The wheels of the carriage rattled loudly; loudly enough to penetrate even Penelope's admirable powers of concentration. With a sigh, she resolutely turned another page of her book, bowing her head over the cramped lines of text. Next to her, her younger sisters continued to chatter animatedly about the fete.

"-see Lady Amanda? Her gown was most impressive. All those seed-pearls! It must have cost a fortune." Helen sighed enviously. "But her complexion is not well suited to that shade of pink, I must say. She did resemble a strawberry, rather." She patted her own pink cheek smugly, turning to peer at Cassandra. "What did you think of her hair?"

"Oh! Golden hair is all the rage," Cassie agreed mournfully, tugging one of her own black corkscrews straight and then letting it bob back up. "The gentlemen do seem to flock to them. I wonder if mama would be willing to let me try a rosemary rinse to lighten my hair? Then at least people might stop thinking you and I look too much alike, Helen. Do you think she might?"

"Mama would sooner see you both wed to penniless barons than allow you to give in to such useless faddishness," Penelope answered without looking up from her book. "And I do wish you two would talk of something else. I am half-sick with all your nonsense."

Helen made a face, then let out a little cry. "She's awake! How do you keep on reading, and such dullness, Penny? And in the stuffiness of this carriage - really," she added melodramatically, "it's quite impossible! If Cassie and I do not talk, we might faint quite dead away from all this stifling hot. Come on, Penny," she added cajolingly. "You ought to take more interest in such matters. It isn't right; you're the eldest of us, and you've yet to receive so much as an offer! Even Cassie's received two, and it's her first season!"

"You've been out for four seasons, counting this one," Cassie chimed in, "and Helen's received five offers - one from a genuine marquis! If you don't do something soon, you'll be an - an - an old maid!" She shuddered as if this was the worst fate that could possibly befall someone.

"If I become an old maid," Penelope answered caustically, not bothering to look up, "I will simply have to go and live with one of the two of you, once you are wed, and be reliant upon you and your husband's generosity. I will then keep you and your household in line by threatening to leave and betray our station in life by seeking employment as a washerwoman."

Both younger girls gasped, clinging to each other for a moment with a little symmetrical shriek at the idea. "A washerwoman! Penny, father would have fits to even hear you say such!"

Cassie's eyes went wide and round. "Mama would threaten to whip you."

Helen added with relish. "You shouldn't talk like that! Come, do talk of something more interesting. If not fashion," she looked sulky for a moment, then brightened, "what of recent events? They say that there is still a bandit loose, of late!"

"Then you had best both take care to do as I say, hadn't you," Penelope remarked, closing her eyes as the carriage swayed as it crossed a footbridge. "Please. Bandits. Do you truly think that bandits are of interest? Alarm, perhaps, but-"

"Oh, pooh, Penny!" Cassie interrupted passionately. "They say it's the Black Jack Davy. Surely even you can find a spot of romance in your soul for that!"

"He stopped the carriage with the Viscount Dumarais' mistress in it," Helen stage-whispered through her hands, leaning in towards Cassie. The two girls giggled. "She lost all her jewels except for a pair of pearl earrings, I heard."

"They say he is very handsome," Cassie contributed, clearly enthusiastic about the topic. "And so dashing. And daring, too. Can you imagine if we should meet him?"

"Oh, I should die!" Helen shuddered, then giggled again. "They say that he allows young ladies to keep some of their jewelry in exchange for a kiss! But if he is very handsome..."

"They say all sorts of things." Penelope closed her book with a snap, rolling her eyes with a put-upon sigh. She glared at the other two girls, shaking her head. "No doubt he is six feet if he is an inch and most virile and charming and debonair. Are you two such twitterpated little creatures? Haven't you heard the song? This is just some highwayman looking to earn a dishonest coin - he's likely never done an honest day's toil in his life! He's most certainly toothless and hairy and old and covered in filth. If I should meet him, I should soon give him a piece of my mind!"

Cassie and Helen both stared at Penelope with scandalized admiration. "Penny! You wouldn't!"

"I most certainly would," Penelope answered resolutely. "My hair is simply dull brown instead of golden or even your own ebony, and my eyes are just grey instead of cornflower blue or azure or whatever rot your young men have been whispering. I am plain enough in appearance that I should be in no danger from a seductive rogue, as the past four years have proven, so if he is all that you two say, he would soon find somewhere else to be. And if he is not, then as he is afraid of honest labour, he should sooner face the king's patrols than a relentlessly nagging shrew. So - why have we stopped?"

For the carriage had slowed gradually to a halt, and all three sisters now turned their attention with curiosity and foreboding to peer out of the windows.

Posted by Maire at August 04, 2005 04:38 AM