Chapter 46
<46> The Fallen Veil (1)
Miss Pendleton nodded. Her uncle looked down at Miss Pendleton, humming.
"Why?"
"Because I don't want to be his wife."
"Why?"
"I can't feel anything for him except the respect due to an elder."
Gerald Pendleton looked at his niece's face. Every inch of it—eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, ears, hair—scrutinized as if she were an object. Miss Pendleton felt something akin to humiliation under her uncle's gaze, but she quietly endured it.
Finally, her uncle spoke.
"I can see why you're vain every time you look in the mirror, but it's not good to be too calculating. You're a bastard with no dowry. I told you last time, if you're expecting something from me, you'd better wake up."
Miss Pendleton said, maintaining her composure as much as possible,
"Don't worry. I never expected anything like that."
"Then why don't you accept Tom's proposal?"
Miss Pendleton shook her head.
"That's my private matter. I have no obligation to explain."
"Insolent."
"I'm sorry, Uncle,"
Miss Pendleton apologized dryly before continuing.
"But as a gentleman of dignity, you know very well that a Lady has the freedom to reject a proposal and the right to be respected for that decision. I apologize for being rude, but I am still a Lady. Please respect my rights, Uncle."
Her uncle glared at his niece for a moment. It was clear from his expression that what his niece had said had upset him.
But nothing his niece had said was wrong. The most powerful right a Lady could enjoy in society was precisely that: the freedom to reject courtship. A gentleman should not pry into that.
As Miss Pendleton had expected, her uncle backed down.
"There's no need to remind me of a gentleman's duty, Laura Pendleton. I know as much about a Lady's rights as you do. But, as your uncle, I will give you some advice. Ladies who repeatedly reject suitors to raise their value is not something you can afford to do in your position. It's true that Tom Price is much older than you, but the fact that he's interested in you is a blessing in your situation. Tease him just enough and accept Tom's proposal."
Her uncle went into his room. Miss Pendleton stood there for a while. Humiliation churned in her stomach. Why did Mr. Price and her uncle both see her intentions as nothing more than a shallow attempt to raise her value? Was it because she was past her prime and had no money?
She bit her lip. No matter what they said, she could not abandon the beliefs she had about marriage. She had no intention of marrying beneath her, nor would she sell herself to any man for money.
She would never settle down with a man with whom she could not achieve emotional and temperamental harmony. She had seen so many cases where such marriages led to unhappiness.
She sighed and returned to her room.
* * *
"So, how about this, Miss Pendleton?"
Miss Jenson approached Miss Pendleton, who was sitting on the sofa, and twirled around. Miss Pendleton looked at her dress: a red satin dress decorated with black feathers here and there, and a red hat with a black veil that matched it.
"It looks like an opera costume."
At Miss Pendleton's words, Miss Jenson threw the hat she was wearing onto the bed and lay down on her back. The voluminous skirt was crushed against Miss Jenson's body with a rustling sound.
"You'll ruin the dress."
"What does it matter if it gets ruined? I can't wear it out anyway."
Miss Jenson grumbled.
"I was sure it would be a hit in London when I brought it. The yellow satin dress too. The black evening dress, the green Bustle dress! The most modest clothes in New York society become stage costumes in London!"
"Modest clothes... I don't know about that, but New York society must be quite something."
Miss Pendleton muttered in a listless voice.
When she was first asked by Miss Jenson to look at the dress she would wear to the Ball the day before, she thought that all she had to do was sit and look at the clothes and say a few words. She didn't know what state the dresses in the trunk that Miss Jenson had guarded so carefully were in.
Miss Pendleton reviewed the dresses that Miss Jenson had worn so far: a yellow satin dress with white net decorations hanging all over it, a black evening dress densely embroidered with bright red embroidery, and a green Bustle dress with three-dimensional rose decorations asserting their presence.
Each one was so gaudy that it made her head spin just looking at it.
Miss Pendleton laughed at first, thinking it was a joke when she saw the dresses Miss Jenson was wearing. But she was embarrassed when she realized that Miss Jenson was serious, and she lost her words when she saw the state of the dresses that followed.
They looked like stage costumes. All of them.
It was a difficult situation. A dress was essential to go to the Ball, but all of the dresses were likely to be laughed at if she wore them out.
However, all the dress shops in London were too busy making clothes for their clients to make a new one. There was nowhere to get a decent dress.
"Oh, Miss Pendleton. You're here!"
While Miss Pendleton was racking her brains, a middle-aged woman entered Miss Jenson's room. Miss Jenson, still lying down, introduced her.
"This is Mrs. Naisley, my godfather's sister."
"Hello, Mrs. Naisley."
"Oh, my! I, I'm glad to meet you, Miss Pendleton! To come to such a humble place..."
The middle-aged Mrs. Naisley fidgeted, not knowing what to do. To her, a newly emerging gentry living in the outskirts of London, Miss Pendleton of the Count's family living on Grosvenor Street was like royalty.
