Chapter 9 #2
“This is brilliant,” Miss Jones said, clasping her hands over her heart. “This is just the sort of exciting wickedness that I hoped to be a part of when I came here to London. You do not find daring like this in the country.”
“I would wager that you do not find daring like this much of anywhere,” Wilkes said. Kit could not make out whether he approved or not.
“There are more circumstances than I have revealed as of yet,” Kit said.
He hesitated for a moment, wondering just how deeply he could trust the two people sitting with him, but decided they were true friends.
“My father despises me. He wishes my younger brother, George, to be his heir. He has…begun to take measures to ensure that that happens.”
Miss Jones looked horrified and pressed a hand to her chest. “Poor thing.”
Wilkes turned strangely stoney. “I know what it is like to have one’s life in danger,” he said. “I swear to you, Lord, er, Miss Dryden, I will do whatever you need of me to ensure your continued safety and happiness.”
Kit did not know whether he wanted to laugh or weep, he was so relieved.
A lightness came over him that hinted perhaps he might be done with tears forever, if all went well.
What he was asking Wilkes and Miss Jones to do could end up with them arrested for aiding and abetting indecency, or some other equally frustrating and frivolous charge, but they were willing to stand by him as true friends.
At the same time, if anyone was able to be discreet enough to make his transformation a success, it would be them.
“I did understand your message the other day,” Miss Jones said several minutes later, when they made their way down to the workroom.
“I still have your measurements from the first gown, so I used those to begin construction on another. It is another ball gown, however. I understood that to be what you needed. I see now you will need a few more practical items.”
Wilkes left Kit in Miss Jones’s care. The two of them made their way across the open space between the two buildings and into the part of the two businesses’ working areas that was designated for ladies’ finery.
Kit found everything exciting and daunting as Miss Jones showed him the gown she’d begun work on, then whisked him through the rest of her workshop, taking out bolts of fabric and bits of patterns.
Kit was fascinated by the intensity of her focus and the things she said as she spoke aloud while planning out his complete transformation.
“You will not leave our shops dressed as you are,” she informed Kit once she had a spread of different fabrics and haberdashery laid out on one of the tables in the back of her shop.
“I have a gown that is nearly finished that I was constructing to go in the window of my shop.
As luck would have it, you are close to the right shape and size for it.
Come into the back room here and I will try it on you and make adjustments.
With a little luck, you will be able to wear it as you leave here today.
Luck was in their favor. The plain but pretty blue gown in question fit almost perfectly as soon as Kit slipped into it.
Miss Jones worked quickly to mark certain areas where it needed to be taken in and a few where the seams needed to be let out to ensure its perfect fit.
She also fitted him with a corset, chemise, drawers, stockings, and other necessities, promising that she would obtain more for him so that he did not have to run the risk of exposure when purchasing them from a specialist.
It was all something of a whirlwind, but four hours after Lord Castleton entered Mr. Wilkes’s tailor’s shop, Miss Kitty Dryden left in her new finery out the front door of Miss Jones’s modiste’s shop.
“I cannot thank you enough for this,” Kitty said, finding it easy to speak as softly as the persona of Kitty required as she said goodbye to her new friends. She touched the bonnet that hid the shortness of her hair, then reached for Miss Jones’s hand. “You may have quite literally saved my life.”
“It is a life worth saving,” Wilkes said, nodding to Kitty the way any reasonable gentleman would nod to a lady. “And you know that you can rely on us for absolutely anything.”
“I do,” Kitty said, smiling .
“Would you like me to send the rest of your gowns to your address or do you wish to retrieve them yourself once they are finished?” Miss Jones asked with a proud smile.
“I should like to call on you again,” Kitty said. “Perhaps as a friend as well as a customer?”
“I would not have it any other way,” Miss Jones said, and with her country manners, she stepped forward and hugged Kitty tightly.
It was the most encouraging thing she could have done and it left Kitty feeling as though she truly could make the transformation that she longed to make.
