloves while Katharine tackled the buttons on her spencer.

"It is lovely here," Katharine said as she took off her own bonnet and searched for a looking glass in which to inspect the state of her hair. "Though I don't believe Aunt Agnes would be able to stand the furnishings," she admitted with a small smile in her mother's direction.

"She'd have all of this gilded stuff tossed onto a bonfire and have it replaced with clean lines and Grecian urns," Regan laughed, just as the doors opened and their trunks arrived, accompanied by their maids.

"So," Katharine said, and gave her mother's hand a gentle squeeze. "Tea, downstairs with all the guests? You've not faced a greater crowd of people than a few neighbors invited over to gossip over fresh scones and cream. Are you ready?"

Regan drew in a deep breath and nodded. "Allow me to wash and change, and then... Yes, I believe I will be."

***

She had lied, of course. Despite her hands and face being washed, her plain traveling gown exchanged for one of blue muslin, and her hair brushed out and pinned up again by the skilled hands of Molly, her maid, she did not feel in any way prepared to face a room full of strangers.