~ Hello, all of you who have read this! I hope you liked it! :) I'll be posting more soon, I hope. I'm currently working on Chapter Four, but I have a lot to do this weekend, so it may be a while. :) ~
Chapter Three
The morning we are to leave is as beautiful a spring day as I've seen.
When the time for goodbyes comes at last, Felicity, Ann, and I stand uncertainly on the front lawn, our eyes searching for the dust on the path that signals the coach's arrival. Mrs. Nightwing flips down the collar of Ann's coat, checks to be certain that my hat is pinned securely and Felicity's case is latched properly.
"Well," Mrs. Nightwing says for about the eighteenth time in a half hour. "Have you enough handkerchiefs? A lady can never have too many handkerchiefs."
She will be Nightwing, regardless of what horrors occur, and just now, I am glad of her strength, from wherever it springs.
"Yes, thank you, Mrs. Nightwing," Ann says.
"Ah, good, good."
Felicity has given Ann her garnet earbobs. I've given her the ivory elephant I brought with me from India.
"We shall read of your admirers in the papers," Felicity says.
"I'm only one of the merry maidens," Ann reminds us. "There are other girls."
"Yes, well. Each of us must start somewhere." Mrs. Nightwing tuts.
"I've written to my cousins and told them not to expect me back," Ann says. "They were awfully angry."
"As soon as you've become a sensation on the London stage, they'll be clamoring for tickets and telling everyone they know you," Felicity assures her, and Ann smiles. Felicity turns to me. "I suppose the next time we meet, we shall be proper ladies."
"Yes," I say. "Well, as proper as either of us can become, anyway." I smile at her and we giggle a bit. A last girlish moment to hold us off until we can see eachother again.
A cry goes up from the younger girls crowded on the lawn. The carriage is coming. They nearly trample each other to be the first in with the news.
"Enough," Felicity grouses, and slides into the carriage away from the throng.
Ann's trunk is secured with ropes. We embrace and do not let go for the longest time. At last, she climbs the steps into the carriage for the trip to the train and London and then the Gaiety Theatre. "Goodbye," she calls, waving from the carriage's open window. "Till tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow!"
I raise my hand to wave then turn back to Spence.
Within a few hours, I'll be back in London at my grandmother's house preparing for the dizzying whirl of balls and parties that comprise the social season. Come Saturday, I shall curtsy before my Queen and make my debut in society while my family and friends look on. There will be supper and dancing. I shall wear a beautiful white dress and ostrich plumes in my hair.
And I couldn't care less; I've too much of my mind occupied by a something else. Or maybe a someone else.
~Hope you liked that! See you all soon!~
