Cordelia muttered a curse at the broken nib of her pen. Then the notebook she was practicing her writing in fell to the ground off her lap and, in a sudden breeze, the ribbon in her hair (which she'd tied up quite lazily this morning) flew away.

"Oh, curse it all!" she cried, thinking she was by herself, but as she looked to see where her ribbon had gone off to, she saw a young man standing close by, holding her ribbon. Blushing, she realized it had probably smacked him right in the face, and so she offered a clumsy curtsy, holding up what she could of her skirts with her left hand.

"Sorry about that, sir. I hate to bother you but..." She gestured sullenly to the ribbon in his hand and to her notebook on the ground. "I find it hard to keep my balance when kneeling in a skirt, especially when one only has a single hand to catch herself with should she fall."