HAVEN'T you some letters, child, to your Ambassador, or whatever he is,
here in London?' asked Lady Torquilin one morning.
'Why, yes,' I said, 'I have. I'd forgotten about them. He is quite an
old friend of poppa's--in a political way; but poppa advised me not to
bother him so long as I wasn't in any difficulty--he must have such lots
of Americans coming over here for the summer and fussing round every
year, you know. And I haven't been.'
'Well, you must now,' declared Lady Torquilin, 'for I want you to go to
Court with me a fortnight from to-day. It's five years since I've
gone, and quite time I should put in an appearance again. Besides, the
Maffertons wish it.'
'The Maffertons wish it?' I said. 'Dear me! I consider that extremely
kind. I suppose they think I would enjoy it very much. And I dare say I
should.'
'Lady Mafferton and I talked it over yesterday,' Lady Torquilin
continued, 'and we agreed that although either she or I might present
you, it would be more properly done, on account of your being an
American, by your American man's wife. Indeed, I dare say it's
obligatory. So we must see about it.' And Lady Torquilin and Lady
Mafferton, with very little assistance from me, saw about it.
In the moment that succeeded the slight shock of the novel idea, I found
a certain delirium in contemplating it that I could not explain by any
of the theories I had been brought up upon. It took entire possession of
me--I could not reason it away. Even in reading my home letters, which
usually abstracted mo altogether for the time, I saw it fluttering round
the corners of the pages. 'What would they say,' I thought, 'if they
knew I was going to be presented to the Queen--their daughter, Mamie
Wick, of Illinois?' Would they consider that I had compromised
the strict Republican principles of the family, and reprobate the
proceeding! The idea gave me a momentary conscience-chill, which soon
passed off, however, under the agreeable recollection of poppa's having
once said that he considered Her Majesty a very fine woman, and for
his part he would be proud to be introduced to her. After all, being
presented was only a way of being introduced to her--the way they do it
in England. I felt pretty sure the family principles could stand
that much. As a matter of fact, you know, very few Americans have any
personal objection to royalty. And I dismissed the idea, abandoning
myself to the joy of preparation, which Lady Torquilin decreed should
begin the very next day. I thought this, though pleasurable, rather
unnecessary at first. 'Dear Lady Torquilin,' said I, in the discussion
of our Court dresses, 'can't we see about them next week?--we planned so
many other things for this one!'
'Child, child,' returned Lady Torquilin, impressively, 'in the coming
fortnight we have barely time! You must know that we don't do things by
steam and electricity in this country. You can't go to Court by pressing
a button. We haven't a moment to lose. And as to other arrangements,
we must just give everything up, so as to have our minds free and
comfortable till we get the whole business over.' Afterwards, about the
seventh time I had my Court dress tried on, I became convinced that Lady
Torquilin was right. You do nothing by steam and electricity in this
country. I found that it took ten days to get a pair of satin slippers
made. Though, 'of course, if you were not quite so particular, miss,
about that too, or if you 'ad come about them sooner, we could 'ave
obliged you in less time,' the shoemaker said. In less time! A Chicago
firm would have made the slippers, gone into liquidation, had a clearing
sale, and reopened business at the old stand in less time!
I like to linger over that fortnight's excitement--its details were so
novel and so fascinating. First, the vague and the general, the creation
of two gowns for an occasion extraordinary, mentioned by head ladies, in
establishments where a portrait of Her Majesty hung suggestively on the
wall, almost with bated breath. Lady Torquilin for once counselled a
mild degree of extravagance, and laughed at my ideas--though she usually
respected them about clothes--when I laid out for her inspection three
perfectly fresh New York dresses, quite ideal in their way, and asked
her if any of thom would 'do.' You have a great deal to learn, child!'
she said. 'No, they won't, indeed! Who ever heard of attending one of
Her Majesty's Drawing-Rooms in a frock made in New York! I'm not saying
you haven't very nice taste over there, my dear, for that you have;
but it stands to reason that your dressmakers, not having Court
instructions, can't be expected to know anything about Court trains,
doesn't it?' From which there was no appeal, so that the next day or
two went in deep conferences with the head ladies aforesaid and absorbed
contemplation of resultant patterns--which Lady Torquilin never liked to
hear me call 'samples.' I was spared the trial of deciding upon a colour
combination; being a young lady I was to go in white, Lady Torquilin
gave me to understand, by edict of the Court. But should I have the
train or the petticoat of the brocade, or would I prefer a bengaline
train with a bodice and petticoat of crêpe de chine? Should the train
come from the shoulder or be 'fulled' in at the waist; and what did I
really think myself about ostrich tips grouped down one side, or bunches
of field flowers dispersed upon the petticoat, or just a suggestion of
silver embroidory gleaming all through; or perhaps mademoiselle might
fancy an Empress gown, which would be thoroughly good style--they had
made three for the last Drawing-Room? I had never been so wrought up
about any dress before. Privately, I compared it to Lady Torquilin with
the fuss that is made about a wedding-dress. 'My dear,' she exclaimed,
candidly, 'a wedding-dress is nothing to it; as I dare say,' she added,
roguishly pinching my cheek in a way she had, 'it won't be long before
you find out!' But I don't think Lady Torquilin really know at the time
anything about this.
