Dragmore 1898
“You have callers, my Lady.”
“But I never have callers,” Nicole protested.
Aldric looked at her, his lined face unfathomable, although his
brown eyes were twinkling. “The ladies Margaret Adderly
and Stacy Worthington, my Lady”
Nicole was surprised. Of course, it was an exaggeration to say
that she never had callers, for her best friend, the Viscountess
Serle, as well as the local gentry and her family, did come calling
rather frequently. But they didn’t really count. What counted
was the fact that she didn’t really have the usual bevy
of callers like other young ladies of her class. Not in the past
several years. Not since the scandal. What could these ladies,
whome she had never met, possibly want.?
“Tell them I’ll be right down. Have refreshments
served, Aldric,” she told the butler. A bubble of excitement
rose up in here.
Aldric nodded, but before leaving he raised one bushy white eyebrow.
“Perhaps I should that you will be a few minutes, my Lady?”
She understood and chuckled, looking down ruefully at her men’s
breeches and muddy riding boots. Although it was almost the dawning
of a new era—the twentieth century—women did not wear
men’s clothing even when they had just cause. Some things
never changed. “Good of you to remind me, Aldric. I shouldn’t
chase away my illustrious visitors before I even find out why
they’ve come.”
Still chuckling, she waited for Aldric to leave, imagining the
shock the two proper ladies downstairs would receive if they saw
her attired like a man. It just wasn’t done.
Nicole sighed, honest enough with herself to know that her carefree
attitude and rather improper sense of humour did not help her
situation—not that she was really in a situation, she reminded
herself. After all, she chose to remain in the country. As she
riffled carelessly through her armoire for the appropriate undergarments,
she admitted to herself that it was nice to have young woman come
calling. It had been a long time. Not that she wasn’t happy
at Dragmore, for she was. Her life was Dragmore, horses and books.
It was just that, well, it had been for a long time.