The Ainsworth family had a long course of royalty decorating their path and it would serve them quite the injustice if Larkin destroyed it all in folly. Adelia was quite used to the lifestyle and the thought of losing it all at once drove her mad with worry. Her lifestyle was who she was, and she would not trade in her royalty for fifty thousand golden clocks.
The night was nigh and she had to get dressed so that she could determine what that lovely cook Miss Wittendale had prepared for the evening repast. She was quite the cook and according to her father, she had come to work …show more content…
for them as a governess before she was tripped up in the kitchen preparing quite the meal. Her father tasted the stew and appointed her head chef. Her daughter was almost Adelia’s age, but being a housekeeping maid, Adelia refused any interactions with her because servants were to maintain their stations.
Adelia had to remind Larkin of that when she found him helping that poor deluded girl up after she had stumbled and fallen. It was quite the laughable sight, but instead of joining Adelia in laughter, he had almost stumbled himself -- jumping to go help the careless servant girl to her feet. It was not their fault she had butter fingers, she probably even had some in her shoes because she kept on falling even when they were young girls.
At some point, Adelia had even concluded that the reason Wittendale’s daughter fell so much was because her mother had likewise fallen into sin.
Adelia’s staunch morals taught her better than to fall victim to a trusting “bachelor” who was actually a married scoundrel, who fled in the wee hours of a morn leaving a fatherless child behind. This was rather the spectacle for anyone in their society. Her parents spoke nothing of it, but sometimes Adelia wanted to give Miss Wittendale’s daughter words from her lips. After all, if Adelia had any good thing to offer, it would be a bit of advice.
She looked at herself in the mirror on her dressing table and realized that the purple dress her maid had laid out for her was one of her favourites. Her corset was a little tight, but her mother never forgot to remind her of the pain they as women had to live through so as to benefit in gain.
Adelia wondered whether Merritt Hadley would love the dress. She was very beautiful and the truth was that she would look beautiful even if she
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