The Secret in East End [Agents of the Crown #1]

Chapter 14

The trip back to London had been largely uneventful, with Fabian in the same carriage with his mother, while Charlotte, Lacey and Elle shared the other, larger carriage. The girls had chatted, and Elle had listened intently to Charlotte's past balls she had attended in the brief time before her father's untimely passing. Lacey occasionally skipped to the other carriage where the Charlotte and the duchess's lady's maid sat with Terry and Freddie to placate the boys, and give the servants a break.

It was in this time that Elle tried to absorb as much information as she could regarding her new position as Charlotte's companion. The duchess had mentioned before that she did not look forward to chaperoning Charlotte to all her functions and balls. As a duchess on the fringes of society even when her husband was around, Grace Rothesay simply did not like being in society, and the lost of her beloved husband simply did not help matters.

She had, as such, happily relinquished the task to Elle.

"Really, Mother?" Fabian had sarcastically asked with a raised brow when the Rothesay matriach had announced her wishes. She had returned her son's wry gaze with a sarcastic smile. "Of course, I expect you to be there as well."

"But-!" Fabian had sputtered. Grace stopped his words with a raised hand. "No buts, Fabian. She is your youngest sister. You already did not accompany Pippa, and look where that has landed her."

"She didn't want me to accompany her! Besides, I had father's estate to run." And the business of the Agents to settle, he thought to himself. 

"Nevertheless, Charlotte will go where you go."

"Mother-!"

"No buts from either of you. With Miss Elle around as well, I trust you will keep Charlotte's reputation untarnished."

And that had been that. The sense of responsibility was suddenly huge on Elle, which merely served to explain her growing trepidation as she helped Charlotte get ready for her first ball since they had arrived at the Rothesay townhouse not a couple of days ago.

"You look gorgeous in your dress, my lady." Elle mentioned as she stepped in. Charlotte's fair complexion was well complemented by the navy blue gown she was in. Made of velvet, it served well to keep its wearer warm at the beginning of winter, as was the season now. Trimmed with gold around the empire waistline, it flattered Charlotte's slender figure, and the female of twenty four looked even more splendid with the golden dance slippers she slipped in, before her lady's maid started work on her strawberry blonde curls.

"Ah, is that new, Elle? I've never seen you in that before."

Elle looked down at her dark green kirtle, and gave a small curtsey as thanks. "No, it is... a gift from your brother, back when I... first came here."

"When you first came here?" Charlotte's keen senses easily pounced on that, and she turned interested eyes on the female she had come to call a friend in their short journey to London, and the time they've spent together since. "You've been here before? Oh, that's why Collingsworth looked so surprised to see you!"

Thinking back on the butler's widened eyes when he admitted the family in and laid eyes on Elle, she flushed. "Yes, my lady. I... His Grace sort of, saved me, in a way, from a situation before this. I'm indebted to him, in more ways then one."

"Save you? Just what were you in?"

Elle hesitated, unsure of what details she should give. The duchess and Charlotte both knew of Elle's current history as a pickpocket, after all it is hard to hide when she had short hair. Despite it growing a little in length, with chestnut tresses growing just at the nape of her neck, Elle's hair was still considerably shorter then what was acceptable for most of the ladies in London. Charlotte's lady's maid had graciously helped by giving it volume to the smooth locks, but the length was something you couldn't hide.