Petticoat Rebellion Read Online Free Page A

getting around it, he had a face like a bulldog. So fortunate you children favored Nettie in looks, Susan.”
    “Charles is my papa, the duke,”Lady Susan added, ignoring the rest of the speech.
    While Lady Penfel gorged herself on macaroons and tea, Lady Susan encouraged the others to try the bread and butter. When the tea was over, Lady Penfel rose and said, “And now we shall take a stroll down to the meadow to watch the performers.”She winced when she tried to take a step.
    “Fetch the dogcart, Sifton,”she bellowed into the hallway. “This demmed hip is cutting up on me. Dance while you can, girls. Old age creeps up on you swiftly. I don’t regret a single thing I ever did in my life, except perhaps marrying Penfel. What I regret is all the things I didn’t do. You get your bonnet and come with me, Susan. The cart only holds two. The others can walk. They are young and supple. Miss Fairchild will see no harm comes to them.”She inclined her head to Susan and said in a perfectly audible aside, “She is one of those schoolmistressy gels. Pity, for she ain’t at all bad-looking. Not so pretty as the brewer’s gel, but she has countenance.”
    As they went to fetch their bonnets, Kate lifted an eyebrow and said, “How do you like that assessment, Miss Fairchild?”
    “At least she got my name right this time.”
    She studied her image as she adjusted her bonnet before her mirror. She did not think she looked so very schoolmistressy. Her high-poke bonnet of glazed straw was quite dashing, with a cluster of silk posies on the side. Her coiffure, perhaps, was a trifle quaint. She wore her chestnut hair pulled severely back from her face to appear older than her twenty years. Some of the senior girls were nearly seventeen. One wanted to look as old as possible, and with a clear, unlined face, a healthy complexion, and hazel eyes undimmed by age, it was not easy. Wearing dark colors of a severe cut helped. The suit she wore at the moment was a well-tailored navy serge. But schoolmistressy? None of Miss Slatkin’s other mistresses wore such stylish gowns or carried such expensive reticules, or had such good gloves.
    Perhaps it was her height that Lady Penfel found intimidating. Lady Penfel was not much over five feet, whereas Abbie was five feet and a half.
    “Come along, Miss Fairchild. You look marvelous, as usual,”Kate called from the doorway.
    Annabelle gave a sweet, childish smile. “At the academy, we all think you are the prettiest mistress, Miss Fairchild,”she said. “Kate was saying just last week that if you curled your hair and wore nice gowns, you might still find a husband. Weren’t you, Kate?”
    Kate lowered her brow at her friend. “What would Miss Fairchild want with a husband?”she said. “She is an artist. They are unconventional. I expect she has a lover,”she added daringly. “Eh, Miss Fairchild?”
    “Certainly not!”Abbie said. She picked up a silk foulard, and tucked it into the neck of her suit to lessen its severity. Then she led them out the door, smiling softly to herself. A lover indeed! They would not have said anything so dashing about any of the other mistresses!
     

Chapter Four
     
    Other than having to worry about the young ladies, Abbie thoroughly enjoyed the visit to the meadow. It felt good to stretch her legs in the fresh air and sunshine, with the unbounded view of greenery all around. Lady Susan was her least favorite of the girls, and she remained with Lady Penfel. Using Cuddles as an excuse, this noble pair roamed amid the tents, calling the dog’s name and peering about, ogling the performers who ogled them.
    Abbie kept Kate and Annabelle a few yards back
from where the show was being prepared. It was a
lively, noisy scene. Workmen in shirtsleeves were
hammering the stage together. The air was punctuated with hammer blows, loud talking, laughter, and more than a little profanity. In one tent, women were making their toilette with the flap
door wide open.