Mirabelle stepped out from the screen, still gazing down at the gown. It was simply cut with puff sleeves and only a wide band of ribbon along the hem for decoration, but it was far more fashionable than anything she could normally afford. The blue material appeared even paler than when Kate had first handed it to her, and there was a sheerness to it that allowed the darker chemise to show from underneath, giving the overall effect of layered colors.
“Oh, Mira. It’s lovely. Absolutely lovely.”
“It is, isn’t it?”
“Yes. You’ll wear it to night, won’t you? And you’ll let Lizzy fix your hair.”
“I don’t know…” She caught sight of herself in the mirror and grinned. The gown nearly glowed. “All right…Yes, all right.”
“Excellent. Why don’t we have tea here, then? It’ll save us time. I’ll just go tell the others.”
When Kate left Mirabelle’s room, it was to discover an eager Lizzy standing in the hall. “She take it, miss?” the maid asked in a rushed whisper.
Kate hooked her arm through Lizzy’s and headed to their rooms. “Were you eavesdropping, Lizzy?”
“Of course I was,” the maid said, completely unrepentant. “But I couldn’t make out but every third word.”
“I expected better from you,” Kate chided. “You should have brought a glass to press against the door.”
“There wasn’t one handy, and Cook would have my head if I took one out of the kitchen. Did she take it?”
“Did Cook take what?”
“No, Miss Browning, and the dress.”
“Oh. She did.” Kate patted her friend’s arm. “It was a clever scheme you concocted.”
“Not so difficult, seeing as how she and I are of a size and Madame Dupree likes nothing better than a challenge and a secret.”
“And a sizable fee from my mother.”
“That as well.” Lizzy agreed. “I wager that dress fit her like a dream.”
“It did, indeed.”
They walked together in companionable silence for a time before Lizzy spoke again. “Lady Kate?”
“Hmm?”
“Do you still have that novel where the lady’s maid dies for her mistress?”
“Lord, no,” Kate laughed. “One read-through of Lady Charlotte the Cowardly and Her Prodigiously Stupid Maid was enough for me. Why?” Kate stopped and gawked at her. “Never say you liked that book?”
“No.” Lizzy smiled and started them forward again. “No, I didn’t.”
Fourteen
She wasn’t beautiful.
Mirabelle knew she was not a beautiful woman, and no amount of blue silk or hair pins would change that fact. But for the first time in her life, she realized that she wasn’t quite as plain as she had always imagined either. In fact, to night she looked decidedly—pretty. Certainly there was a world of difference between being beautiful and being pretty. Mirabelle ran her fingers down the silk at her waist and hips without attempting to hide her grin. After all, there was an equally large difference between being pretty and being plain, and she had certainly leapt to the winning side of that gap to night.
“It’s the smile, you know.”
Mirabelle turned around at the sound of Kate’s voice to find her friends watching her reaction.
“Your smile,” Kate repeated. “It’s one of your best features.”
“It’s true,” Sophie agreed. “It completes the picture.”
“Like the finale of a good symphony.”
Mirabelle beamed at Kate’s comment but shook her head in denial. “I’m no symphony,” she replied before returning her attention to the mirror. Catching sight of her friends’ disgruntled reflections she added, “but I’ll not argue against a sonata.”
The girls laughed before Kate cocked her head thoughtfully to one side and said, “Do you know, I think that’s the very reason I’ve never thought of Miss Willory as truly beautiful? She never smiles with her eyes. Her expressions are always so practiced, so calculated.”
“Like a tavern ditty without the invectives,” Evie offered.
“A pointless endeavor,” Sophie agreed laughing. “Rather sad.”
Kate rolled her eyes but appeared amused nonetheless. “Come on, Sophie, Evie, we need to get ready. I’d hug you, Mira, but I’m afraid to muss you.”
“I had planned on being a dramatic opera,” Evie remarked casually. “But I think I’ll aim for a wicked sailor’s tune instead. Curses included. That should put Miss Willory’s nose out of joint.”
Mirabelle laughed and waved her friends out the door with one final reassurance that she would do nothing to endanger all their hard work.
Because she hadn’t the startling looks or the inherent talent for drama that some of the other young women possessed, Mirabelle’s entrance into the ballroom that night went largely unnoticed. Except, of course, by her friends—and Whit.
“That can’t be…is that…Mirabelle?”
“You look a little surprised, Whit,” Kate commented casually, her eyes sparkling.
Whit brought his drink up for a long swallow. “What the devil happened to her?”
“Nothing too remarkable,” remarked Sophie. “Just a new dress, and Kate insisted on Lizzy doing Mira’s hair to night. Excellent job she did of it too.”