Page 9 of Love, Remember Me

Tillie scrubbed her lady's head a second time, rinsed it vigorously with her bucket, then finally ordered, "Quick, get out, mistress!" She wrapped a large towel about Nyssa and began to vigorously dry her hair with a second towel.

Nyssa rubbed herself with the rough fabric until her skin began to glow. Then at Tillie's suggestion she climbed back into bed to get warm once again.

Tillie handed her the smaller towel. "Keep getting that water from your hair, mistress," she said. "I'll go downstairs and see if I can find you something to eat before we must dress."

Nyssa pulled the coverlets as high up as she could, trying to ward off the chill of the room. She rubbed her long dark hair until at last most of the bathwater was gone and her hair was merely damp. Across the small room her bodice, gown, and petticoats were spread neatly over a chair. There wasn't a wrinkle in them. Tillie must have been up half the night, Nyssa thought guiltily, pressing them out so that her mistress would make a good first impression at court. What a treasure the maidservant was. Her mother had always said a good tiring woman was invaluable, but Nyssa hadn't given it much thought until now.

Tillie bustled back into the room with a tray. "Well, I didn't have much hope when I went downstairs," she said matter-of-factly, "but lord bless me if there wasn't a one-eyed old woman in the kitchen who said she was the cook for this place. She gave me a nice bowl of oat porridge, some bread fresh from her ovens, butter, honey, and mulled, watered wine for you, mistress." Tillie placed the tray on Nyssa's lap. "Now you eat it all up. From what Maybelle tells me, you'll be lucky to get fed the rest of the day. They don't eat much at court, she says."

"What about you?" Nyssa asked her servant. "Did you get something for yourself to eat, Tillie?" She spooned porridge into her mouth.

"I'll eat when you've gone, mistress," Tillie told her. "Maybelle says you'll probably be back here for the next few nights since the new queen ain't arrived yet. The maids with family nearby will usually come home to rest. Once the queen has come, though, 'twill be a different thing, Maybelle says."

"I'm glad Maybelle is such a font of information," Nyssa said, her eyes twinkling with humor.

"Pea-green with jealousy, she is." Tillie giggled. "Oh, her mistress is a countess, but at court countesses are a ha'penny a pound. Lady Bliss ain't never served a queen, butmymistress will be serving a queen. Poor old Maybelle is torn between envy and her natural inclination to tell me what to do because I'm just a girl like yourself, mistress."

"Glean what knowledge and gossip you can from her, and any others you may become friends with," Nyssa instructed her serving maid. "I'm not very wise in the ways of the world, Tillie, as you well know. I think I will have to become so to survive at the court. Mama has said this is such a wonderful opportunity for me. I cannot disappoint her."

Tillie nodded her head sagely. "Don't you worry, Mistress Nyssa. We're going to do just fine here at court. Now, finish up your breakfast before your aunt is in here scolding us both for being late."

Nyssa swallowed the last of her bread and wine then climbed from her bed. The room was still cold, but she felt better now that she was clean and fed. Tillie helped her into a soft linen chemise with a standing collar edged in lace. Then she slipped a pair of delicately knitted stockings on her mistress's legs, gartered with silk rosebuds. Next came a satin corset and several petticoats over which was set a shakefold, a delicate wire frame with stiffened pads. Her cream satin underskirt, which was embroidered with gold thread dragonflies and daisies, fell over the little hoop, spreading itself out smoothly. Next came the peach velvet divided overskirt, which displayed the underskirt to its best advantage. Finally Tillie fitted a peach velvet bodice embroidered with gold thread, pearls, and tiny, glittering topaz over her mistress's corset. The bodice had a low neckline and wide bell-like sleeves turned back at the lower edge.

It was the fashion for young girls to wear their hair parted in the middle and loose. For neatness' sake, not to mention elegance, Tillie fitted Nyssa's long hair into a pretty gold caul. Then the maidservant bent to fit narrow, round-toed shoes of cream-colored kid upon the girl's feet.

Tillie stood up to survey her handiwork, and nodded, pleased. "I'll just get yer jewelry casket, mistress. 'Tis all that's needed now to supply the finishing touch to your garb."

When Tillie returned with the jewel case, Nyssa chose two beautiful strands of pearls of a creamy hue. One was longer than the other, and they hung below the neckline of her gown. She slipped two rings, one a pearl, the other a topaz, on the fingers of her right hand, and then closed the box. "Put it away, Tillie," she said. "I have what I need for today. It is not too much, is it?"

Tillie tucked the box back into her mistress's trunk, saying as she did so, "Nay, Mistress Nyssa. 'Tis just right."

There was a knock upon the bedchamber door, and Maybelle stuck her head in. Her eyes widened at the sight of Nyssa. "Ohh, and don't you look pretty, little mistress," she said admiringly. "Yer aunt is awaiting you downstairs. They're ready to go."

Tillie picked up a light brown velvet cloak lined in rabbit's fur for her mistress, and handed Nyssa her gloves. "Come along, my lady," she said briskly, moving so swiftly that Maybelle was forced to give way at the door. Tillie winked at Nyssa as Maybelle, swept aside, sputtered irritably, running behind them to catch up.

They moved quickly but carefully down the staircase. Nyssa took in every elegant bit of her aunt's attire. Bliss was, at thirty-three, still an outrageously beautiful woman. Her deep blue velvet gown, embroidered with gold and silver threads as well as pearls, matched her sapphire-blue eyes. In defiance of fashion, Bliss wore her daffodil-blond hair in a chignon, held by gold pins at the nape of her neck.

"I see no reason to hide my beautiful hair beneath those ugly headdresses," she often said. Then she would turn and smile at her doting husband. "Owen would not like it," she would finish, as if his opinion in the matter were really of great import to her.

This morning she carefully scrutinized her niece with critical eyes. Finally she smiled approvingly. Both Tillie and Nyssa let out a collective breath.

"Very nice, my child. You look absolutely pure perfection. Elegant, but not gaudy. A young woman of means and good family; not some opportunistic little wench come husband-hunting to court, eager to attract the attention of some foolish gallant."

Nyssa's eyes twinkled. "I thought Ihadbeen sent to court to find a husband," she teased her aunt, and her uncle Owen guffawed.

"You have come to court to serve the queen," Bliss said in smooth tones. "Now, if you should just happen to find a gentleman who takes your fancy, steals your heart, and pleads for your hand in marriage,andif he is suitable, that is an altogether different matter, child."

Nyssa laughed. "Is that how you caught Uncle Owen's fancy, at court?"

"I met your uncle in your father's house," Bliss replied primly.

"It was your mother's sixteenth birthday," the Earl of Marwood said, taking up the story. "Bliss and Blythe and your aunt Delight came toRiversEdgeto celebrate the occasion. One look at your aunt, and I was lost to her, just as Nick Kingsley was as taken with Blythe."

"You fell in love at first sight?" Nyssa had never heard the story, but it sounded so very romantic.

"At first sight," her uncle said softly. His eyes swept to his wife. "Did I not, puss?"

Bliss had a look in her eyes that her niece had never before seen. "Aye," she drawled. Then, remembering herself and where they were, she snapped, "Why are we standing here in this draughty hallway? We are due at court shortly." She turned to Tillie. "You've done well, girl. I'll give my sister a good account of you when I write her next. Heartha has trained you well and can be proud."

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