The Book of Spells (Private 0.50)

Eliza’s blush deepened. May was a renowned beauty. It wasn’t the first time Eliza had been told how different she looked from her sister.

“Oh, I just adored May!” Bia said, her voice breathy and weak as she clasped her hands under her chin. “Is she well? And how is George? Oh, I’m sure she’s going to make the loveliest bride!”

“Bia, you’re rambling again,” Viola said harshly. Bia fell silent and looked at the ground once more, while Viola moved forward and slipped her arm around Eliza’s. Her grip was surprisingly tight as she tugged Eliza up the stone chapel steps. “You must tell me all about your sister’s wedding clothes.”

“Certainly.” Eliza sighed.

“May’s sister,” Catherine said as they entered the chapel. “Well. This is going to be interesting.”

Eliza eyed Catherine curiously. But before she had a chance to ask what that meant, a girl with plain brown hair rushed forward to greet Viola. She wore an expensive-looking gray plaid dress, which didn’t entirely suit her. With her scrubbed face and her unkempt hair, she had the look of a tomboy who’d been shoved into her mother’s frock.

“That’s Jane Barton,” Catherine said. “She, Theresa, Viola, and Bia are friends from Manhattan.”

“Please find a seat, girls,” Mrs. Hodge instructed from her place at the door, ushering them farther inside. “The headmistress will be here soon.”

Eliza scanned the room. The air inside the chapel was at least ten degrees cooler than it was outside. Two dozen gleaming oak pews flanked either side of the long aisle, which was crowded with students. As everyone settled in, Eliza spotted Alice toward the front, gabbing away with a large girl who seemed to be eyeing Alice in a confused and apprehensive way.

Catherine beckoned for Eliza to follow her. “As third-years, we sit toward the back of the middle section.”

Smiling politely at her unfamiliar classmates, Eliza trailed Catherine down the aisle. A willowy girl with milk-white skin and blond hair cut into a chic, short style approached Mrs. Hodge. She clasped the hand of a shorter, somewhat rotund girl as if desperate to keep hold of her.

“Excusez moi, s’il vous plaît,” the girl said to the head maid. “Petit Peu, my dog . . . he has not arrived yet?”

“Not that I know of, Miss DeMeers,” Mrs. Hodge replied. “Lawrence is under strict orders to bring him here as soon as the manager at the station locates him.”

“I cannot bear to think of him all alone in that crate,” the girl replied in heavily accented English, looking at her friend. “He does not even understand the language!”

“Did that girl just ask about her dog?” Catherine whispered to Eliza as they lowered themselves into a pew.

“I believe she did,” Eliza replied, intrigued. She kept one eye on the French girl as she sat, resolving to introduce herself as soon as this welcoming presentation was over. If Catherine didn’t know her, then she must be a new student, just like Eliza.

Viola and Jane settled in behind Eliza as a hush fell over the crowd. Eliza turned in her seat as an imperious-looking woman walked into the room.

“That’s Miss Almay,” Catherine hissed, elbowing Eliza lightly.

The headmistress wore a slim burgundy dress with a high collar and held her long nose so high in the air, she could have caught a flock of birds inside her nostrils. Eliza couldn’t help noting that she was old for an unmarried woman, in her fifties at least. It struck Eliza as ironic, considering how many families sent their girls here to learn how to catch a husband.

By the time she arrived at the front of the chapel and took her place at the pulpit, every single girl had found herself a seat. Everyone, that was, except for a slim, raven-haired girl who slipped in late, shedding her seersucker cape and tossing it carelessly to Mrs. Hodge, who stood next to the door. Underneath the cape, the girl wore a matching seersucker dress with a square collar and slim-cut skirt. A set of long necklaces dangled over her bosom, the kind a married sophisticate in her twenties might wear. Her eyes darted around the room until she saw Catherine, and her face lit up with a smile.

“Catherine! There you are!”

Eliza was stunned at the girl’s audacity in breaking the silence in such a bold way. She walked over and sat down next to Catherine, giving her a tight squeeze and a kiss on the cheek. A huge diamond ring sparkled on her left hand. It caught the light from the nearest stained glass window and glittered spectacularly.

“Hello, Theresa!” Jane said eagerly, leaning over the back of the pew.

Theresa, noted Eliza. So this was Theresa Billings. Catherine’s best friend and, apparently, an engaged woman. Interesting.

“Hello, Jane,” Theresa said in a dismissive way before returning her attention to Catherine. “Why didn’t you wait for me?” she demanded.

Catherine rolled her eyes toward Miss Almay, who was glaring at them with fire in her eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Miss Almay. You may proceed,” Theresa said, earning a round of gasps and giggles from the pews.

“Well, thank you, Theresa, but rest assured I was not awaiting your cue,” Miss Almay replied.

Eliza leaned forward casually, trying to get a better look at her roommate’s friend.

“Who’s that?” the girl asked Catherine in a loud whisper, looking appraisingly at Eliza.