So much so that when she allowed the driver of the same carriage that had dropped her at Wilkes’s shop to hand her into the carriage, she gave the man Lady Everly’s address instead of bidding him take her back to the mistress apartment.
Lady Everly lived deeper in the heart of Mayfair than Gilbert Street, and as Kitty watched streets that she knew well pass, her anxiety about being caught in her new life grew.
She was trembling with worry by the time the driver helped her alight from the carriage in front of Lady Everly’s house and as she walked up to the front door.
Kitty had a moment of panic when Horner opened the door and stared at her “May I help you?” the man asked.
Before Kitty could answer, Horner recognized her and his eyes went wide.
“Is Lady Everly at home?” Kitty asked, her voice thin and wispy.
“I—” Horner closed his mouth and cleared his throat. “She is, my lo—er, she is. Do come in.”
Kitty was beyond relieved when Horner ushered her into the house and closed the door behind her. She knew the way to Lady Everly’s private study as well as she knew anything, but she followed as if it were the first time she had ever visited her friend. To her, as Kitty, it felt like it was .
When she reached the parlor, she was both relieved and anxious to find Georgiana and Alice already there, as if it were any other day of calling. All three of her friends glanced to the doorway as Horner stepped inside and cleared his throat, saying, “You have a visitor, my lady.”
“Oh!” Alice nearly jumped out of her seat, clapping a hand to her chest and almost spilling the tea she held as she did. “Kit—Miss Kitty Dryden!”
Kitty knew at once that she had done the right thing by coming to her friends. As soon as Horner bowed and left, Georgiana and Alice jumped up and rushed to greet her.
“We have been worried sick about you,” Georgiana said, grasping her hand and staring at her for a moment before deciding to pull her close for a hug.
“Rumors are beginning to spread that you are missing and perhaps dead,” Alice said, drawing Kitty into a hug when Georgiana was finished.
It was blissful and encouraging. Her friends did not meet her with questions or censure, they embraced her as though nothing at all had changed.
“As you can see, I am not dead nor am I missing,” she told them, “but it was a close thing.”
“Oh, but you are missing,” Lady Everly said with a broad smile, standing more sedately and coming over to greet Kitty with a kiss to her cheek, the way she’d seen her greet Georgiana and Alice many times before. “Or rather, Lord Castleton is missing.”
“What has happened? Where have you been these last few days?” Alice asked, leading Kit to the sofa and sitting with her. “This is a pretty gown,” she observed before Kitty could answer.
“So many things have happened,” Kitty said, removing her bonnet. She patted her hair nervously, knowing full well it was too short to suit her new life .
Lady Everly seemed to sense her anxiety. “I have hair pieces and perhaps even an old wig that you may borrow until your own hair grows, my dear,” she said before Kitty could even begin her explanation. “And I know of an incredibly discreet gentleman who would be willing to make more for you.”
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart,” Kitty said.
“Am I to understand that you will be Kitty all of the time now?” Georgiana asked.
“He will. Or rather, she will.”
The response came from none other than Dev, who Horner was just showing into the room.
Kitty leapt to her feet, uncertain whether she was afraid of Dev’s anger over her leaving the safety of the apartment or whether she was overjoyed to see her champion and to know what Dev thought of her new appearance.
Dev seemed to know her mind. He smiled and said, “Mrs. Torrance said you’d gone out. I reasoned that there were few places you could have gone and that you would come here, to your true friends, first among those places.”
“I went to Mr. Wilkes and Miss Jones first,” Kitty said, walking to stand in front of Dev. She almost reached for Dev’s hands but held back at the last minute. “Miss Jones is making an entirely new wardrobe for me.”
“I am glad,” Dev said, taking Kitty’s fluttering hands and holding them.
He smiled at Kitty for another few seconds, drinking in the sight of her, before straightening and addressing the others as well.
“I am glad that you have made Miss Dryden’s acquaintance and have accepted her into your circle, for it seems that word is now all over London.
Lord Castleton has been declared officially missing. ”