What a Spinster Wants - Rebecca Connolly Page 0,83
like anything. I’ll never be able to draw like Edith.”
“It takes many years of practice, nighean milis,” Edith assured her. “With patience, if ye work at it, ye’ll be far, far better than me.”
Molly looked at Edith’s drawing, her eyes wide, then looked back up at her. “Really?”
Edith leaned forward and playfully touched her forehead to Molly’s. “Aye. Really.”
That made Molly snicker, which made Edith giggle, and even Eloise, watching on, laughed at the pair of them.
A gong sounded from somewhere in the house, and Edith sighed at hearing it, glancing at Eloise.
“Already?”
The older woman wrinkled her nose up with a reluctant but understanding smile. “We are all formality tonight. Gray has been overseeing details all day, which is likely why you haven’t seen him.”
Edith blushed and shifted her eyes to the window, heart leaping to her throat. How could Eloise know that they had been seeing each other during this house party? That Edith had been wondering why Graham had not sought her out, or sent her a note, or any of the other sweet and surprising signs of affection he had made use of over the last several days? She hadn’t felt hurt, only curious. After all, tonight was a ball, and she was assured of at least one dance with him.
But more than anything, she anticipated the look on his face when he saw the gown she would wear tonight. Janet had brought it to her yesterday, and it fit Edith to perfection.
She’d already discussed ideas for her hair with the maid Eloise had set her with, and, apart from generally disliking grand affairs like balls, she found herself eager for the night’s activities.
But not yet.
“You have to go now?” Molly whined, somehow pouting without actually doing so.
Eloise rose, her complexion pale, but her smile warm. “Come along, pet. We’ll take that fine walk of ours, and tomorrow, Edith will come and tell you all about the ball, eh?”
Molly nodded and curtseyed to Edith. “Good night, mo charaid,” she said softly, fumbling over the pronunciation of the word Edith had taught her only yesterday.
Tears sprung to Edith’s eyes, and she gave Molly a quick hug before hurrying out of the parlor.
If nothing else good came from this stay at Merrifield, the friendship she had found in that precocious girl would be worth it all.
“Edith, there you are!”
Whirling in surprise, Edith’s jaw dropped at the owner of the voice. “Charlotte? When did you get here?”
Charlotte beamed and hurried to her, kissing both cheeks and taking her hand. “Just arrived. I may have missed the rest of the party, but why should I miss a ball at Merrifield?”
“But in the middle of the Season?” Edith demanded, smiling in return as Georgie, Grace, Izzy, and Amelia soon joined them. “How could you get away from your admirers?”
“Oh, they bore me, simply bore me!” Charlotte waved a hand and scoffed, then took Edith’s hands in her own. “Besides, when I had the letters from the girls regarding your remarkable absence from certain moments of this party, and a certain increase in warmth from the host, I had no course but to come here and root the secrets out of you.”
Edith’s eyes widened, and she swallowed hard. “The what?”
“Letters,” Georgie repeated, smiling with a quirk of her brows, “that we wrote.”
“Kindly,” Izzy added for emphasis.
“Because you’ve disappeared more often than you’ve appeared,” Grace insisted brightly. “We can almost never find you.”
Had she really been so absent? She’d not known anyone was looking for her at any given time, apart from Graham, and had presumed she hadn’t been particularly missed.
They’d noticed she was gone?
Did they suspect…?
Edith swallowed again and looked at Amelia with wide eyes. “Oh, Amelia… I am so sorry; I have completely abandoned you, haven’t I? This was meant to be an escape for us both, and I’ve only been thinking of myself.”
Amelia snorted and waved it off. “I don’t care about that, I have been well enough off with this lot and trying to find information about Edmund. Although now, I demand to know where you have been, what you have been up to, and what the devil Lord Radcliffe has to do with it.”
She folded her arms and raised a brow in query.
Edith nearly laughed, as all the rest looked at Amelia in shock.
“I knew I liked you, Amelia Perry,” Charlotte stated with a broad smile. “Edith has to answer the question now, as you are far more likable than myself. She will not disappoint you.”