A story you’ll find hard to put down, told by a girl you won’t forget.
‘I stood quietly while the dressmaker flitted about, like a busy little humming bird swooping on a flower: draping fabric against my body, taking measurements with the tape around her neck, even removing my hat to adjust my hair! From time to time she would stand back and look at me, her head on one side, but with such kindly interest that I basked in the attention.
‘I think I have it,’ she said eventually. ‘At first I thought of presenting you as an innocent maiden, a naiad, all fresh-faced and dewy-eyed, but you have too much character for that. Your charm has been tempered by sorrow, forged into something altogether more remarkable. If I may say so, Miss Vye, you have the potential to become one of the leading beauties of your generation.’
This was too much. I sat down on the chaise longue and promptly burst into tears.’