The Academie by Dunlap Susanne

Author:Dunlap, Susanne [Dunlap, Susanne]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Published: 2012-04-10T05:00:00+00:00

Chère Hortense,

Dare I hope—

I can read no more. The door of my room bursts open to admit Caroline and Eliza, their arms full of the clothing their maids have attempted to make for them—and not quite succeeded. For the next half hour, I help them with the fitting. Both Ernestine and Hélène have made shoddy jobs of the alterations, but the damage is easy to fix.

When we finish, we agree to meet before dawn tomorrow.

“I can arrange for the coach,” Caroline says. I do not ask her how she will arrange for such a thing, but by the look that passes between her and Eliza, I deduce that she is practiced in these matters.

They leave to dress for dinner. I immediately reach for the note so that I may finish drinking in the sweet sentiments it no doubt contains.

It is gone. I look around the floor, lifting the edge of the carpets to see if it was accidentally swept beneath one of them in the confusion. I reach into my bodice. Did I think to stow it away there? No, I would have felt it.

I open the door and look down the corridor. Eliza is gone. Quickly, I go to her door and knock. “Eliza!” I whisper as loudly as I dare.

She opens the door. “Hortense! What’s the matter?”

“Where are the scraps?” I ask, too frantic to be polite.

“Here,” she says, pointing to a pile in the corner of the room.

I rush over and dig through the bits of fabric, shaking each one out.

“What’s the matter? Have you lost something?” Eliza asks.

It’s no use. The letter is not there. “I thought I had, but it’s nothere,” I say. “It’s nothing.”

Eliza’s perplexed expression assures me that she has no idea about the letter. So it must be Caroline. How could I ever have believed she would change?

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