| To thoroughly understand the charm of the
words "the ice is bearing", you must
live in a country house for some weeks without
any visible means of amusement! Lady Broadmere
was very fond of inviting people to her beautiful
place in Downshire, but was not very particular
in having a judicious admixture of young men and
maidens, or in assorting her guests properly, and
it so happened lately that the two Beverley girls
(nieces of her ladyship), Florrie and I, had an
uninterrrupted fortnight of each other's company,
with rainy days the first part of the time and
half-and-half frost the rest, and our delight can
be better imagined than described when one
morning at breakfast, the butler announced in his
pompous stage aside:-
"The ice is bearing on the upper lake, my
lady."
"That is good news, girls, is it
not?" replied our brisk little hostess.
"Are you sure it is safe, Barnes?"
"Quite safe, my lady; the men were trying
it last night."
"Then get your skates, my children, and
be off,"continued the old lady. "I have
some letters to write, but will look you up later
on."
We needed no second bidding and within an
incredibly short time,
 Our skates were ringing
On the frozen streams.
Lunch was only an interlude; but when the
stable clock chimed five, we thought it time to
turn homewards, forgotten in the healthy ennui
and boredom alike exercise and invigorating day
we had had.
Some pleasant anticipations also added to our
high spirits, for Lady Broadmere's nephew was to
arrive that evening, bringing some college
friends with him, and we were on the tiptoe of
expectation to know what they would be like and
resolved to don, in honour of the occasion, our
pretty new teagowns just home from Liberty's, and
which we had hitherto considered too good to be
wasted on chairs and tables, be they never so
artistic and beautiful! For indeed, Broadmere
Court was very beautiful!
It was a fancy of her ladyship's to have the
various suites of rooms furnished in various
styles, and, like a wise woman, she had put
herself and her house in the hands of Mr Liberty
of Regent Street, who for nearly six months had
been allowed to work his own artistic will upon
the place, with a result which defies
description. The stately dining rooms were
furnished according the Puritan fashion, high oak
wainscoting, polished oak table, deep set
fireplace with a genuine chimney corner and low
overmantle in oak. One of the boudoirs was
entirely Japanese, another was Moorish; but the
drawing-rooms were simply Liberty, and the
smaller drawing-room, in which tea was always
served was, I always thought, the sweetest room
in the house. The walls were covered with a sort
of embossed old gold paper, and high up near the
ceiling, was a broad band or conice of white
painted wood, a curously carved and panelled
screen, also of white wood, divided it from the
larger room and all of th rest of the furniture
was white also. The high tasteful overmantel, the
whatnot, with its delicate and many-coloured
china upon it, the small tables and little odd
comfortable chairs were all white and most
tempting to sit upon, all except the chair of
state, the one over which we girls most
frequently quarrelled, as it was the most
rest-inviting of the lot - this was covered in
tapestry velvet and received one into its
well-padded arms in the most luxurious manner.
Thyrza Beverley had secured it by the time I
entered the room, and was having a lovely
discussion with my sister Florrie on the sacred
rights of possesion - they made a pretty picture
with the candelight falling softly upon them.
Florrie was wearing a gown of pale silvery-blue
gauze, trimmed with real old silver embroidery,
which formed a V at the neck and fastening at the
side, fell open showing a full pleated under-robe
of silver gauze, which glittered and shone like
hoar frost in the moonlight; her quaint 18th
century sleeves werer gathered at the top with a
heavy wide cuff of silver embroidery and a full
undersleeve of silver gauze; altogether, the
dress and its colouring was just the tone and
style to suit Florrie's willowy beauty; and here
let me add en parenthese, that dresses
made at Liberty's are specially designed to suit
the individuality of the wearer regardless of
what Dame Fashion may have to say on the subject.
Therefore, it was as cultivated a taste which had
suggested the cut and colouring of Thyrza's gown,
as had assisted Florrie in her choice.
It - Thyrza's gown - was of pale blue
terracotta Umritza cashmere, fastened with a sort
of knot at the breast; from there the loose
fronts fell to the feet; they, together with the
V neck and sleeve 'tops' were outlined with black
velvet, three little black velvet covered buttons
holdinh the 'tops' together. The underskirt was
of creme silk, with the black repeated in
smockings at the neck and waist, and the cuffs
werer rows of black velvet, each row ending in a
little tufty bow of the same.
Poor little Lottie Beverley was not allowed
the dignity of a tea-gown, such vanities being
considered only proper for 'come-out young
ladies', of which she was not one, so after a
somewhat stormy scene with her sister and aunt,
she was permitted the compromise of a tea jacket,
and very pretty and young she looked in it too.
It was made of bronze Tintoretto silk (almost the
colour of her hair!) With a loose simple front
and the same silk in shrimp pink, and softly
draped skirt of the same colour and material.
She looked me well over as she held out my cup
of tea to me, while I helped myself to the sugar
she always would forget to put in, and I asked
her, rather consciously, how she thought I
looked, knowing well that my long trailing gown
of apricot art velveteen, edged with dark brown
fur (skunk) and its soft, full, silk front, was
almost the prettiest of them all. I liked the
long false sleeves, which fell from the shoulder
and showed the silk lining, and plain long train
I thought suited my tall figure better than
anything much looped and draped would have done;
but before Lottie could answer my conceited
query, the door was thrown wide open, and our
hostess and her newly-arrived guests claimed our
attention, and most opportunely turned our
thoughts from the study of dress, all-powerful
though it is, to the yet more engrossing study of
Man!
Sylvia's
Home Journal, 1889
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