Free Beatrice Goes to Brighton by MC Beaton

came back to join him, smoothing down her dress and assuming the air of hauteur she had copied from her mistress. ‘I must speak to my lady about her behaviour,’ said Marianne, maintaining that fiction beloved of lady’s maids the world over that they were able to remonstrate with their mistresses. ‘An excess of emotion is vulgar.’
    ‘That statue you works for,’ said Benjamin laconically , ‘could do with a bit of life.’
    ‘I do not understand her behaviour,’ mourned Marianne. ‘She would not even let me assist her to undress.’
    Hannah and Lady Beatrice at last joined them. Hannah’s face was glowing. Her clothes were sticking to her salty body, and some sand had worked its way into one of her stockings, but she felt like Sir Francis Drake and every bit as bold.
    ‘We had best return to our lodgings,’ said LadyBeatrice, ‘and have warm baths. Salt water is so sticky.’
    ‘I shall go tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow,’ said Hannah dreamily, ‘until I am able to swim like a fish.’
    ‘Is that not your friend Lord Alistair?’ asked Lady Beatrice. They had reached the promenade. Lady Beatrice pointed with her walking-cane.
    Hannah looked and then stared. Lord Alistair Munro, as naked as the day he was born, was strolling nonchalantly towards the sea with a party of friends, all equally naked. He had a beautiful figure, tall and strong and athletic with broad shoulders, slim hips, and a trim waist.
    ‘Come along, Miss Pym,’ murmured Lady Beatrice, amused. ‘We are not supposed to stand and stare, you know. When the gentlemen are in their buffs, we are not meant to know they even exist.’
    ‘He is a very fine gentleman, a very kind gentleman ,’ said Hannah, averting her eyes and walking along beside Lady Beatrice.
    Lady Beatrice did not reply. ‘I mean,’ pursued Hannah, ‘it is very reassuring to know that there are kind and noble men in the world.’
    ‘I do not believe in the existence of kind and noble men,’ said Lady Beatrice, suddenly and savagely. ‘They affect to be in love, but all have gross appetites. I am convinced that when Lord Alistair is not being charming to you, Miss Pym, he is off over the countryside, roistering with his friends, and seducing innocent girls.’
    ‘You make all men in general and Lord Alistair in particular sound like villains in Haymarket plays,’ commented Hannah.
    ‘And fiction is based on fact.’
    ‘Indeed! What then of the noble heroes?’
    ‘Miss Pym, let us talk of something else or I shall become cross with you. Ah, here we are at your residence. May I call on you in, say, about an hour’s time?’
    ‘Gladly,’ replied Hannah, suddenly wishing that Lord Alistair could see Lady Beatrice in that moment, as she stood at the gate, the stiff breeze tugging at her muslin skirts, one hand holding her bonnet, her cheeks pink and her large eyes sparkling.
    Hannah went indoors to instruct Benjamin on his duties, the first of which was filling a bath. And Hannah took her first bath naked. Like most ladies, she usually wore a shift so that the sight of her own body should not bring a blush to her cheeks. But now it seemed perfectly natural to lie in the water stark naked and not feel ashamed. Sea bathing, mused Hannah dreamily, was almost pagan . It changed one’s mind about all sorts of things. She wondered if she could find the courage to go about without stays.
    She had no sooner dressed again than Lord Alistair Munro called to tell her of his success with the Prince of Wales. He was on the point of telling Hannah also that it might not be a good idea for her to appear at the ball. Brighton society blamed her for tricking it and he knew several ladies who would go out of their way to be nasty to her, but Hannah looked so elated,so happy at the idea of going that he did not have the heart to dim her pleasure.
    ‘Lady Beatrice Marsham,’ announced Benjamin in the strangulated and refined tones he used for polite company.
    Lady Beatrice