Social Hour 1.0

The finest ladies of the Springs were gathered at Bertha Raymond's house. They talked amongst each other, waiting for the weekly meeting to begin.

 Mary Anne Elliot shifted in her uncomfortable corset, as this was one of her first meetings, and she found them all to be quite tedious. At the young age of 16, she had more interest in her own social life then the planning of weekly galas and balls, plus long readings of the Bible.

Next to her sat Ruth and Frances, the Marianne sisters. Ruth was higher on the social ladder due to her husband owning half the town. Frances was a young widow who lived with Ruth, and rumor was that the cause of her housing situation was dwindling funds.

Across the room sat Mary's sister, Florence Elliot, and her mother, Elisabeth Elliot. Florence was 19, and one subject of today's meeting was finding a proper suitor for her.
"Darling, take it from me, you can't stay single for ever!" Bertha was constantly reminding her. Elisabeth was kind, but strict when it came to the rules of being a lady.

Bertha was president of their weekly meetings, simply because she had been on it the longest, and, although none of the ladies would admit it, she intimidated them.
"Now, for our first order of business..." Bertha trailed off. "Wait a minute, where is Clair?"
"Her family is in Paris, remember?" Elisabeth answered.
"Oh, right. Well, on to it then."

After discussing the upcoming winter ball, and the need to find a suitable husband for Florence, Bertha's maid entered the room.
"I brought your sandwich, mam."
"Thank you, but at the moment that won't be necessary. We'll take some tea."
"Yes'm."

After the Elliot sisters had to return home for a music lesson, the chatting when on for quite some time.
"Bertha, don't you think that young Henry boy would make a perfect husband for Florence? Elisabeth, you must be so proud of her. She has climbed so high on the youth's social latter she could have any suitor in town!" Ruth exclaimed.
"Yes, I quite am. Henry is just the right match, I agree. I think I shall have to talk with his mother." Florence replied, thinking out loud.
"Oh yes! I love..." Bertha was cut off as her maid came into the room again.

"Clair has arrived, Ms. Raymond"
"Oh my! Well, invite her in. And prepare some more tea." The maid nodded and left the room.

In came Clair Nathan, the town jewel and Elisabeth's rival. Although they were friendly toward each other, as their husband's were best friends, everyone knew they competed for the top social slot.
"Well, Ms. Nathan, I didn't know you would be back so soon." Bertha said.
"Well me either!" She laughed. "But our chauffeur got sick, and had to return home. I thought we might as well head home also, I really couldn't miss the planning of the Winter Ball!"
"Well, have a seat!" Bertha smiled as she replied.

"Claire, I didn't know full skirts were back again." Elisabeth commented.
"Oh, I hear they are all the rage in Europe!" Frances said.
"Yes, they quite are, I just had to pick a few up."
The small talk went on, and eventually it was time to leave and prepare for dinner.

They ladies said their goodbyes, and soon Bertha was left alone.

"Rita, start the preparations for the ball. It will be a night to remember."



Thank you for reading! 1.1 won't be out for a while, we are remodeling my house and my desktop will be unusable for a while! And I promise the plot is going to get way more interesting!
P.S. Sorry for all the plum blobs by the way. This is my first story so I was bound to make some mistakes! :)