It was not too much to say that those two Court dresses--Lady Torquilin
was going in a cheme of pansy-coloured velvet and holiotrope--haunted
our waking and sleeping hours for quite five days. Peter Corke, dropping
in almost at the beginning, declared it a disgraceful waste of time,
with the whole of Chelsea a dead-letter to me, and came again almost
every afternoon that week to counsel and collaborate for an hour and a
half. I may say that Miss Corke took the matter in hand vigorously. It
was probably a detail in the improvement of my mind and my manners which
she could not conscientiously overlook. 'Since you have the audacity to
wish to kiss the hand of a sovereign who is none of yours,' said she,
with her usual twinkle, 'you'll kindly see that you do it properly,
miss!' So she gave us explicit instructions as to the right florist,
and glover, and laceman, and hairdresser, to which even Lady Torquilin
listened with respect; 'and do not be persuaded,' said she, with
mock-severe emphasis, 'to go to anybody else. These people are dear,
but you are perfectly safe with them, and that's important, don't you
think?' Peter even brought over a headdress she wore herself the season
before, to get the American effect, she said, and offered to lend it
to me. It consisted of three white ostrich feathers and a breadth of
Brussels net about a yard and a half long hanging down behind, and I
found it rather trying as an adornment. So I told her I was very much
obliged, but I didn't consider it becoming, and I thought I would go
with nothing on my head. At which she screamed her delightful little
scream, and said indeed I wouldn't, if the Lord Chamberlain had anything
to say in the matter. And when I found out just how much the Lord
Chamberlain had to say in the matter--how he arranged the exact length
of my train and cut of my bodice, and what I wore in my hair--the whole
undertaking, while it grew in consequence, grew also in charm. It was
interesting in quite a novel way to come within the operation of these
arbitrary requirements connected with the person of royalty. I liked
getting ready to go to Court infinitely better than if I had been able
to do it quite my own way, and the Lord Chamberlain had had nothing to
do with it. I enjoyed his interference. This was hard to reconcile
with democratic principles, too. I intend to read up authorities in
Anglo-American fiction who may have dealt with the situation when I
get home, to see if they shed any light upon it, just for my own
satisfaction. But I think it is a good thing that the Lord Chamberlain's
authority stops where it does. It would be simple tyranny if he were
allowed to prescribe colours for middle-aged ladies, for instance, and
had commanded Lady Torquilin to appear in yellow, which is almost the
only colour she can't wear. As it was, he was very nice indeed about
it, allowing her to come in a V-shaped bodice on account of her
predisposition to bronchitis; but she had to write and ask him very
politely indeed. He told her by return post--of course it was not a
private letter, but a sort of circular--just which dressmakers had the
V shaped patterns the Queen liked best in such cases as hers, and Lady
Torquilin at once obtained them. After that she said she had no further
anxiety--there was nothing like going straight to the proper sources for
information to have a comfortable mind. With that letter, if anything
went wrong, the Lord Chamberlain could clearly be made responsible--and
what did one want more than that?
One thing that surprised me during that fortnight of preparation was
the remarkable degree of interest shown in our undertaking by all our
friends. I should have thought it an old story in London, but it seemed
just as absorbing a topic to the ladies who came to see Lady Torquilin
on her 'day,' and who had lived all their lives in England, as it was to
me. They were politely curious upon every detail; they took another
cup of tea, and said it was really an ordeal; they seemed to take a
sympathetic pleasure in being, as it were, in the swirl of the tide that
was carrying us forward to the Royal presence. If the ladies had been
presented themselves they gave us graphic and varying accounts of the
occasion, to which we listened with charmed interest; if not, they
brought forth stories, if anything more thrilling, of what had happened
to other people they knew or had heard of--the lady whose diamond
necklace broke as she bent; the lady who forgot to take the silver paper
out of her train at home, and left it in the arms of the Gentlemen of
the Court as she sailed forward; the lady who was attacked by violent
hysteria just as she passed the Duke of Edinburgh. Miss Corke's
advice--though we relied upon nobody else--was supplemented fifty times;
and one lady left us at half-past six in the afternoon, almost in tears,
because she had failed to persuade me to take a few lessons, at a
guinea a lesson, from a French lady who made a specialty of debutante
presentations. I think I should have taken them, the occasion found me
with so little self-reliance, if it had not been for Lady Torquilin. But
Lady Torquilin said No, certainly not, it was a silly waste of money,
and she could show me everything that was necessary for all practical
purposes as well as Madame Anybody. So several mornings we had little
rehearsals, Lady Torquilin and I, after breakfast, in my room, by
which I profited much. We did it very simply, with a towel and whatever
flowers were left over from dinner the night before. I would pin the
towel to my dress behind and hold the flowers, and advance from the
other end of the room to Lady Torquilin, who represented Her Majesty,
and gave me her hand to kiss. I found the curtsey difficult at first,
especially the getting up part of it, and Lady Torquilin was obliged to
give me a great deal of practice.
'Remember one thing about the Queen's hand absolutely, child,' said she. 'You're not, under any circumstances whatever, to help yourself up by it!' And then I would be the Queen, and Lady Torquilin, just to get into the way of it again, would pin on the towel and carry the roses, and curtsey to me.