The Belle of Bath by Dorothy Mack

Author:Dorothy Mack [Mack, Dorothy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781913335564
Publisher: Sapere Books
Published: 2019-10-02T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

In her dreams, she was relentlessly pursued by a faceless form that no trick served to elude. Every corner turned, far from bringing her closer to safety, simply revealed another turning, and when a horse appeared fortuitously to carry her swiftly onward, a hopeful backward glance discovered that her pursuer was now mounted also. Each step had become a tremendous effort of will, and the distance between them was narrowing inexorably when Virginia came strugglingly awake to a golden summer morning.

Sunlight was streaming in the window that she had thrown open last night in a vain attempt to rid the room of a stifling airlessness, and the twittering of numerous birds drifted in on the sunbeams. She turned her head eagerly toward the sunlight, and relief flooded over her at having escaped the nightmare. But even as the stark details of the dream receded to a residue of nameless dread, the short-lived tide of wellbeing was submerged in a creeping sense of oppression.

Her eyes, under lids lowered to shield them from the sun’s rays, stared fixedly at the bright patch on the polished floor while she concentrated on pinning down the reason for her vague depression. A half-opened fan lay in the sunny patch, the strong light making its stretched silk almost transparent. Evidently it had fallen off the bureau where she had tossed it on returning from the Manor last night.

Instant and total recall of the more embarrassing moments of that eventful evening sent her head back down on the pillow for a moment, but there would be no evading the consequences. She groaned and hauled herself out of bed, her mood entirely incompatible with the beautiful new day.

The routine of Miss Greyson’s morning toilette was even more automatic than usual, for Virginia’s mind darted back and forth from analysing the events of the previous evening to speculating upon the probable after-effects. A swift summation of her own appearance after she had crammed her Sunday cap with its lace border over her braids left her unsurprised at the shadows beneath her eyes. After all, one couldn’t spend the night fleeing the most determined pursuit and expect to look well-rested the next morning.

She would not be amazed to find Juliet a bit off colour today also. Though the girl was of a basically sanguine nature, last night’s humiliation — or, to be more accurate, what she saw as a humiliation — had bitten deeply into her self-esteem. Somehow, though she hoped , Virginia had no real expectation that a girl, already accustomed at age seventeen to receiving the homage of nearly every male of her acquaintance, could put such an occurrence behind her without contemplating some sort of retaliation.

Though she joined the family for church services later, Virginia derived little spiritual benefit from the experience, being more concerned with a covert observation of her charge and intense speculation as to what path her reaction would take. She would have been better pleased to find Juliet subdued or even sulky, because these at least would be honest reactions.

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