Persuasion by Owner

to any and all of
    Lily's clothes, at the drop of a hat, regardless of whether or not Lily
    happened to like the outfit! That was something that exasperated both Lily
    and her maid!
    The latter, on the other hand, simply believed that as she was the maid of
    the lady of the house, she was head of the staff and a more pompous and
    irritating woman, Lily had ever met! Janie's temper and patience had been
    sorely tested these months past. How she had managed to hold her tongue,
    Lily did not know. Janie was used to speaking her mind, Lily often
    encouraged it. She must have felt as though she were being driven around
    the bend!
    “Did you pick out a dress for me, Janie?” she asked, changing the subject to
    ease Janie's discomfort.
    “Aye, miss. The silver one.”
    With a nod, Lily scoured her mind for a memory of a silver robe but came up
    with nothing. Undisturbed, for she trusted Janie's taste implicitly, she
    shrugged her shoulder nonchalantly. “Fine. Fine. Is my bath ready?” she
    asked, more interested in the prospect of the soothing warmth from the hot
    bathwater, which she hoped would ease her still racing heart.
    “Aye. Waiting for you in the garderobe.”
    “Fabulous! I feel rather disgusting.”
    “Well, these town folks all smell rather disgusting to me, miss, and I doubt
    you smell as bad they! Come, I let you sleep overlong so we must hurry with
    your toilet.”
    With a sigh, Lily acceded to her maid's wishes. Quickly, she was pressed into
    the bath and she soaped her private areas and generally refreshed her body
    from the damp blanket of sweat that had overcome her upon waking.
    As soon as her thoughts pressed on her dream, she quickly scurried away
    from it and concentrated on Janie's bustling form.
    Once cleansed of the natural oils her body produced while sleeping, she
    stood and patted herself down with a cloth before alighting from the tub and
    returning to her chamber, where Janie had laid out her dress for ease on the
    bed. At its side, were the jewels she was to wear.
    Janie, armored with Lily's chemise, helped her change into it and then led
    her over to the bed and helped her into the dress. Lily looked down as she
    was molded into the silver material and still did not recognize it as one she
    had selected from her modiste.
    “Wait a minute, Janie! This isn't a dress of my aunt's choosing, is it?”
    Janie tutted. “Honestly, that's from having far too many dresses for your
    own good, miss, that is. Fancy not knowing! This arrived last week, after
    your visit to that French woman.”
    The latter was said with a sniff. Janie was certain Madame Boliage was lying
    about her noble lineage and was instead a lady of the night. Not that Lily
    was supposed to even have any awareness of that term! But then, Lily knew
    of much that was classed as indecent for a virginal lady's ears!
    “I don't remember it.”
    “Well, I was there when you chose it, miss.”
    “As long as that's the case. You know me, Janie, I'm never all that interested
    when I'm at Madame Boliage's.”
    “That's true. Is it any wonder your aunt was forced to make the decisions for
    you, when you first came to town, miss!”
    Lily grinned. She had always enjoyed Janie's forthrightness and in the midst
    of the pompousness that was London, it was always refreshing to be scolded
    by her maid. “Forgive me, Janie,” she said with a smile and curtsied her
    apology. Her polite gesture was received with a snort and a tug on the
    fastenings at her back, which had Lily yelping slightly.
    When Janie had finished titivating, she moved to the looking glass and
    nodded her approval. It was a deceptively simple dress, a complex mixture
    of Roman styling and an Empire silhouette, high-waisted to suit the latter,
    but resting in swathes and swags as befit a Roman toga. It was tight at the
    bosom, but not indecently so and the silver added a rosy peach color to her
    skin.
    She sat at her dressing table and allowed Janie to dress her hair.