Her cousin reached over for a slice of bread and she stared him down as she chewed; daring him to take it.
"But you have far too much to eat by yourself," he whined.
"You'd steal the gift a gentleman has bestowed upon your cousin?" She asked.
"It's food, not a gift, you can keep the rose."
"He's clearly of an understanding that the way to a woman's heart is through kindness and food. And I am currently in love with this breakfast he was kind enough to give me. It would be rude of me not to cherish every bite of his gift," she said knowing that her aunt was more likely to take her side if she showed interest in the sender. Besides she'd barely eaten yesterday, then thrown up, she was famished.
The maids arrived with buckets of steaming water and began to fill the tub. When it was ready she was called into the bathroom to bathe. She made a point of announcing loudly that she would enjoy the rest of her precious gift when she was done. Her cousin would be a fool to touch any of it now, because she would find a way to get her revenge if he ignored her warning. He was supposed to be getting ready to go to the dining hall for breakfast with his mother, so taking her food now would be extra petty.
"Well, she must be feeling better" her cousin complained.
"At least she's finally expressed interest in a man, her not knowing who it is might even be advantageous to us as she'll have to treat everyone kindly in hopes it's her mystery suitor. We can go downstairs and eat with the other guests and see if we can find out anything about a kind tall young lord with a gentle voice that helped my dear niece last night," she said as she led her son out of the apartments.
One maid stayed behind to help her which for once she was grateful for as she couldn't get out of her dress. She insisted on keeping the handkerchief around her arm in case the maid could not be trusted as most loved to spread gossip, and unlike the maids at her manner that she trusted she didn't know this one.
It took a bit longer to work around it, but soon she dried off feeling fresh and clean for the first time since her run-in with the bear. After dressing in her undergarments she let the maid do her hair which came out far fancier than she would have bothered to do for herself. But since she had nothing she had to get done besides drink her medicinal tea and it meant she would thoroughly get to skip the long breakfast affair with the stuffy aristocrats she didn't mind the papering for once. Even letting the maid apply light makeup she usually protested venomously and help her with her dress, since her arm was still sore it would have been a pain to do up the back herself.
She thanked the maid and dismissed her so she could finish her breakfast in peace, the bacon was just as good cold. Not long after she finished her aunt and cousin appeared. Apparently, the men were about to go out riding and she and her aunt would join the women for tea time. Wishing she could keep reading her book or go on a ride with the men instead, or rather a ride in general not with the men, she shored up her willpower and went down to tea with a smile pinned in place.
Kassady and the other young girls paid their respects to the old dames in attendance and then split off into groups by their age. There was a group for the middle-aged women that her aunt went to, a group near that for those who had young children, a group for the newlyweds and brand new mothers, the group she was going to join for the first time of girls passed there debut into society but not yet married and the last group that she had been in up until last year the children's group.
"Kassidy you're here!" Larissa, the closest friend she had in high society squealed in excitement upon her arrival. "I heard you were too sick to leave your room yesterday, are you feeling better?"
"Much," she said and another few people came up beside her from her other side.
"If you were too sick to leave your room then how did you end up with a handkerchief; or is it your cousins?" Savana snickered. They had been friends as children, but somewhere along the way, Savana had grown to dislike her more and more though she wasn't quite sure why.
"You're not too far off", she said with a sigh "I'm afraid it's just a pity gift, I was too sick to leave my room all day but then in the evening I started to feel a bit better, and thought a short walk in the cool early night air might do me some good.
"Unfortunately, I was not as well as I'd hoped and the walk had been too much for me. Some kind gentleman held my hair back as I got sick and brought me to the doctor when I passed out. I'm afraid my first fall season has been filled with far more embarrassment than romance." she said sharing a very doctored version of the truth.
"Oh, that's so sad, but you never know, maybe this guy actually liked you." one of the slightly older girls she was less familiar with named Rachall said sounding to be offering genuine comfort. "My first season didn't start off well either."
"Thank you, did you do well this season at least?"
Talk of boys ensued for the next hour as they wandered the gardens. a while later they sat down for tea and snacks, the only good part about tea time in her opinion. Once they all sat down she started to make herself a plate of cookies while the tea was being poured, one of the serving maids stepped up beside her and poured from a different pot, and placed an apple in front of her.
She looked at it and the maid in confusion and a bit of suspicion. "I was told to instruct you to drink the medicinal tea the doctor proscribed you first," She nodded and took a sip, prepared this time for the bitter flavor "and that…" the maid paused blushing "that the apple is a gift from the kind man with a gentle voice."
Kassidy almost choked on her tea, the maid with the embarrassed face bowed out quickly and scampered off after the other serving girls. When she got her coughing under control she saw all eyes at the table looking at her curiously and she felt her face flame pink.
"Are you sure it was just a pitty handkerchief?" her friend asked eyebrows wiggling "I feel like you left out the juiciest part of the story,"