Stalling on the stairs, Brietta took a deep breath before entering the small drawing room where mother insisted they meet after breakfast.
“Ah, my dear. It has been ages since I have seen you working on your embroidery. Have you finished it?”
“No, Mother. Indeed, I misplaced it and have not been able to locate it just yet. Would you like me to set out and discover where I placed it last?” How many small bits of fabric and thread would she have to secretly burn at night to escape the endless practice of embroidering daintily?
“Yes, yes. Look around.” Lady Davenport did not glance up from where she sat perched at her writing desk. “I am going to return some correspondence before anyone comes to visit. Lady Bristol and Lady Merhume promised to come by before the end of this week. So I expect visits any day now and you must be on your best behavior when they are here, for they both have eligible sons.”
An image of Lord Trenton and their brief conversation in the garden flashed into her thoughts. That short interlude away from her mother, confessing a truth she had hidden for so long, was ingrained into her heart and made her smile every time she thought of it. This time she studiously hid the smile from her mother, not wanting her to think she was eager to meet these two ladies of eligible sons.
Only moments later, as her mother lazily flipped through the mail, Brietta startled at her mother’s squeal of excitement.
“You have a letter from a Lord Trenton. Do I know Lord Trenton? Yes I do.” She tapped Brietta’s letter to her forehead several times as she tried to think of how she knew the name.
“Mother.” Brietta rose from the settee and reached for it. “If I recall correctly, Lord Trenton is Lady…”
“Bristol’s son!” Her mother completed. “Yes yes. Whatever could he be writing to you? How scandalous. His mother and I should be doing the conversing at this stage of a courtship. I haven’t even heard from her to know if he views you as anything more than a mere acquaintance. You haven’t even been formally introduced.”
“We met in our garden just last week, Mother. He stopped by for a moment to see Lady Bristol before he went to a concert or something of the like.”
“That isn’t formal.” She was busy fanning herself as if she were going to faint from the idea of a potential scandal. Lady Davenport sat up straight and thrust the letter at Brietta. “You will read it aloud so that I may insure that no impropriety is involved. Read it now.”
“Yes, Mother.”
Taking the thin letter, she opened it and read.
Miss Davenport,
Forgive my intrusion to whatever it was you were doing when my letter arrived. My mother has insisted I write to inform you of our wish to come by for a visit in 3 days time. Would you please be so kind as to inform us if that would be acceptable to you and your dear mother.
Lord Trenton
Brietta stared at the letter. It lacked the personality he had presented in the garden, so stiffly formal. A part of her was disappointed at its content, yet the larger part of her was more relieved that he had not written more informally since she had been required to read it aloud.
“What a thoughtful boy!” Mother cooed. “You must write to him at once. Tell him what a pleasure it will be to receive him and his mother. I have longed for a good chat with her. Quickly now. We will send it off with your father’s urgent responses.”
“Yes, Mother.” Brietta moved to the nearby table.
She had not begun to form a response when her mother exclaimed again, though not as loudly this time. “My, aren’t you popular. You have another. From Miss Woods? Do I know her?”
The letter landed on the desktop in front of her. She didn’t know of any Miss Woods, yet the handwriting looked familiar.
Brietta shook her head. “No, I don’t believe you do. She is a newer acquaintance.”
“Hmm.” Her mother was no longer paying attention. “Write Lord Trenton before you read whatever gossip your new little friend wrote.”
“Yes, Mother.”
Brietta quickly wrote out a dull and perfunctory response that would be sure to alleviate any hint of anything more than mere brief acquaintance. Handing it off for her mother to read, she opened the other letter.
Lord Aubrietta,
I apologize for the subterfuge. However, I found myself unable to write anything I would have wanted to in my previous note to you. My mother was looking over my shoulder and practically dictated it word for word to me. So now I am writing to you again with several hopes.
One, you have already read the first letter I sent so that you know who this is and what I have been talking about. Two, that my upcoming visit is not one you are looking towards with distaste and abhorrence because I could not figure out how to arrange a meeting in the woods without it sounding scandalous or that I was proposing we run away. And three, I wanted you to know why my mother insists we both come for a visit.
I didn’t realize that I was but apparently I have brought up your name more than once since our meeting last week and my mother has taken it as a sign that I am in love. Please allow me to apologize for the presumptions and I hope you will not hate me now or after our visit. I must confess, I am looking forward to seeing you again.
Lady Bristol’s son, Lord Trenton
Brietta quickly folded the letter and hid it away so her mother would not be curious. He had been speaking of her to his family?
“Good news from your friend I hope.” Mother asked, not looking up from the letter she was reading.
“Yes, Mother. Good news indeed.” She stood. “I’ll find my embroidery now.”
Brietta curtseyed and fled the room as slowly as she could manage with a smile on her face, already composing in her head what she would write to her new friend Miss Woods.