"What are you talking about? I'm sorry for visiting so suddenly when the hostess isn't here."
"No, no. If Joan had given me a proper heads-up in advance, I would have prepared and welcomed you grandly. I hope my servants haven't been rude...?"
"I've been treated very well. Please calm down."
"Yes, calm down, Aunt. If you keep doing that, Miss Pendleton will feel uncomfortable. Stop it and do something about my dress problem. It's a disaster right now."
"Huh? What's wrong?"
"None of my dresses are wearable, she says."
"Why? They're all pretty."
"They're not suitable for London society."
"Really? Hmm, everyone wore something like this when I first went out."
"When did you go out into society, Aunt?"
"About 30 years ago?"
"Oh my gosh, was it that long ago?"
"It was. It was right after I got married."
Mrs. Naisley recalled that time. Her first foray into society with her husband, who had become rich overnight through the publishing business. Memories stained with coldness, ridicule, and humiliation. She thought that money could seep in as much as she wanted, but no matter how hard she tried, she could get nothing but whispers of being a nouveau riche.
She wisely gave up on society and chose to grow old comfortably, associating with newly emerging gentry wives like herself.
Still, she still had a longing for the aristocracy. Especially when she saw a Lady from a prestigious family like Miss Pendleton, her longing for the aristocracy would burst out uncontrollably.
She couldn't bring herself to look straight at her, and she watched Miss Pendleton's figure with a fluttering heart.
Meanwhile, while Mrs. Naisley and Miss Jenson were talking, Miss Pendleton, who had been worrying, came up with a way to solve the dress problem in her head.
"Do you have a skilled seamstress in this house, Madam?"
Mrs. Naisley stammered at the sudden question from the aristocratic young woman.
"Ah, um, there's a friend with nimble fingers in the laundry room... But, she's not very skilled..."
"If it's not too much trouble, could you call that servant?"
At Miss Pendleton's request, Mrs. Naisley immediately ordered a servant outside the door to bring the seamstress.
In the meantime, Miss Pendleton went into Miss Jenson's dressing room. She saw a yellow satin dress that had been carelessly taken off in one corner of the room. She took it and came back.
"Let's take off all the net decorations from this yellow satin dress. And let's put on other decorations."
Miss Jenson, who had been lying down, raised her upper body halfway.
"Put on decorations? Are you going to remodel it?"
"Yes. There's not much time, so that's the only way."
Knock, knock, a middle-aged maid entered. It was the seamstress Miss Pendleton was looking for. Miss Pendleton asked her to remove all the decorations from the dress. In the meantime, she opened the small trunk she had brought just in case, which she had placed next to the sofa.
Inside were all sorts of laces, frills, nets, and a sewing kit.
"Miss Pendleton, what's that?"
"These are the materials we used to remodel dresses at my house."
"You remodel them and use them? Don't you get a new one?"
"I don't throw away clothes unless they're badly damaged."
The seamstress removed all the decorations from the dress. When all the decorations were gone, it was just an ordinary yellow satin dress. Miss Pendleton looked at the dress intently and then began to look at the laces she had brought. Then, she chose the most gorgeous laces and put them on the dress one by one.
The women in the room all held their breath and watched Miss Pendleton. Miss Pendleton alternated between rose and camellia patterns before deciding.
"The camellia pattern is the best. It goes well with the material of the dress, and it's the best quality. Now, put this on the edge of the dress."
The seamstress immediately went to work. Meanwhile, Miss Pendleton went back into Miss Jenson's dressing room and began rummaging through her accessories box. She spent 10 minutes picking out all the gloves, shoes, and hair accessories that would go well with the dress.
Soon, the nimble-fingered seamstress had attached elegant lace to the place where the bizarre net decorations had been. Miss Pendleton handed Miss Jenson the dress and the accessories she had chosen and told her to put them all on and come out.
A moment later, Miss Jenson walked out of the dressing room. She looked completely different from before. A gorgeous yellow satin dress with dignified camellia lace, pearl-colored Ball gloves with small jewels, cute black shoes with yellow ribbon decorations, and a silver rose decoration with her hair up.
Mrs. Naisley exclaimed.
"Oh my, Joan has become as demure as another person!"
Miss Jenson covered her mouth with her hand and laughed.
"Oh, really? I wonder if I'll be courted by another London gentleman!"
Mrs. Naisley laughed at her words.
Instead of laughing along, Miss Pendleton stared intently at Miss Jenson. She went into Miss Jenson's dressing room and came out again, making rustling noises. In her hand was a semi-transparent shawl with a rustling sound and a diamond brooch.
Miss Pendleton put the brooch on Miss Jenson's dress and draped the shawl around her. Then she stood back and looked at her again. Elegance was added to the splendor.
'Yes, this is what a Ball outfit should look like.'
