Prelude to Love Read Online Free

his chamber for instructions.
     

Chapter Three
     
    Vanessa awoke that morning with a heady feeling of excitement. At last the long-awaited day had come! Papa was not at all biddable in allowing her to attend social functions at the military base, but a ball in the assembly rooms had miraculously been permitted. Her eyes flew to the gown hanging on the back of her door, the filmy white confection with the large spangles now all in place on the underskirt.
    She had gone to bed with the cucumber lotion on not only her face, but her hands as well, which were covered by old white cotton gloves to save the sheets from stains. She hopped up, removing the gloves to see what miracle they had wrought. The only miracle was that the cotton had absorbed the lotion. She lifted the hem of her skirt, admiring the dainty apple-green velvet ribbon used for trim. A length of the same ribbon would be wound through her curls, to match her eyes. A pair of green kid slippers sat on the floor, looking ready to start dancing by themselves.
    She glanced to the window, where the sun, a relative stranger here on the coast, beamed through the leaded panes, promising a gorgeous day. She would risk her complexion in a brisk ride in the morning—go to Miss Condie's home and confirm that the Fischers were having Forrester and two majors to dinner. Mrs. Fischer had withheld the news from Aunt Elleri, but the whole village was buzzing with it. In the afternoon she would lie down for two hours to ensure that her eyes sparkled as hard as everyone else's at the dance, then she would have her hair done up in papers, have a bath and begin the final stage of preparations.
    It was not often she had a day of such unparalleled pleasure to consider, here in the quiet countryside. She hoped Papa would do nothing to spoil it. She was not so well acquainted with her father as most daughters are, owing to his absence during her growing up. He was always away at some war or other. She knew him mainly from letters, till two years ago, when he had come home, a cranky invalid.
    A further blow had been added by her mother's death soon afterwards—a sad irony that his wife should have died so soon after his return. It almost seemed he blamed her for it. He had not been so ill-humored before becoming a widower. Mama could always laugh and tease him into humor, but lately he did nothing but jaw at her for being a vain, frivolous, silly girl, and at Aunt Elleri for adding to her vanity.
    There was a tap at her door. Without waiting, for an answer, Elleri Simons came tripping in, elegant in a pale mauve morning gown, her coiffure already in exquisite place. As her chief interest in life was elegance, her first thought was to examine the gown for flaws. She knew, of course, that an invasion was often spoken of, but any thought she spent on it was to wonder how one addressed a French general, and whether he should be asked to tea.
    "Good morning, dear," she said gaily over her shoulder. “I have had the most ravishing idea. The new issue of the Belle Assemblée is here. I want to get at your hair at once. I shall do it in the chérubin for the ball. I must nip off the bits over the ears, and do it up in papers."
    "Oh, Auntie, you cut it last week. Please don't take any more off, or I shall look like a boy."
    "That is exactly the point, pet. Only an inch, I promise you. After you see the model in the magazine you will know I am right. It will be divine. As soon as you have seen your papa I shall do it. Come to me as soon as you have eaten breakfast. But of course you must see your papa first. He is asking for you. If he means to cancel the ball, I shall be ill. Don't let him do it. Promise him anything—that you won't speak to Colonel Forrester, or stand up with him, or do a thing but run him down." Her eyes turned back to the gown. "I wonder if we were right to stay with the large spangles. I have the smaller ones in my room, but to remove these and put the others on will take