Felicity had been surprised when the Katsaros siblings had invited them for tea. They had not lived in … well, near … Whitby long, and while she had never seen the brother, she had noticed the sister get out of her carriage once and enter the jewelry store. It was the carriage that had drawn her attention first. It was really fancy and was pulled by no less than eight horses. They definitely liked to show off their wealth.

She fiddled with the folds on her mint green skirt as the carriage trundled toward their destination. Felicity had chosen one of her newest gowns to wear to tea. No matter the time of year, she always wore pastels as they suited her pale coloring. Her outfit featured a white bodice inset of French hand-stitched lace framed in a ruffle of matching lace. A pink silk flower and white and lavender ribbons decorated one corner of the square inset. It featured leg-of mutton sleeves to make her waist look smaller. Felicity envied Cathy’s tiny waist and hoped hers would narrow as she grew older.

The skirt was gored and featured three horizontal ruffles at even intervals ending at the hem. A wide lavender ribbon encircled her waist, also decorated with a pink flower and white ribbons. Still young enough to wear her hair down, her flaxen tresses had been painstakingly arranged into barley curls, the front pulled back from her face and tied in the back with mint green ribbons with another pink silk rose in the center.

“I don’t think I’d want to live so far away.” Felicity had never been fond of spending too much time in a carriage. The ride was so bumpy. Train and ship travel suited her much better. One could walk around and didn't have to sit in one place. “I haven’t but one of my friends rode up there once. She said that the residence is more like a palace than a mansion and that parts of it were being renovated. I’m really curious to see it myself. I wonder what it’s like inside.”