Upon arrival at Harley Street everything turned to chaos. Mrs. Lennox immediately shut herself up in the back drawing room with her housekeeper and cook to give orders for the evening. Within minutes housemaids were skittering about, mops and dusters flying. Footmen were sent to markets, butchers, and florists to purchase the necessary supplies for a party of nine. An unfortunate number to be sure, thought Edith, but there was nothing to be done about it now.
Upper housemaids were ordered to stoke fires for the purpose of heating flat irons for evening dresses and water for baths. Ladies maids were compelled to invent new hairstyles and valets were ordered to brush out dinner jackets and shine shoes. The guests would be arriving in a few short hours.
Margaret was a mess. She had only brought one evening gown which just happened to be the same gown John had already seen her in at his dinner party two months ago. Miss Thornton and Miss Latimer had also seen her wearing it then and she was certain to receive censure from them. So Margaret paced back and forth outside the door to the back drawing room waiting for her cousin to emerge.
As soon as Edith stepped into the hall Margaret accosted her, "Edith, please tell me you have an evening gown I could borrow. Joh- I mean the entire Milton party has already seen me in the one I brought."
Edith replied as they climbed the stairs to the upper level bed chambers, "Margaret, you know you are always welcome to borrow anything of mine. However, you also know that my gowns never fit you. First of all you are taller than I am and second you are much more," Edith gestured in front of herself with her hands, "well, bigger than me."
At this comment Margaret blushed.
Edith went on comfortingly, "Anyway, you look glorious in that lovely sage green dress you brought with you. When you first wore it here you turned so many heads," she teased.
Margaret's blush deepened, "Edith!" she exclaimed.
Edith continued, "Since when have you become someone who cares what other people think? Although, I can understand that you might care what one particular person thinks."
Margaret let out an exasperated sigh, "Edith, if you are referring to Henry, we have been over this before…"
"Actually," she interrupted, "I was not thinking of Henry. There seems to be a certain Northern manufacturer who's caught your eye, and maybe your heart?"
Margaret blushed again.
"I would venture to guess," added Edith, "That the tall handsome manufacturer greatly admired you in that dress before and would not mind admiring you in it again."
Margaret, now truly mortified by her cousin, gave one last defense, "But Miss Thornton and Miss Latimer can be such vicious social critics. Miss Latimer even went to an expensive Swiss finishing school where I am sure she was taught never to wear the same gown twice."
"I don't think Miss Latimer will care much about what you are wearing, unless you spend too much time around Henry," was Edith's retort.
"Henry!" replied Margaret, "What? Miss Latimer and Henry sat together in the tearoom. Do you think that they…?"
"Most definitely!" Edith replied, "Lord! The captain even pointed it out to me and if he noticed it must have been quite obvious because he never notices anything. I suppose you were too occupied yourself to notice their preference for each other," she said with a wink.
Time was now running quite short and both Margaret and Edith had yet to get dressed. So they parted to go to their respective rooms to prepare for the evening.
….oOo….
When the Milton party arrived back at their lodgings Fanny and Ann immediately repaired to their shared room to begin their preparations for the evening. Fanny lamented that the only evening gown that was available for her to bring was the same one she wore to her mother's dinner party. To this Ann blushed and confessed herself to be in the same predicament.
"I realized this as I packed it," complained Fanny, "But you and I are such good friends I knew you wouldn't care and John of course, never notices what anyone is wearing. He's such a stick-in-the-mud"
This last statement would have mortified Ann prior to today for she used to plan what she wore specifically for Mr. Thornton's eyes. However, for quite some time now she had noticed that Mr. Thornton seemed to only have eyes for that brazen southern upstart, Miss Hale. Today seemed to finally mark those two for each other permanently.
But Ann no longer cared for Mr. Thornton. She had made the acquaintance of the dashing and clever young lawyer, Henry Lennox. She would now set her cap at him and use all of her feminine wiles and Swiss finishing school lessons to attempt to ensnare him this evening. A match with a fine London barrister was considerably more appealing than a match with a Milton cotton manufacturer.
Now if she could only be sure that her pretty blonde friend had no designs on Mr. Lennox…
As Fanny went through her ablutions for the evening she continued to lament her lack of a new frock. London dinner party or no, the lack of a new dress was a daily lament for Fanny. After having placated herself with her own party's ignorance or indifference to her attire this evening she unfortunately remembered Miss Hale's presence at her mother's dinner party.
"Oh no!" she cried to Ann, "I just recalled that Miss Hale has seen me in this gown as well. With all her high class London friends whom I so wish to impress, I will now be a laughingstock."
Seeing that Fanny was much more concerned with her status among London society than her status with any one in particular, Ann was relieved. She ventured to ease her friend's anxiety by saying, "Honestly Fanny, I don't think Miss Hale is the type of person to go around exposing others to societal censure. She would hardly be one to talk with all of her solitary walks into all parts of Milton and of course throwing herself at your brother the day of the riot. I doubt she'll even recognize your gown or mine. I believe her attentions will be more pleasantly occupied."
"How could anyone be more pleasantly occupied than in thinking of gowns, or London, or society?" Fanny naively asked.
"I know I intend to find myself more pleasantly occupied than in thinking of those subjects," Ann replied, "We'll just have to see what the evening brings. Now, let me fix your hair and then you can do mine."
….oOo….
Upon entering his room John Thornton took a deep breath and sighed. He flipped open his pocket watch to ascertain the time. He determined that there would be enough time for a bath so he rang the bell to order hot water.
This trip to London was so far shaping up to be better than his wildest dreams.
As for his original purpose, Latimer had informed him on the walk back to the hotel that he seemed to have impressed enough starry eyed Londoners who now want to invest in his mill that he should be back on his feet in no time.
Then coming upon Miss Hale as he did was quite unexpected and immensely fortuitous. His desire to show her how much she had affected him inspired him to talk about alternative business practices, which in turn convinced some rich Londoners to invest in his mill. It also worked to soften Miss Hale's opinion of him and she favored him with her company for the rest of the afternoon. Now he would be joining her again at the home of her wealthy London relatives for a fancy dinner. She seemed to be warming to him. Hopefully he will be able to handle things better and not bungle it like he did last time.
He was thankful that he thought to bring with him appropriate attire for a formal dinner just in case. The pale gold cravat and matching waistcoat that he wore for his own dinner party two months prior will do quite nicely.
He wondered what Margaret might wear. Would she look as dazzlingly beautiful as she did at his dinner party? Probably. Would he pale in comparison to her? Most definitely, great rough fellow that he was.
….oOo….
A/N: I forgot to mention that this story was inspired by a prompt from TheScriblerCMB who is such a wonderful writer.