Persuasion in the Pantry [Maid for More #1]

Chapter 24: Afternoon Light

The Dowager Duchess's silken slipper patted against the smooth marbled floor of the ballroom with the distinct ring of annoyance. The sound was intermittently broken up with her mildly exasperated sigh as the grandfather clock in the foyer chimed out the hours.

Verushka hunched her shoulders, tired of standing around in an empty room with nothing to look at but a grand piano in the corner and the scowl on her employers face.

The Duchess rapped the edge of her lace fan against the curvature of her maid's spine. "Don't slouch," she reprimanded. "It is unbecoming of a lady."

"Well, it's a good thing I am not a lady then." Ver gave her usually ready answer and then realised by the single raised eyebrow of the Dowager Duchess that such a comeback would no longer stick.

"Remember that you are both the daughter and the sister of a Duke." The Duchess cleared her throat as she walked along the bright room filling with afternoon sun as the train of her dress collected no dust while it swished along the gleaming stone. Verushka marvelled at the skill of the upstairs servants, she could practically see her face reflected in the floor! It was at times such as these when she still found the ground exciting, that she most doubted the truth of her heritage.

"I still don't exactly understand what you want me to do here." The maid shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other in loaned dancing slippers with small satin bows.

The Duchess ran an aged hand over the shiny black surface of the piano forte that was also free from dust and ignored her student's sigh. "Lessons in comportment, conversation and the basic subjects are all important in bringing you into society but, it is your movement that would first be noticed."

Ver's ears pricked up under her bonnet, "Bringing me into society? You mean as your lady's maid, right, Your Grace?"

The Duchess gave a brief nod of agreement, although it was a motion so slight that she could have simply been inspecting her own shoes. Whatever it was, Verushka didn't trust it. "And, you would have me be ready in two weeks for the Wyvernstone Annual Summer Ball?"

"Yes, for now that should suffice," she conceded. "That is if my son ever decides to make an appearance."

They both stared at the open door that remained vacant.

Verushka swirled the toe of her pretty shoe in patterns over the flow of marble and started to hum quietly to pass the time. The excitement of her lesson had worn thin about an hour ago when she had begun waiting for a Duke who was too busy squandering his money and his youth to consider a promise he had made to her and his mother. She gritted her teeth and her hum turned into a soft growl. She was reminded of the sound of Mina's often empty stomach and thought with longing of the apple pie she knew Madam Shiela would have now finished baking.

The Duchess had tried to fill the time with assessing Verushka's skill on the piano but it did not take a super sleuth to determine that she had none. Nor was her singing remotely adequate but the older woman seemed to think that at least her voice bore some merit. Frail fingers slid over the ivories once more to sound the first notes of a song they had been practicing when both females turned their heads to the footsteps growing louder in the hallway.

The Duke of Bexley appeared in the long awaited doorway with a grin and a cravat that appeared crumpled from sleep. "Ah, my two favourite ladies. I hope I didn't keep you long?"

His mother pursed her lips in disapproval. "Just long enough to irritate your mother."

Cain strode forth with easy charm, "I am terribly sorry mother. I was detained on urgent business."