Lady Elena gave herself a critical eye and seeing nothing out of place, she smiled to herself and said, "Thank you Mirabelle....now go ask cook to have my breakfast ready."
As Mirabelle rushed off to do her ladies bidding, Elena made her way to her parlor, and sat down to wait for her breakfast. She reached down and gave a light pinch to her side, thinking of the form fitting costume for the evening. She is tempted to get up and forgo breakfast, but sits back down as Mirabelle enters the room pushing a tray. She glanced longingly at the eggs and bacon, sausages and muffins, alongside the bowl of fresh fruit. Steeling herself, she took the fruit, but as she leaned to do so, the smell of the bacon was so enticing, that she decided she had to have at least a little bite. Selecting a slice, she nibbled at it slowly, savoring the salty goodness. Reluctantly putting the bacon down and taking the fruit, she then sat down to eat. It would be disastrous to faint from hunger tonight considering that it will be her long awaited evening with Lord Anton. As she sat thinking on that, she starts to enjoy the fruit and finds the sweet taste a good compliment to the saltiness of the bacon.
Leaning back after finishing her scant breakfast, she waved over to Mirabelle to come clear the food away and once that was completed, she said to her, "Sit down here, so we can go over the schedule for today."
Mirabelle sat and took from the desk a piece of paper on which to take notes. She knew how much Lady Elena wanted tonight to be perfect and she didn't want to miss any details. Looking up from the paper, she waited patiently for Lady Elena to speak. Seeing Mirabelle waiting with quill and paper to take notes, Lady Elena began.
"First, we need to see Monsieur Mickey for the final fitting of the gown for this evening," she stated, followed by, "and remind me to thank him for all of his hard work."
"Yes milady," Mirabelle replied, making a quick note on her paper.
"Next, we need to check with the hairdresser to confirm that she will be here on time and then I want to make a short stop at the perfumery. The proprietor there said she has a new scent he thinks will suit me," Elena said, watching Mirabelle making further notes.
"I will also require a rose from the bouquet that Lord Anton sent yesterday," Lady Elena said. These roses were like none that Elena had ever seen, with petals that were white near the stem, but with reddish orange tips that made it look like a white flower set aflame. This was to be the agreed upon signal that would allow him to find her among the costumed party goers. When he found her he was to use the word thorn in his greeting and thus confirm his identity. Mirabelle scribbled down another note on her paper.
"And finally, I want you Mirabelle, and no one else, to lay out the other dress I told you I wanted and a light hooded cloak in case the night turns chill."
Mirabelle looks up and smiled as she realized she has become a co-conspirator with Lady Elena to sneak out of the castle later. The idea of helping her to meet privately, without chaperons, with Lord Anton at his estate gave her a thrill. She still remembered how chivalrous Lord Anton has been towards her and blushed in remembrance of the farewell kiss on the hand. Secretly she wished she was old enough to catch his eyes, and amidst her reverie, she noticed that Lady Elena was staring intently at her, causing her to blush even deeper and to lower her eyes.
Having taken Mirabelle into her confidence on her plans for the evening, she suspected the reason for the girl's blush by how she lightly rubbed the back of her hand and had to suppress a chuckle to avoid embarrassing her further. Mirabelle was such a sweet child and she loved her dearly.
Having laid out the day's schedule and seeing that Mirabelle had finished her notes, Lady Elena sent her to notify the coachman that she was ready to depart for Monsieur Mickey's and would be down shortly. Making a brief stop in her room to lightly wash her face and hands, she then went down and departed for town.
At Lord Anton's estate, things were not going quite according to plan and Antonius was agitated. The florist had sent the wrong order and was unsure where his deliverymen were at the moment with the correct one. Lilies simply would not do and if the order didn't get here soon, there would be hell to pay. When he looked at the flowers, all he could think of was death, an impression he most definitely didn't want to make. Taking a deep breath, he decided to focus instead of the rest of the preparations. The box from the costumer with his outfit for the evening had arrived and was ready for him to wear and Jameson had the boots that he would be wearing polished to a high gloss. Seeing this, Antonius made his way to the kitchen to check with the chef, and as he entered, the man gave Antonius a sign that things were well in hand. Lord Antonius leaned in briefly towards the food cooking nearby and inhaled deeply. The aroma was heavenly, so he saluted the chef and set off towards the sitting room to check on preparations there.
The sitting room would be the location for the start of the evening and Antonius checked that there was adequate wood for the fireplace and that the staff had thoroughly cleaned as had been instructed. He ran my finger along the mantle and when it picked up no dust, made a mental note to thank the staff for their fine work. He checked one other item which he had picked up in the market place from an Oriental merchant, then seeing that all was in order, headed outside.
Walking to the carriage house, Lord Antonius ensured that it contained the items he had requested. As he stood there, the coachman approached and asked, "Is everything to your satisfaction your lordship?"
"Yes, very good. And you know when and where I want you at the castle later this evening, correct," Antonius asked?
"Yes your lordship. I will be at the west wall gate at midnight as you requested your lordship," he stated.
Clapping the man on the shoulder, Antonius nodded and said, "Good man. You have my thanks."
At last satisfied that all of the preparations, with the exception of the florist, were proceeding as had been instructed, Antonius went back into the house and sat down in the den. Getting comfortable, he let his thoughts wander to memories of the night he had first met Lady Elena.
Antonius had been asked to the castle by the Prince to discuss some expansion plans he had that would require timber from the mill owned by his estate. As the Prince and Antonius were concluding the arrangements, they were interrupted by the entrance of the most alluring woman Antonius had ever seen. He couldn't take his eyes off of her and noticing that he had lost the attention of Lord Antonius, the Prince laughed and said, "Well, I see that I can no longer hold your interest." Antonius apologized and asked quietly, who the Lady was. The Prince, seeing the keen interest in his eyes, waved for her to come over and made introductions.
"Lord Anton, I would like to present the Lady Elena, recently widowed when her husband, my cousin, was lost at sea. And Elena, this is Lord Antonius, who resides in an estate nearby and will be providing some of the raw materials for the new library that you've heard me talking about," he said.
She offered her hand and bowing, Antonius took it in his and brushed it lightly with his lips, saying, "It is a pleasure to meet such a charming Lady. I am at your service," and stared deeply into her eyes. The intensity with which she returned his gaze struck a chord with him and he almost forgot to straighten up again until the Prince cleared his throat. Antonius felt like a love struck boy and seeing his momentary lapse, the Lady laughed softly before replying, "The pleasure is mine as well, Lord Antonius," before gently withdrawing her hand. With introductions complete, the Lady then excused herself and Antonius returned to conversation with the Prince, but his mind was elsewhere, having become enchanted by the Lady and he knew in his heart that he wanted more. His only hope was that he hadn't made a complete fool of himself in her eyes.
As Antonius was engaged in his memories of their first meeting, Jameson came in through the open door of the den and announced, "Sir, the florist deliverymen are here with the correct order." At this news, Antonius followed him outside and after inspecting the merchandise, he said, "Yes, that's what I wanted. Please get those lilies out of here. It's like a funeral parlor in there." The deliverymen made haste to do as Antonius ordered with many words of apology. His reputation was for having a lack of tolerance with mistakes, but in truth, he was quite slow to anger, and his servants appreciated it, but there was no need to let the deliverymen know that. That slight edge of fear would help to keep them in line in the future.
