Free The Gamble by Joan Wolf Page B

want you to make certain that you have your hair washed today. I will send Melton to do it for you. And take a nap this afternoon. It is important for you to be fresh this evening. Gentlemen do not like to see girls who have circles under their eyes. Dinner will commence at six-thirty and the ball at nine and you girls will probably not see your beds much before two o’clock this morning.”
    I thought this sounded very exciting. The few dances I had attended in the country had always ended promptly at eleven.
    Catherine said, “Shouldn’t Georgie have her hair washed, too, Mama?”
    Lady Winterdale gave me an austere look. “I am afraid that I cannot spare my dresser to you as well as to Catherine, Georgiana. If you wish to have your hair washed, perhaps one of the maids will do it for you.”
    “I am sure that Betty will help me, my lady,” I said cheerfully. Betty was one of the chambermaids, and she had been acting as a lady’s maid for me whenever I needed her.
    Lady Winterdale compressed her lips and nodded.
    “Is there anything I can do to help you today, Lady Winterdale?” I asked. I had not realized how tremendous an undertaking a ball the scale of the one Lady Winterdale had planned would be, and all of the work had fallen upon Lady Winterdale’s shoulders. All Catherine and I had been allowed to do so far was to help write out invitations.
    “You can help me by keeping out of my way, Georgiana,” Lady Winterdale replied grimly.
    Very briefly, my eyes met Catherine’s and we both looked away.
    “Yes, ma’am,” I said, and began to eat my eggs.
    After luncheon Betty brought a basin of heated water to my room and we washed my hair. After the fourth rinse with fresh heated water, she pronounced it clean of soap, and I wrapped it in a towel and dried it as best I could. Then I put a dry towel around my shoulders and combed my hair so that it fell rain-straight halfway down my back. There was nothing more to be done until it dried.
    I went next to Catherine’s room and found her undergoing the same procedure at the hands of Melton, Lady Winterdale’s dresser. Melton was one of those superior servants who have a very exaggerated sense of their own worth, and she had begun by treating me as if I were less than the dirt beneath her feet. I do not take kindly to such treatment, however, and Melton and I had had words. We had since achieved a kind of truce; neither of us liked the other, but we were icily polite.
    I sat down in a chair and waited for Catherine to be finished. Unlike mine, her hair had curl and I thought that she would look well in one of the new shorter styles. Lady Winterdale liked her hair bunched in front of her ears, however. I thought it only called attention to the thinness of Catherine’s face and took attention away from her best feature, which was her eyes.
    Catherine would have liked to cut her hair also, mainly because it would require less trouble to arrange. Unfortunately, this was one more issue on which she was not able to stand up to her mother.
    Once Catherine was done, I suggested, “Why don’t we go down to the green drawing room and you can play the piano for me while our hair dries?”
    The girl’s face lit to beauty. “Oh Georgie, that would be wonderful.” Then the light died out. “But Mama said I was to take a nap.”
    “You can’t nap with a wet head,” I said practically. “And besides, your mother is so busy that she won’t even notice what you’re doing.” I got up from the small silk-upholstered chair that was placed before Catherine’s fire. “Let’s go.”
    The drawing room was damp and chilly, and I had one of the servants add some coals and stoke up a nice warm fire for us. Then I pulled one of the tapestry chairs over in front of the fireplace and settled down to listen to Catherine play.
    She played for three hours and while I listened I thought about many things. I thought about home, about Anna, about Frank, about the ball. About Lord