P.P.S. In answer to your question, yes, the slippers do indeed hold my weight. At least, they held my weight as I stood and walked about my room before we left Paris. I have done nothing more to test them at present, although I have discovered that they are far more comfortable to wear than one would assume, considering they are fashioned from glass. Perhaps an occasion will arise that will allow me to test them more rigorously. Rest assured you shall be the first to hear the results. As to your gown, I left instructions with Step-mamma to be certain the order was completed. She was to have sent it earlier this week, although she may have misunderstood my directions about sending it to the castle and has possibly sent it to your home in Kent instead.
P.P.P.S. Augsburg really is most delightful! The countryside is green and dotted with wildflowers everywhere, with a fresh scent in the air that is most invigorating. The streets are quaint and full of little shops run by apple-cheeked women in white blouses and colorful dresses called dirndls. Clocks fashioned by hand in the Black Forest region are sold here. They have the most ingenious inner workings. Upon the stroke of each hour a little cuckoo bird pops out of a tiny pair of doors and coos the time. Some of the more elaborate clocks include music boxes and little parades of wooden figures that revolve on a disc of some sort. It is most charming indeed. Papa is considering purchasing one for his study at home in Kent. They are made in all sizes; yesterday I saw one no bigger than my hand!
23 May, 1845
Warnerhaus, 9 Salztorgasse, Vienna
My Dear Isabella,
Papa and I have arrived in Vienna and are comfortably settled in the manor house of Lord and Lady Warner. They live in a very grand way down one of the smaller streets close to the main shopping street Kärtnerstrasse in the First District of the city. Our reception was most kind. My rooms are spacious and elegantly decorated in the modern style. Even in the guest rooms there are gilded floral patterns along the ceiling and walls. This is quite easily the most sumptuous home I have ever been in, apart from that of Lord and Lady Rousseau.
Lord Warner himself was waiting to meet us at the coaching station with his carriage. I must say that he is one of the most agreeable of all our new Continental acquaintances; he treats us as though we were favored family members. I do not believe I have given you a visual description of the Warners, have I? Lord Warner is of average height and is inclined to be slightly portly, though only due to age and not excess of appetite. His hair was brown once, but it is now flecked all over with silver. He has a round face and a thin nose, and he is inclined to smile and laugh quite often. His wife, Lady Warner, is the most petite lady I have ever known. Really, she cannot be more than five feet in height, although I believe her to be an inch or two shorter. She comes up to just about the height of my shoulder, although I am not very tall in the general way either. She too is going grey, but one can still see that she was fair-haired in her youth. Her face is slightly heart-shaped and she too enjoys smiling like her husband. Both of them are extremely talented musicians and singers. He is possessed of a bright tenor voice, and she of a bright, light soprano. I believe the Germans would label hers a soubrette voice. Their music collection is the finest I have ever seen, and all of it is available in their main entertaining drawing room for their guests’ particular use. And the range of instruments they have is quite unheard of in a private home. Lady Warner has promised to play for us tonight, and I am very much looking forward to it.
My trunks have just been carried up by the servants. I have just enough time to freshen myself up before dinner, so the rest of my letter shall have to wait. I will return to my account before I retire to bed. Though I have not seen much of the city, I have already decided that I shall enjoy it immensely.
Apparently there has been a dreadful mistake concerning the handling of my luggage during our journey. I just now set aside my pen to dress for dinner and had the most dreadful shock. Upon opening the trunk in which I placed my evening gowns, I was greeted not by the familiar sight of feminine fabrics, but rather that of a gentleman’s wardrobe! The card affixed to the lid of the trunk is certainly mine, but the contents are decidedly masculine. I cannot think how such a mistake could have been made. Perhaps the cards were jostled and somehow replaced on the wrong boxes. But when could it have happened? Suppose it occurred before we left French territory; my gowns could be heaven knows where! I did not discover it earlier because I did not wear my more elegant gowns during the whole of our trip. I have sent Martha to beg Lady Warner’s assistance. Thank goodness it is only a family party tonight, or I should be quite ashamed to show my face at the Warner’s table in a simple day dress. It is such a shame, for my new midnight satin gown was in that trunk, and I had just placed Lydia Galloway’s glass slippers on top of the skirts before we left.
Lady Warner has just left me, and she is as astonished as I. She has already dispatched a servant to the coaching station to see what can be done about discovering the owner of this foreign trunk and finding my own luggage. Hopefully the station masters will have some way of discovering where it went. In the meantime, Lady Warner has been kind enough to lend me a rather elegant shawl to add some refinement to my best muslin day dress, which will do as well as anything for this evening. Once again, I am profoundly grateful to be dining in such private company this evening. There is nothing quite so lowering as being poorly turned out before elegant company. I am also glad that I never pack my evening dresses and my regular clothes together, for I cannot imagine what it would be like to be without one’s own underthings.
Adieu for now until I write again. I am hopeful that I will have good news to relate about the whereabouts of my gowns in my next letter.
