The Tailor's Daughter by Janice Graham

Author:Janice Graham [Graham, Janice]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780989685368
Publisher: Janice Graham Books
Published: 2014-06-11T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

There was to be a garden party at Longmeade to which we were invited, along with all of the county notables: the Bishop and archdeacon and other important clergy, the neighboring gentry and wealthy mill owners, and such other distinguished locals as Mr. Rose, a renowned landscape painter and Royal Academician who lived nearby. It was rumored that there was an important American gentleman visiting from Virginia accompanied by his pretty daughter, and an American author whose works were as popular in his native country as Mr. Dickens's novels are in our own, along with his English publisher. It was an odd set, but it was known that Lady Stamford enjoyed provoking the more pious and sober local gentry with an occasional foreigner and an artist or two.

Although the older local families may have looked down their noses at some of the guests and kept to their own tight circles during the festivities, they never turned down an invitation. Lady Stamford's parties were the most entertaining events ever to happen at Longmeade, and the young people adored them. Refusing an invitation to one of her dances or theatrical soirées would have caused a riot among the youth, and so the older set went along and did their best to decorously restrain their pleasure. Indeed, the activities particularly appealed to the young and young at heart. This party—touted as a "breakfast"—began at three o'clock, with "breakfast" served at five by servants got up in fancy dress as gardeners. There would be archery, croquet, lawn tennis, even maypole dancing throughout the afternoon, and more dancing in tents until midnight.

I had hoped to view the interior of Longmeade, but when we arrived that afternoon down a long allée of tall sculpted yews, our vehicle was diverted around the side of the great house. We entered a broad forecourt enclosed by a stone balustrade, at the foot of which bloomed massive displays of roses and clematis, asters and salvia. I was struck not only by the sumptuous colors but by the evocative fragrance borne across the lawn. Along one side, small round dining tables were arranged under tent tops supported by poles decorated with gaily colored ribbons, and a larger tent stood at the foot of the park where musicians were playing. A game of croquet was already underway, and beyond the iron-grilled entrance, on the vast sweep of green park that had once been the entrance to the house, young sporting men were showing off their skills at archery. It struck me how similar it all felt to the colorful and lively atmosphere of a circus.

As we made our way up the steps to the stone porch on which the Earl was welcoming his guests, I worried that Lord Stamford might remember me as the young deaf woman who interrupted the maharajah's shooting party the previous summer, or even worse, that Lady Stamford would recognize me as the tailor's daughter who clothed her little primate friend. I should not have been worried,

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