Page 27 of Twelve Drummers Drumming

“There is plenty of reason to tease my sister!”

“No one,” Jemima muttered, rising from the floor and moving over to the table where the jewelry she and Caroline were going to wear that evening had been laid out. “There is no one that—”

“Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor, rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief?” Caroline sang, tipping her head from side to side with each word.

At that moment, Jemima hated her sister, hated her stepmother, hated that she had ever got herself in this mess.

Of course Captain Hugh’s attendance at her sister’s engagement ball could not possibly be simple! Of course her family would find some way of ridiculing her; the idea a man could ever be a part of her existence was subject for mirth enough.

“Interesting you should say that, my dear,” said Selina thoughtfully. “Your papa did mention inviting a young man of Jemima’s acquaintance. A soldier, was he not?”

That was the final straw. If she had not been teased beyond endurance over the years, if she had not been sidelined again and again for Caroline’s beauty, or Arabella’s elegance, or even little Sophia’s brains, perhaps Jemima would not have reacted so.

As it was…

“What business is it of yours? Are you so desperate to marry me off, to get rid of me that you would force me toward any gentleman that I happen to converse with? I refuse to marry just to please you, and if that means that I end up an old spinster with no one to love me or care for me, then so be it!”

Caroline and Selina’s mouths were open wide, but they had no chance to reply as Jemima had already stormed from the bedchamber.

Chapter Seven

“Spectacular dress, inmy opinion.”

“Oh yes, the cream satin? Not a very unique design, of course, but carried off so well.”

“Caroline Fitzroy can carry off cream so well, it’s her coloring, of course.”

“That hair! I was amazed at how simple she kept it. I saw Miss Marnion try something very outlandish for her engagement ball last month, however, and it was quite a failure, we all agreed. Perhaps Miss Fitzroy is keeping her hair simple and elegant for that very reason.”

“You could be quite right, my dear, quite right.”

The two matronly women who were speaking were resting their feet and sitting on two gold gilt chairs at the edge of the dancing. The entire ballroom in the Fitzroy house had been decorated with the Christmas colors of red and burnished gold, reminding everywhere anyone looked of Caroline Fitzroy’s beautiful hair.

“And the food is quite excellent.”

“Indeed, and the punch plentiful! These are essential assets to a ball, very few young ladies these days think of such things.”

“Ah,” said one of the women knowledgeably, “but it would have been Mrs. Selina Fitzroy who has organized the details, surely?”

“Indeed,” her friend nodded. “And I am glad she has chosen those musicians.” She nodded toward the collection of six musicians sitting opposite them, playing for the ten or so couples that were dancing in the center of the room. “They are enthusiastic, the finest quality. I have heard tell of a mere flute ensemble for some balls, if you can credit it.”

“My favorite thing so far,” confided the first woman, “is that Dr. Walsingham has so far asked young Miss Fitzroy to dance every single dance with him—and she accepted!”

Her companion beamed. “Yes, their love is palpable, though Miss Fitzroy is fortunate, evidently from a very loving family.”

Six seats down from the two gossiping women, Jemima sat and attempted not to eavesdrop.

Despite the noise from the musicians and the shouting and whooping from the dancers, she could hear every word they were saying most clearly. She was not entirely sure whether she should be listening, but then they were in her home. Surely, she may listen to whatever she liked.

“Ah, the Fitzroys,” sighed the woman, wriggling her feet so as to ease her slippers off. “Such a hospitable family. Did you see every one of her sisters danced at least twice so far? Such an obliging family.”

“Not so,” her friend said triumphantly. “Miss Jemima has not danced at all!”

Jemima shrank back in her seat and willed their eyes to pass over her as they swept round, making sure no one from the family was close enough to hear.

“Most strange,” was the reply from the woman without her slippers on. “At her own sister’s engagement party? Is she so particular she could not find a gentleman to stand up with her?”

“Stepsister,” corrected her companion, pulling out her fan and wafting it over herself in an attempt to cool down.

---