24 May
My gowns have been recovered! It has happened much quicker than I dared hope, for the person to whom they were given was also traveling to Vienna. When I think that they could have ended up bound for some outlandish place like Siberia or the Orient… well, it does not bear thinking of! It is an act of Providence that they followed me here, I am sure. Of course, the circumstance of their return shall be made even more shocking to you when I tell you who was in possession of my gowns, but first things must be told first.
The servant returned from the coaching station to say that the station masters would do all they could to recover my trunk, but that it would likely take quite some time before the proper inquiries could be made. In the meanwhile, they requested that we return the gentleman’s trunk to the station so that the masters could identify its owner, contact him to restore his property, and hopefully discover the whereabouts of mine. The servant was quickly dispatched with the strange trunk, and we went in to dinner. We heard nothing from the station during the course of the evening, and Papa and I decided to retire to our rooms early due to the length of our journey. (Lady W. kept her promise to play and sing for us. It was quite delightful. And her pianoforte is one of the finest I have ever heard!)
This morning we rose very early so that Lord Warner could take us on a tour of the Royal Library at the Hofburg Palace and return me home before Lady Warner and I were to pay some morning calls. The library is in an immense wing of the palace and is most impressive. Papa was delighted with the linguistics sections, and Lord W. has promised that I shall be able to borrow any number of books that I choose while I am here. I was sorry to leave so soon, but Lady W. was waiting at home, and I wanted to know if anyone had stopped in with news of my trunk. We returned home in good time, and soon we ladies were off to begin my introduction into Viennese society.
Lady W. has a large acquaintance, as one would expect, and much of it appears to be of a musical turn. I certainly seem to be acquiring a good deal of acquaintances that belong to the peerage of various nations. Of course, noble families on the Continent are a little more common than they are in England, so it is not exactly surprising. After visiting four or five homes, we stopped in Kärtnerstrasse so that I could visit the modiste and order a new evening dress, in the event that my trunk was not immediately fou
nd. (The fashions here are similar to those of Paris, save that there is less of a liking for lace.)
With my new gown ordered, we returned home for tea. Lady W. did not expect anyone to call in, so we were quite surprised to hear the hall bell ring. Lady W. set her cup in her saucer. “Who on earth could that be? I did not think we would be disturbed today; my friends know well that I did not wish you to overexert yourself with too much company on your first day.”
I made a civil reply to this, and then the footman entered to announce our visitor. Bella, you could have used a feather to tip me from my seat, I was so startled. For it was Baron Rupert von Schönfeld himself who entered the room! We rose and curtsied, and he greeted Lady Warner in the friendliest manner. (They are well-acquainted, I learned later.) Then he turned to me and bowed.
“It is a pleasure to see you again, Miss Stafford. I am sorry we did not have an opportunity to meet again in Paris, but now that you have arrived in Vienna, I hope we shall be able to renew our acquaintance.”
“I should be honored, My Lord,” I replied, conscious of a heat that was creeping into my cheeks as I used his title. I could not help remembering my lack of formality at our first meeting. We sat, and Lady W. poured out the tea.
“You have found me out, then?” Lord Rupert said, smiling as he accepted his cup. “I hope you were not offended by my little subterfuge at Lady Rousseau’s ball. My… position often causes young ladies to behave with stiff formality toward me, and I wished very much for you to be at ease.” His manner was so very kind, I could not help but smile in return.
“On the contrary, My Lord. I feared I had offended you by my lack of formality. I believe I had become a little too comfortable in Lady Rousseau’s social circle.”
“Well I hope in time you will be as comfortable in Lady Warner’s circle as you were in that of Lady Rousseau,” he replied. “And if it will help at all, I should very much like it if you would pretend you know nothing of my title. It would set me at ease to continue our acquaintance on the same terms that it was first begun.” Truly Bella, those were his very words! To think, a baron and a member of the Imperial Family speaking in such an open and friendly manner toward me! I cannot remember what reply I made, for my cheeks were warming again, and I was forcibly reminded of just how sparkling his blue eyes could be.
Lady Warner and Lord Rupert exchanged more pleasantries, and eventually she inquired after the nature of his journey from Paris and how long he had been back in the city. “I returned yesterday, and I must confess to having more than one motive for visiting you so promptly upon my return. It seems there was some confusion in the luggage room over my trunk, for when I went to dress for dinner last evening, I was greeted by the sight of a very pretty pair of glass slippers set on a blue satin gown.”
“Good heavens!” Lady Warner exclaimed, neatly covering the little gasp I could not quite stifle. Lord Rupert’s eyes danced with merriment at our surprise.
“Then you can imagine the shock I received upon performing the same operation and being greeted by the wardrobe of a gentleman,” I said, catching his same tone as my amazement faded. “The only thing that I could think had happened was that our cards were dislodged and incorrectly replaced during some change between stages.”
“You are correct, Miss Stafford. It happened during our mutual overnight stop in Salzburg two nights ago, I believe. Apparently there was a mishap with a luggage cart and several of the boxes were knocked about. To a hurried eye, Stafford and Schönfeld are somewhat easily confused, I imagine.”
“Well, this is most extraordinary! To think that your gowns have been here in Vienna the whole time, my dear. I shall send a servant over this afternoon to retrieve the trunk from your uncle’s house,” Lady Warner added with a nod to Lord Rupert.
