Author's Notes: This is based on "Mrs Hughes' New Dress", a wonderful fic you should read immediately.
Disclaimer: Oh my god, guess what you guys? These characters aren't mine. Tragic, huh?
Time Frame: Day before Christmas 1922.
Elsie Hughes tipped her bedroom mirror downward to see her body. What she wouldn't give for a tall mirror in a gilt frame like the one in Lady Mary's room right now. Sighing, she replaced the mirror on her bureau and made her way to the door. Her new dress swished around her legs and she shuddered with the new sensation. One new dress a year, and she had to go with the new fashion. She couldn't just play it safe?
Apparently not. But now it was too late to change, so she made her way down to breakfast. Thankfully, no one was looking at her when she walked in. It wasn't until she took her seat that someone noticed her newest foray into women's fashions.
"Good morning, Mrs Hughes." Mr Carson said, not looking at her at first. A few moments later he looked up from his newspaper, his eyes flicking over her.
"Good morning, Mr Carson." She replied, trying to act as though nothing was wrong.
He stared just below her neck for far longer than was necessary, then met her gaze. Elsie gave him the tiniest of smiles, just to let him know she knew he'd looked. Maybe this dress wasn't such a bad idea after all.
oOo
How could she wear something like that? It was all very well for Lady Cora or one of the girls, but it got drafty below stairs. Surely she'll get cold?
Yes, Carson, you're concerned about her being cold, his inner voice snarked. This new dress was something to behold; not much new on the top half, with sleeves that stopped right above the graceful bones of her wrists. It was considerably thinner round the neck as well, her collar bone and just the most teasing bit of shoulder. And of course, the dratted thing was still black. But it was where her legs were folded neatly at the ankle beside his that he saw the real difference:
Oh Lord. All the way up to mid-calf was bare. Well, not bare, obviously. Elsie was far too sensible to forego stockings. But still… he'd worked with the women nearly two decades and he couldn't remember ever seeing her legs. They were rather nice legs, to be sure, with slim ankles and feet that were shod in reasonable black shoes with a thin leather strap across the top. When bells began to ring and staff began to rise to see to their duties, Mrs Hughes smiled politely at him and went to see to her rounds. He had a very difficult time not staring at her legs as she went, and an even harder time not allowing his gaze to travel upward—
Oh dear. It was going to be a long day.
So that's just the first chapter—I was thinking two or three more to finish off the arc. Then of course I've got two more chapters un-posted on my Mary/Edith friendship fic, and if the muse permits, perhaps another chapter of 'The Collar Conundrum' for those reviewers who were so kind as to ask for it. Now, I think my author's notes are sufficient in length, and I'm going to go to bed. Turrah!