Page 117 of The Sisters of Sea View
The second was folded and bore surprising postal markings.Edinburgh.
Glancing out the window to assure herself Mamma was still in the garden, she unfolded the letter and read the signature. It was from their Great-Aunt Mercer. Here, then, was Claire’s direction at last. Emily had asked for it several times. Her requests had clearly displeased her mother, who always had some reason the timing was not right. But now? Finding this letter felt like a sign.
Thinking better of the letter she had begun to Charles, she wadded it up and tossed it into the nearby fireplace. The dying embers obliged by rousing themselves to flaming life, destroying the evidence of her foolishness.
She would write to Claire instead.
23
I was terribly frightened, and really thought I should never have recovered from the Plunge—I had not breath enough to speak for a minute or two, the shock was beyond expression.
—Frances Burney, diary
That day at luncheon, the family began gathering in the dining room at the usual time. Even Mamma joined them, managing to cross the house with the help of her stick. Emily hurried to lay a place for her, pleasure and hope warming her heart. It was almost like old times.
Georgiana burst into the room, mischief dancing in her light blue eyes. “Viola walked across town without a veil. That means Emily has to go sea-bathing!”
Emily suddenly wished she had never confided the challenge to their younger sister.
“What’s this?” Sarah asked.
“A silly wager—that’s all.”
Viola spread a serviette over her lap. “If Emily truly is scared, she does not have to.”
Emily’s spine stiffened in resolve. “Of course I will. I am a woman of my word, after all. Let us go.”
“It does not have to be now,” Viola said.
“Why wait?”
Viola glanced out the window. “The weather is grey and blustery today.”
“Perhaps if she does not go directly, she will lose her courage,” Georgiana said.
“Wait and go later,” Mamma said. “Dr. Clarke advises no bathing immediately after eating or drinking.”
Emily laid aside her serviette. “I am not hungry.”
Mamma shook her head. “Don’t do anything rash, Emily. Besides, you can’t go alone, and Georgie has already been bathing with me. I don’t want her to overdo or risk a chill.”
Sarah said, “And I am meeting with the wine merchant for the Eltons’ dinner.”
“Well, she can’t go bathing alone,” their mother insisted. “It is not safe.”
“She would not be alone,” Georgie said. “One of the bathing machine attendants will assist her in and out of the water. Mrs. Heffer or Mrs. Barrett, most likely.”
“I shall go in with her,” Viola announced, with a little jut of her chin.
Emily glared at her. “Why? You don’t like sea-bathing either. Afraid I will back out?”
Viola held her gaze. “The lady doth protest too much.”
“Oh, very well.” Emily rose. “Come if you’re coming.”
They retrieved towels, put on their bonnets, and left the house, walking across Peak Hill Road and past Heffer’s Row to the esplanade, and onto the pebbles.
The beach was all but deserted today, thanks to the gusty wind and choppy waves. Out in the water, Emily glimpsed the figure of a lone swimmer. At least the man was a fair distance away. She had heard that, at some seaside resorts, men tried to sneak near bathing machines in hopes of catching sight of scantily clad women.
