For the whole of Saturday, Eleanor carefully prepared herself for the evening’s event. Rose had been ordered to make sure the undergarments, stockings, dress, gloves, and shoes were inspected and laid out for her to put on after her bath. She sat in front of her vanity, still clad in her dressing gown, and applied light make up.
Rose entered the room with her gloves.
“Have you taken care of the seam?” Eleanor asked Rose’s mirror image.
“Yes, your Grace.”
The maid placed the gloves on the bed next to the gown, stepped behind the duchess, and took up a hairbrush to gently smooth and dress Eleanor’s short hair.
Afterwards, Rose held out each piece of undergarment for the duchess to arrange herself.
When it came to tying the lighter version of a corset, she made sure Rose didn’t apply too much pressure. Eleanor seldom wore any corsets these days, and when she did, she preferred the looser ones. Eleanor took a deep breath after Rose finished with the hooks and was satisfied when she didn’t feel too obstructed by it.
Rose held up silk stockings, and Eleanor took seat on the bed to carefully pull each up over her legs and fasten them on her garter. Then Eleanor donned her dark blue gown with its shimmering silk body and ankle-length skirt. It showed a decent amount of cleavage, and the straps circled her upper arms leaving her shoulders bare.
“Help me with my necklace, Rose?”
The maid took the necklace with the locket and closed the clasp behind her neck. The cool locket with Cathleen’s ring in it rested prominently over Eleanor’s chest while a pair of pearl earrings completed her jewellery.
Finally, she slipped into elbow-length gloves, the same colour and material as her dress. Rose wrapped a light shawl around her shoulders, handed her a wrist bag, and held the door open for Eleanor.