Pauper Princess

Chapter Twenty

As the day of my ball drew nearer, the pace of time seemed to become faster. The constant people in and out of the house, the days and days spent setting up decorations in the Great Room, the endless lessons on acceptable greetings, conversation topics, and proper etiquette. And the fittings- every day for the past week, women had come to the house, stripping me to my drawers and bustled all around me, shoving different fabrics and colors before me in an attempt to decide which option was best as Lady Baldwin looked on.

In the end, they decided on the light pink as the color I should wear for the ball- an infuriating choice, seeing as it was already the color Lady Baldwin preferred Elizabeth and I wear. Had I been given five minutes to determine which color I thought she may prefer on me, that would have been my choice. And yet it took days of me standing still, being poked and prodded and stuck with stray sewing needles, for these women to come to the exact same conclusion.

There was one bright side to it all, though- I finally got to meet the famed Master Manning, whom Elizabeth found so strange. And strange he was, indeed- he seemed to have two completely different personalities, swinging back and forth between a strict dance instructor and a carefree, whimsical spirit.

"Straighten your back immediately, Amelia," He admonished, taking his thin cane- which he had yet to strike me with, despite all my mistakes- and pressing it against my back until my posture was corrected to his approval.

Just seconds later, though, he was standing in front of me, waving his arms in an absurd way which made them seem boneless. "Loose arms, child, loose arms. Pretend you are a jellyfish!"

When I hesitated for a moment- entirely unsure of what exactly being a jellyfish entailed- he reached forward, taking my wrists in his hands and jiggling my arms up and down. "Jelllyfiiiiiissssh- ah! There you are! Just like that."

Bewildered, my gaze flew to the seat near the window, where Elizabeth sat with both hands over her mouth in her efforts not to laugh. Michael was there, as well, having turned down the request to be my dance partner, but eager to watch the lesson itself. He was doubled over in his seat, hiding his face entirely as his shoulders shook with his own poorly-concealed laughter.

Thomas, to his credit, was biting down on his lower-lip, doing a fine job of maintaining his composure. His posture was just as ridgid as it had been when he had taken this stance more than twenty minutes earlier, one hand at his side and the other behind his back as he waited for me to understand the very basics of ballroom dance before I was handed off to him.

"Now step forward with confidence- and stab the jellyfish!" Master Manning said sharply, bringing my hand stiffly up to meet Thomas's waiting hand. My eyes widened at his sudden severe tone. "You meet hands, two steps forward, let him leeeead, two steps backwards, one to the left..."

Thomas was an excellent dancer, and no doubt made me seem just a bit better than I truly was, using his hand to hint at the direction he would be stepping next, making sure I was aware of his next move. Master Manning stood to the side, counting out the steps as we took them. "And two and two, and one and four, and..."

It took only two sessions of such insanity before I was deemed ready for the basics of a ball, so long as I practiced daily with Thomas. Graciously, Thomas put aside an hour a day to practice with me, and remained patient if I ever stumbled or grew irritable of the daily sessions.

Michael simply liked to jump out at me from behind corners, waving his arms loosely and exclaiming 'jellyfish!' before laughing like a maniac and running off as Elizabeth swatted at him. She found it so annoying that I tried to hide my amusement at the inside joke.

"I am glad that he will be gone to school soon," Elizabeth announced one day, her temper worsened by the poor sleep she had gotten the night before; She had awoken from a nightmare near midnight, and spent the rest of the night kicking the covers away and tossing. "Boys are far too bothersome. I do not know how he still behaves so foolishly when the school he attends is so stern."