Lord Rupert waved a hand. “There is no need; I had it sent over with me. It should even now be waiting for you upstairs, Miss Stafford.”
“Thank you, sir, you are very kind.”
“I must say, knowing of the rough manner in which our trunks were exchanged, I am surprised those curious slippers of yours were not dashed to pieces. May I ask where you acquired such an interesting article of dress?” I briefly explained about Lydia and her visit to the shop in Venice.
“Perhaps this little shopkeeper of your friend’s is gifted in the magical arts and has placed a spell on her wares to keep them from breaking.”
“One never can tell with such things, you know,” Lady Warner added, missing the twinkle in Rupert’s eye that I could tell meant he was teasing. “Why, only the other day I heard from Madame le Marc about a most curious necklace that has been in her family since the days before the Imperial Family’s reign.” She continued in this vein for several minutes while Lord Rupert and I listened and smiled at one another over our teacups.
Eventually this most agreeable afternoon ended, but not before Lord Warner and Papa returned from another trip to the library, and not before Lady Warner had tried to secure Lord Rupert’s company for dinner that very evening. Unfortunately he was not able to accept, but he promised to join us for an evening next week. He also invited us to tea on any day that is convenient so we may see the gardens of his uncle’s home (which Lady W. says are very fine).
All in all, I am very pleased with my first full day in Vienna. Papa and I plan to walk out tomorrow and explore the city a little. He has promised that we will walk all the way up Kärtnerstrasse and look at the Staatsoper itself, along with the massive cathedral that sits in the center of the street. It is called Stephansdom by the local people; foreign visitors refer to it as St. Stephan’s Cathedral. Tomorrow should be an exciting day indeed!
Do write soon and tell me all about what is going on in Scotland. The post will take longer now that we are further from the coast, but Lady W. assures me that the postal system here is quite efficient; at least we should not have any lost letters along with the added distance.
Love,
Eleanor
18 May, 1845
Castle Stirling, Scotland
Dear Eleanor,
Yesterday I received a letter from Helen Potter. She and her husband have been reunited and are on their way back to us here at Castle Stirling. After some discussion on the subject, Lieutenant Potter agreed with her that it was important to come for a short time and pay his respects to Papa and the Duke, and to thank the Duke in particular for his kind invitation. They plan to stay for only a week before journeying south to pay a visit to his family near Manchester. I suspect that Lieutenant Potter also intends to return Papa's carriage and take his family home by post. He has always been thoroughly self-reliant and will likely wish to make his own arrangements. Still, I am glad we will have them with us for a few days, even if we cannot persuade them to stay longer. I have only met Helen's husband once before and am eager to make his better acquaintance.
While my ankle is feeling much stronger, I was worried that Papa would insist I stay behind from church today. I determined to be dressed early so that we would have plenty of time to make the short walk to the little chapel. I even had Mary help me move from my room to the sitting room for good measure. Imagine my surprise, therefore, when I heard the sound of hooves and wheels crunching on the gravel of the courtyard. The windows of the sitting room do not permit one to see the central courtyard, so Mary went to investigate for me.
She was back quickly and seemed quite surprised. "It is the master, Miss. He has had the carriage brought 'round." She was unable to say more, for at that moment the Duke entered the room behind her. Mary dropped a curtsey and retreated to her place outside the door. The Duke stepped forward and offered me a small, slightly stiff bow.
"Miss Copley, I have had the carriage prepared to convey you and your father to the church if you wish to attend this morning," he said, coming directly to his point, as is his usual habit. His thoughtfulness struck me, as he had never offered this service before. (Of course, our own carriage was on hand before. I had gotten into the habit of takin
g Mrs. Kirke to the service in it, which is why I could not fathom how it took me so long to think of using it to visit the village.)
"Thank you, Your Grace, I am obliged to you. I was worried my father would think the exertion too much for me, but this kindness will certainly ease his concerns."
"I assumed you would make the attempt regardless," he replied before falling silent. Other than nodding in agreement, there did not seem to be much need for a response, so I waited to see if he had anything further to say. I did not have to wait long. "I thought we might take Mrs. Kirke to call on her family after the service, if you are not too weary."
"I would like that very much." I was so surprised and pleased with the idea that I actually smiled at the Duke, something I had never truly done before (but had not noticed until that moment). I also realized that he had spoken somewhat hastily, as though he was nervous to make such a suggestion. The thought stunned me—did he truly care what I thought enough to make him nervous?
Papa ended our tete-a-tete by entering the sitting room, and the Duke informed him of the plan. Then he approached me and held out his hand. Since the night he carried me up the hill, the Duke has been quite careful not to touch me again (although his piercing gaze still follows me in the evenings). Now he was offering to help me descend the stairs himself. I paused, uncertain, but only for a moment. I took his hand, and he helped me to my feet and supported me down the stairs and into the waiting carriage. Mrs. Kirke was quite surprised when he asked her to join us in the carriage, and she settled next to me on the seat with a muttered "I do not know what has come over him, indeed I do not!"
Glass Roses: A Victorian Fairytale Page 14
