Lady in Waiting: A Novel by Susan Meissner

Author:Susan Meissner [Meissner, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: The Doubleday Religious Publishing Group
Published: 2010-09-06T12:00:00+00:00

I was not summoned to Lady Jane’s rooms until long after the evening meal. I was not part of the day’s developments at all, which allowed me many hours to ponder the pull I felt toward Nicholas Staverton. My sole duties after tending to Jane’s wardrobe were to mend a bit of torn lace on Lady Katherine’s gown and then assist Jane’s youngest sister, Mary—who only made an appearance in the afternoon—dress in a gown of sunny yellow, which made the little girl look like a bouncing daffodil. After this I was dismissed to the wardrobe room by the duchess’s attendants to spend the afternoon as I wished. I spent it contemplating the strange set of feelings Mr. Staverton had awakened in me. It annoyed me some that he knew so much about me, via Jane’s kind but liberal tongue, and that I knew so very little about him. And his admiration for me was unsettling. The young man whom I had pined for all those years ago when I was but a child had not even known I pined. I found myself sad that Mr. Staverton had left so soon, even though his presence in the house had been disconcerting, albeit to no one save me. I missed his presence the moment he left.

I only saw the Duke of Somerset, his wife, and his son Edward, from the third-story windows as the two families partook of afternoon ices in the rose garden. From my limited vantage point, it appeared that the two families were having a lovely late summer afternoon, but the two dukes appeared to be cautious and pensive. Neither one laughed or smiled.

Young Edward and Lady Jane did remove themselves to a bench in the garden, but in the full view of their parents and several attendants, of course. At one point I saw Edward hand something to Jane, but it seemed a stolen moment that I was not meant to see, nor anyone else. I looked away until my peripheral vision suggested the two were rejoining the others underneath a striped canopy where a trio of musicians began to play happy tunes.

When at last I was called for, I found Jane sitting in the cushions of one of the windowsills in her bedchamber, looking out onto an indigo sky and its sprinkling of stars. She had dismissed her other attendants. Even Mrs. Ellen was gone. We were alone.

“Lucy!” she said, when I stepped into the room.

I curtsied and came to her. She patted the pillows next to her. Instinctively, I looked to see who might see me take a seat on the sill with her, even though I knew there was no one else in the room.

“Do not worry. I sent the others away. And Mrs. Ellen is off to fetch me something from the kitchen. I was too excited to eat before now.”

I wordlessly took a seat, arranging my legs for a speedy change in position should the door open and Mrs. Ellen step in. Jane seemed content, but on edge, as well.

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