Lord Emerson’s London Home, a tea party | May 1799
@asterofpomerania
Someone was wailing. Eleanor’s eyes squinted almost imperceptibly as she walked by the room where all the noise was coming from. Inside, a young woman with jet black hair, probably a few years younger than herself, was crying and waving her hands about like dying pigeons.
“My hair! She put something in my hair, I know she did! It’s sticking!”
“Now, now…”
It was Juliet Campbell, daughter of a wealthy businessman, who liked to play the flute and insert herself into conversations where she wasn’t wanted. She especially liked to eavesdrop and then cut in whenever she could laugh at an attractive man’s joke, whether it was funny or not. Juliet was also well-known for her kindness toward animals and her charity to the poor, so while she could be a nightmare, Eleanor wondered if she truly deserved to have what looked like candle wax dripped into her hair.
Juliet looked up and pointed at Eleanor through the open doorway. “Her! She did it!”
Eleanor frowned. “I—”
She noticed the finger was actually pointing slightly to her left, and she glanced over to see a blond girl. The door closed with a click, and Eleanor turned toward the girl, eyebrows raised.
“How exactly did you get the wax in her hair without her noticing? That was a great deal of wax.”