Read Online The Remarkable Life and Times of Eliza Rose by Mary Hooper - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Mary Hooper
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the talk of London town.’
‘But why? ’ Eliza asked, excited in spite of the frisson of fear which ran through her. ‘And what exactly is it I’m to have made?’
‘You’ll know soon enough,’ Ma said.
‘Will I be wearing it to the Midsummer Fair?’
Ma’s mouth gaped with astonishment and her pipe fell out. ‘There’s a cunning girl!’ she said. ‘You have worked out the very thing.’ And she and the seamstress exchanged smiles and conspiratorial glances.
‘Am I really to go there?’ Eliza asked, suddenly very excited.
‘You are,’ Ma nodded.
‘But what about all the people that will see me? Don’t you care about that now?’ Eliza asked, wondering at this sudden change in her benefactor’s conduct.
Ma and the seamstress snorted with laughter.
‘What is it?’ Eliza asked, frowning.
‘Well, it’s like this, my sweeting,’ Ma said. ‘You’ll be in disguise, you see. So you needn’t worry about being seen.’
‘ Disguise? ’
‘Like a masquerade,’ Ma explained. ‘All the quality masquerade now.’
And although Eliza asked several times what she’d actually be called upon to do , Ma wouldn’t say.
Eliza was instructed to wash her hair every other day with rosemary and thyme to scent it and make it shiny, and Susan was given the job of brushing it a hundred times a day. Sometimes when people came to the house Ma would ask Eliza to let her hair down and show it – and when she did so they’d nod sagely and say it would do very well indeed.
Eliza was pleased that they all found favour with her hair, of course, but knew there must be more to it than that. There was something else … something else going on that she didn’t understand.
On Midsummer Day Ma Gwyn came into Eliza’s room very early, as soon as the sun was up. Eliza, yawning, protested that she wanted to go back to sleep, but then remembered what day it was.
‘Are we to go out and collect greenery and branches to decorate the house?’ she asked, for this had been the custom in Somersetshire.
‘God help us – there’s no time for such foolery this morning,’ Ma said, pulling off the sacking from the window.
‘Then why are we up so early?’
‘To ready ourselves for the Midsummer Fair, of course!’
Eliza, sitting up now, saw that Ma had an outfit of some sort over her arm, a swathe of greeny-blue.
‘You’re to come downstairs and I’m to help you get into your new gown ready for the Fair,’ Ma said. ‘Now, what d’you think to that?’
Eliza looked at her nervously. ‘But will you tell me now what I’ll be doing there?’
‘Just looking yer luvverly best, my kitling.’
Eliza hesitated. ‘I’m not … you’re not giving me to that fat man, are you?’
Ma gave a guffaw of laughter. ‘Indeed not. When your time comes, ’twill be to a far wealthier man than he!’
Eliza did not find this very comforting. Rising, however, she went downstairs, splashed her face with water, and then turned to Ma.
‘And now am I to put on my new dress?’
Ma nodded, shaking out the material she’d been holding and displaying it before her. Looking at it, Eliza gasped, for it was a most unusual and sumptuous blue-green taffeta which shone and shimmered in the light from the window. The dress – or whatever it was – appeared to be very small, though, and hardly long enough to cover her. It was the most beautiful – yet also the very strangest – gown she’d ever seen in her life …
Chapter Eight
An hour later, Eliza was at the Midsummer Fair. She wasn’t walking around enjoying the sideshows and curiosities, however, but was inside a large, square, canvas tent. A notice above the entrance to the tent read:
See within a representation of the sea in motion with a Genuine
Mermaid plucked from Neptune’s Depths. Not to be
confused with a waxwork. This is a Genuine Creature and
may be viewed for a Limited Period Only .
Inside the tent, the mermaid wept.
‘You’ve got to sing!’ Ma Gwyn
‘But why? ’ Eliza asked, excited in spite of the frisson of fear which ran through her. ‘And what exactly is it I’m to have made?’
‘You’ll know soon enough,’ Ma said.
‘Will I be wearing it to the Midsummer Fair?’
Ma’s mouth gaped with astonishment and her pipe fell out. ‘There’s a cunning girl!’ she said. ‘You have worked out the very thing.’ And she and the seamstress exchanged smiles and conspiratorial glances.
‘Am I really to go there?’ Eliza asked, suddenly very excited.
‘You are,’ Ma nodded.
‘But what about all the people that will see me? Don’t you care about that now?’ Eliza asked, wondering at this sudden change in her benefactor’s conduct.
Ma and the seamstress snorted with laughter.
‘What is it?’ Eliza asked, frowning.
‘Well, it’s like this, my sweeting,’ Ma said. ‘You’ll be in disguise, you see. So you needn’t worry about being seen.’
‘ Disguise? ’
‘Like a masquerade,’ Ma explained. ‘All the quality masquerade now.’
And although Eliza asked several times what she’d actually be called upon to do , Ma wouldn’t say.
Eliza was instructed to wash her hair every other day with rosemary and thyme to scent it and make it shiny, and Susan was given the job of brushing it a hundred times a day. Sometimes when people came to the house Ma would ask Eliza to let her hair down and show it – and when she did so they’d nod sagely and say it would do very well indeed.
Eliza was pleased that they all found favour with her hair, of course, but knew there must be more to it than that. There was something else … something else going on that she didn’t understand.
On Midsummer Day Ma Gwyn came into Eliza’s room very early, as soon as the sun was up. Eliza, yawning, protested that she wanted to go back to sleep, but then remembered what day it was.
‘Are we to go out and collect greenery and branches to decorate the house?’ she asked, for this had been the custom in Somersetshire.
‘God help us – there’s no time for such foolery this morning,’ Ma said, pulling off the sacking from the window.
‘Then why are we up so early?’
‘To ready ourselves for the Midsummer Fair, of course!’
Eliza, sitting up now, saw that Ma had an outfit of some sort over her arm, a swathe of greeny-blue.
‘You’re to come downstairs and I’m to help you get into your new gown ready for the Fair,’ Ma said. ‘Now, what d’you think to that?’
Eliza looked at her nervously. ‘But will you tell me now what I’ll be doing there?’
‘Just looking yer luvverly best, my kitling.’
Eliza hesitated. ‘I’m not … you’re not giving me to that fat man, are you?’
Ma gave a guffaw of laughter. ‘Indeed not. When your time comes, ’twill be to a far wealthier man than he!’
Eliza did not find this very comforting. Rising, however, she went downstairs, splashed her face with water, and then turned to Ma.
‘And now am I to put on my new dress?’
Ma nodded, shaking out the material she’d been holding and displaying it before her. Looking at it, Eliza gasped, for it was a most unusual and sumptuous blue-green taffeta which shone and shimmered in the light from the window. The dress – or whatever it was – appeared to be very small, though, and hardly long enough to cover her. It was the most beautiful – yet also the very strangest – gown she’d ever seen in her life …
Chapter Eight
An hour later, Eliza was at the Midsummer Fair. She wasn’t walking around enjoying the sideshows and curiosities, however, but was inside a large, square, canvas tent. A notice above the entrance to the tent read:
See within a representation of the sea in motion with a Genuine
Mermaid plucked from Neptune’s Depths. Not to be
confused with a waxwork. This is a Genuine Creature and
may be viewed for a Limited Period Only .
Inside the tent, the mermaid wept.
‘You’ve got to sing!’ Ma Gwyn
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