Heiress in Red Silk (Duke's Heiress #2) - Madeline Hunter Page 0,27

resembled a very large cottage, and to Rosamund’s eye it required some maintenance this season.

Lily fell silent as soon as she saw it, and remained that way all through the introductions with the mistress, Mrs. Parker, and the tour of the school rooms and refractory. The girls were sitting to a meal when they visited there, and Rosamund had her first good look at the other students. Finally, a chambermaid brought them to the chamber that Lily would use.

Rosamund set about unpacking Lily’s clothes while her sister sat on the bed and watched. Rosamund kept glancing over, marveling at how much Lily had changed in the last year.

Taller now. What had been awkward, over large features had suddenly found harmony on Lily’s face. Rosamund examined that face, young still, but now lovely and fresh. She pictured her sister a few years older, blond hair up and curled and her lithe body encased in a column of white.

“I’ll put your nightdresses in this drawer here,” Rosamund said. She closed the drawer and went to the window to peer out. “You’ve a nice prospect.” She glanced back at her sister. “The other girls looked nice too.”

“They looked proud. They’ll be saying things about me soon if they aren’t already.” She glared at Rosamund. “I said I be wanting to stay put. I don’t need no schooling. Not here, at least. This place is not for such as me.”

“It is for anyone who can pay, Lily. Mrs. Parker knows you have not been schooled much yet. She is willing to help you catch up.”

“I’ll be with the children, you mean. In that room with tiny desks. I won’t fit in one.”

“They will bring in one that you do fit.” She knelt in front of Lily and grasped her hands. “If you try, in a year you will be in the other room with girls your own age. You are smart and will learn fast. I know it.”

Lily shook off her hold and looked down belligerently. “Seems I should have some say in all this. It be me life, after all.”

“Well, you don’t. I want you to learn to speak well, and write well, and know how to read better than I do now.”

“So I can be putting on airs like you do?” She gave a derisive snort.

“Those airs mean I can sell a bonnet for fifteen shillings when without them I couldn’t sell one for more than three.”

“I’ll be the best-spoken farmgirl in England, then.”

“You will be far more than a farmgirl if I have my way.”

“Being a farmgirl not good enough for you?”

Rosamund rocked back on her heels and stood. “Not good enough for you, Lily.” She moved aside the valise she had unpacked and pulled up another one. She set it on the bed. “Look here, what I have for you. When you come to visit me, you can wear this in the carriage.”

She opened the valise. Lily peered in. Her frown softened to an expression of wonder. She reached in and lifted the garment resting at the top of the valise’s contents. “What’s this here?”

Rosamund took it and let it drop so she could hold it up. “Stand up so I can see if I got the length right.”

Lily stood. Rosamund held up the dress against her. Lily looked down at the beautiful, soft muslin. Cream with blue sprigs of flowers, it boasted a thin line of lace at the bodice and the sleeves.

“There be—is a blue pelisse to go with it,” Rosamund said, pleased at her sister’s reaction. “When you visit me in London, we will have more made.”

Lily ran her palm down the fabric. “It be beautiful. Nicer than what you be wearing.”

“I had some made for me too but asked this be finished first so I could bring it. Along with these.” She lifted out the school dresses and set them down. “There’s another nice dress that I will send to you once it is finished.”

Lily examined the school dresses, then returned to the cream muslin. “Where’d you get the blunt for this, Rose? Mrs. Farley said—” She stopped abruptly.

“What did she say?”

Lily shrugged. “When she saw you come up in that carriage, she got a funny look on her face. Last time a root cart, and this time a closed carriage, she said. Your sister’s done made the devil’s bargain. Now this fancy school, and this dress.”

Rosamund had not missed that look on Mrs. Farley’s face. It had remained there the whole time she visited and