I didn't wait for my knock to be answered before I pushed open the door to Audra's workshop. Thankfully, she was alone, but she looked up in surprise from where she was bent over a magnificent piece of emerald silk.
"I'm desperate," I blurted out before she could talk, "I can't stand looking like a governess for one more minute!"
I didn't expect her to burst into laughter as she set down her work.
"However did you know?" she asked, rising and gesturing for me to step up onto the podium so she could inspect the dress.
"Know what?" I asked, as she pursed her lips in distaste as she ran her eyes over the dress.
"That it belonged to one of Princess Anne's old governesses?" she laughed, shooting me a smile in the mirror, "Although if I'd sent you up the original you'd have hated me even more. Lace and frills everywhere!"
"Lace and frills?" I asked, shuddering. Audra's freckled face broke into another grin.
"You should see the pile I had to pull off. You'd have looked like an auburn-haired porcelain doll if I'd left it on!" she laughed, gathering some pins.
"A porcelain doll going to a funeral," I muttered, staring at my reflection in the mirror. The dress looked even worse in the trio of mirrors that allowed me to see it from all angles. It was drab and did nothing for my non-existent figure. It was so conservative that no wonder Rosanna had chosen it, especially after yesterday's events during the hunt. She had probably planned to make me look like a spinster ten years older than my actual age.
"It was all I could find so last minute," Audra explained, taking in my expression before turning back to doing her hemming.
"Of course, no need to apologize. It's far better than the old things I brought with me," I said, thinking of the finishing school uniform dresses.
"And here I was considering altering a few maids' uniforms so you could keep on with your theme of dull grey," Audra said. When I met her gaze once more, she was wearing a crooked smile with a troublemaking glint in her eye. I laughed.
"Whatever you can find that doesn't make me look like an sixty year old governess or like someone sent to deliver tea. I'd take anything at this point!" I wailed.
"I was thinking I'd sew you something to catch the eye of the prince," Audra said slyly, as she ruched and bustled some of fabric at the base of the bodice to create the illusion of curves. She was studiously avoiding my eye as she fought a smile.
"How does everyone know about that?" I wailed once more, "I swear to you Audra, all that happened was that I got separated from the group and Prince Andrew and Lord Amberly were the ones who found me!"
"While you were riding Lord Amberly's horse," Audra added. I sighed.
"It sounds so much worse when you put it like that. I sound like a regular tart," I muttered. Audra laughed.
"I wish you'd keep it up, it's quite enjoyable to hear the other debutantes fret over you," she said, inspecting her work, "I have a feeling we'll be getting requests for drab, boring day dresses in the coming days, especially if you're the one that's getting all the prince's attention,"
I looked around at her, moving so fast I stuck myself with one of her pins.
"Ouch! How can they possibly be fretting over me, it happened only yesterday!" I protested, as she clucked and pulled the pin out, pointing for me to turn back towards the mirror, "And besides, I'd hardly say I'm getting all of the prince's attention,"
"The other apprentices were talking about it last night. Apparently Ashley Mayfair had a fit in her suite while Cara was adjusting her dress for dinner. She stormed around complaining about you monopolizing the prince's time during the hunt," Audra said matter-of-factly. I groaned.
"I didn't even think she knew my name," I said. Audra laughed.
"She doesn't, but who else would she have called 'Ella's auburn-haired harlot'?" Audra grinned, "Now tread carefully, it's the best I can do to improve this horror of a dress on such short notice,"
I turned slowly, inspecting her work. It wasn't miraculous as I still looked very much like an uptight governess, but at least now I had something of a waistline where the bodice ended.
"Thank you Audra, it's much improved," I smiled. She returned it, gesturing for me to follow her around the back of her work table.
"I have a few more day dresses almost ready for you, but the head seamstress forced me to alter Lady Thornbury's dress before the opera outing in two nights time so I'm behind on your formal dress," she said, gesturing to three garments piled atop my camel day dress. They were all wedged in a corner to make room for the elegant emerald silk gown she'd been working on when I came in. She sat back down and resumed her stitching as I picked up each of the dresses in turn.
"Oh they're perfect," I said, holding them up to look at myself from afar in the mirror. The first was brown with little cream flowers embroidered on the bodice, the second earthy green and the last a navy tinged with black accents.
"There is one bit of bad news," she said, her fingers flying as she stitched the emerald silk, "You also need something to wear to the next ball this Friday in addition to the museum opening this Saturday. I have some castoffs from the dresses that Lady Townsend had ordered made before the season but didn't end up selecting. They need quite a bit of altering though, so she won't ridicule you for wearing her rejected pieces,"
"Are you saying these dresses were all rejected?" I asked in shock, admiring the fine workmanship of the day dresses.
"Those three were castoffs from one of the queen's ladies in waiting who left the city a few months back. Sadly all her more formal gowns went with her," Audra said. I chewed my lip in thought.
"I have an old blue ball gown, but nothing for a museum opening," I offered, settling the day dresses back on the edge of the table. Audra hummed non-committally.
"Bring the gown by tomorrow and I'll see what we can do with it. And there's always the frilly pink thing for the museum," she said. I snorted and she smiled, her eyes still not lifting from her work.
"I'd rather wear a potato sack," I muttered. Audra smiled while she worked, the silence falling over us until something popped into my head.
"Audra, what are elite events?" I asked, sitting down across from her. She didn't pause in her stitching as a smile played at the corners of her lips.
"You're an ambitious one for a lady-in-waiting," she said.
"It's not for me! My cousin thinks I'll somehow be able to get her invited to them," I protested once again. Audra finally paused in her work to look up at me.
"Elite events are the most exclusive where the only debutantes invited are those that the queen deems worthy of her son," Audra said, "So no matter how much you flirt with our prince, it's only Her Majesty who gives those invitations,"
I chewed my thumbnail as I watched her resume her work, eventually excusing myself so I would stop being such a distraction. If the elite events truly were by invitation of the queen only, I was in a heap of trouble. I could ask Andrew to dance and converse with Ella as much as I wanted, but unless my cousin somehow impressed the queen, she wasn't getting an elite invitation. I thought back to the queen's first salon, shuddering at how she'd reprimanded Penelope for being late. It would be nearly impossible to finagle an invite from the queen unless I was the likes of Ashley Mayfair or Sarah Thornbury - exceedingly proper, pretty, and privileged.
As I made my way back towards the debutantes' wing, the clock was striking three, which meant that the debutantes would all be taking tea with the queen in the rose garden until they returned to prepare for the group dinner that evening. I didn't bother to hide my devious grin as I retraced my steps to the secret door to the service corridors. A certain debutante had some payback in order for calling me a harlot.