Of Gossip and Dances

Lydia Durham

Lydia was settled for her morning tea when her cousin came rushing into the tea room. "We have received a calling card from Miss Carrigen!" she exclaimed, sinking into the seat beside her.

"Miss Carrigen?"

"The young lady the ball last night was thrown for! She has invited us round for afternoon tea."

Placing her teacup onto its saucer, Lydia accepted the calling card from her cousin and looked at it. "I have been here yet a day and already my days are becoming occupied! My, Eleanor, had I known this would transpire, I would have visited sooner!" she said merrily.

Eleanor looked at the items on the table. "Were you taking tea alone?"

She nodded. "My father has business to attend to, and I could not find you. But it is nice to have this solitude without my mother fretting all the time."

Her cousin laughed. "Does my dear aunt still keep that habit? I had thought she might have eased away from it after your sister's engagement."

"Oh, no, she has become worse!" she exclaimed, pressing a hand to her temple.

Eleanor patted her free hand. "I love my aunt dearly, but I despair for you just from hearing about it," she consoled. "But let us forget about that and ready ourselves to visit Miss Carrigen. I must confess that I did not expect to receive such an invite."

Standing from her seat, Lydia pulled her cousin to her feet and linked arms. "Lucky for you, I am here to accompany you. Whatever would you do without me?" she said, placing her other hand on her arm. With that, the two girls left the tea room.

Image


Later, as the two travelled to Miss Carrigen's home, Lydia recalled the night before's events. "Never before in my life had I met such a clumsy man! It was positively baffling how he asked to dance when he could not dance himself!" she cried, making her cousin gasp and raise a hand to her mouth.

"Truly? Oh, I am terribly sorry for leaving you then, if that was what you had to endure. One would expect a dance partner to know how to dance," she replied, shaking her head. "Though I haven't the faintest idea who it was that asked you to dance. Such a queer thing, surely!"

The rest of their journey was filled with conversation about the ball and they arrived promptly at Miss Carrigen's home. Instead of being escorted into the tea room they were shown into the garden where their hostess sat with two other ladies beneath a large parasol, awaiting their arrival.

Lydia had not spoken to the woman the previous night so did not know the reason behind the ball being thrown for her. Upon seeing the hostess and noting her beauty, she guessed that it was thrown to gain favour with her. She had no doubt that this woman was one that had suitors vying for her attention, and judging from her home, she would offer a substantial dowry to whomever won her affections.

"Miss Durham and Miss Hughes, ma'am," the maid announced, helping the two girls into their designated seats.

Miss Carrigen eyed her. "Why did you escort them?" she asked.

"I received them from their carriage, ma'am." With that, she curtsied and went back into the house, leaving the five women to enjoy their tea.

Back home, Lydia was sure that she and her sisters knew all the local families and were often spending their days with the Mordane family that resided near to their home. It was Anne Mordane whom she preferred the company of the most, the youngest of the Mordane sisters. She had inherited her mother's habit of gossiping, something that Lydia took part in herself, although never within distance of her father's hearing. He would not stand to hear his daughter being a gossip and there was no doubt that he would restrict her visits with Anne until she broke the habit. But when it came to hearing one sharing gossip, she just could not help herself.

Miss Carrigen led the conversation, which unsurprisingly revolved around the previous night's ball. "Can you believe the nerve of Mr. Moore? I reject his advances and do not send him an invite and yet he turns up, a guest of another woman! Mother was furious, and rightly so," she said, picking up her tea.

"Did you send him away?" Lydia queried.

She shook her head. "I wished to but Mother said not to cause a scandal. No need to make tongues move for a man not worthy of our company, and I agreed."

One of the other ladies, Miss Danver, turned her attention onto Lydia. "I did not recognise you last night, when you were in the company of Mr. Seymour."

"Mr. Seymour? I do not believe I met a man by that name," she replied.

"Nonsense, he asked you to dance, did he not?"

Lydia gasped and covered her mouth. "Him! Yes, I suppose he did ask me to dance, but I would not say he was successful in the activity."

"Do tell!" Miss Carrigen encouraged.

"He was awfully clumsy, far from the partners I am used to. Not only did he step on my foot but he did not even offer an apology!" she exclaimed in disbelief. "Thankfully I did not encounter him for the rest of the evening. But what an odd man, being so clumsy."

Miss Danver tutted and took a sip of her tea while Miss Carrigen patted her hand. "Some men do not know how to treat a lady, that is widely known, but to not know how to dance? Why, that is a mannerism we all must know."

"Perhaps he was heavily intoxicated?" the other woman, Miss Harper, chimed.

They continued recounting the rest of the previous evening until Miss Harper's carriage returned and she had to leave. She bid her company farewell and Eleanor turned to her cousin after she left. "We cannot stay much longer, I'm afraid," she said, gaining their hostess' attention.

"We must do this again," she announced, looking between her three remaining guests. "How long are you in Kent, Miss Durham?"

"My father has business here, and we hope to remain for a few weeks. My dear cousin has insisted we remain for as long as possible."

"That settles it," she exclaimed, "we shall do this again, perhaps before the week's end. I cannot have you returning home without having a wonderful time."

Lydia and Eleanor then stood and bid farewell to their hostess and her friend. However, as they stepped away from the table, she caught the beginning of their new conversation.

"She is not the only one here on a visit," Miss Danver said. "Mr. Seymour was at the ball last night, and I hear he left his home in such a peculiar fashion that one might suspect a foul reasoning."

"I heard the same," Miss Carrigen replied.

She did not hear more of the conversation for she and her cousin entered the house and were led out to the front and helped into their carriage. She hoped that the man she had spoken to was not the type to commit foul behaviour, or she would have never spoken to him in the first place. But that left her mind as she and Eleanor spoke animatedly about the three women they'd had tea with and the topics that had arose.