Page 3 of A Most Forgettable Girl

“She is friends with Constance?”

“Lately they always seem huddled together sharing confidences.”

“Surely she would have introduced her new friend to you?”

James shrugged. “I believe she did, at some point.”

“You believe so?” Neville repeated disbelievingly. “Yet you never even bothered to learn the girl’s name! No wonder you made a poor impression.” He shook his head. “Maybe your handsome face failed to distract this one from damnable rudeness. It was bound to happen sooner or later.”

“I am not rude!” James did not bother to deny he was handsome. He was not vain, but his good looks had been commented on from a young age. He only wished his compositions shared equal fame.

Neville looked thoughtful. “Unfortunately for you, Mistress Payne must be more discerning than your average courtier.”

James snorted. “I don’t know where you got that impression. Just look at her!”

Neville cast a critical eye over the female. “Why, what’s amiss? It’s true she’s a little homely, but she makes the best of what the gods gave her, you have to give her that. She’s well-dressed enough and that hairstyle is really most up to date.”

“Well dressed?” James echoed. “Her surcoat is practically hanging off her in shreds it’s so...slashed about. Why, it shows off her—” Neville caught his eye, and James hastily changed the words he had been about to use. “Her undergown,” he amended swiftly, “to an almost unseemly degree.”

“My, my, you really have been taking a good look, haven’t you?” Neville commented with a smirk. “But as a matter of fact, open-sided surcotes are the very latest thing. They say the fashion originated in Kloberg.”

“Well, then it should have stayed there. It looks positively indecent.”

“Indecent?” Neville looked startled by his vehemence. “Come now, James. You must have seen some other courtiers wearing them that way.”

“Where?” James scanned the room. “I see no one else parading around with their gowns falling off them.”

“Not here,” Neville huffed. “There is not a single person of fashion present in this dismal gathering. I’ve never been in a room with so many dullards all at once.”

James rolled his eyes. “There are several prominent courtiers present and many learned scholars.”

“Fusty old ones, you mean,” Neville muttered. “From the way she dresses, it seems Mistress Payne would like to run with a less sedate pack, and who can blame her? Not I.”

James snorted rudely. “You can determine much from a woman’s hair arrangement, it seems.”

“I can,” Neville agreed firmly. “So did the bishop. He said it a piece of great wickedness for women to dress their hair like horned beasts.”

“Horned...?” James turned to survey Miss Payne’s extraordinary hair arrangement again. “It does not look precisely like horns,” he said uncertainly, “but I agree it hardly appears seemly.”

“Lord, you’re starting to sound like a fussy old cleric yourself, brother!” Neville sighed. “Your looks are wasted on you. If I had been blessed with your height and features, I would not squander such a gift as you do.”

James ignored this. His brother had always favored the company of women, while James preferred that of books and music. “What else did he say on the subject?” he asked grudgingly.

“Who?”

“The bishop.”

“Oh, just a lot of prosing about forwardness and licentiousness in females. Tempting the menfolk from the path of virtue and all that.”

“I daresay she does,” James observed darkly. Neville’s eyebrows shot up. “I’ve observed her about court these past few days,” he admitted grudgingly. “Suffice to say, Mistress Payne does not conduct herself as a respectable maiden should.”

Neville made a choking sound which turned into a cough. “How so?” he asked, looking wildly curious.

“I am not about to besmirch her name,” James said coldly. “You will simply have to trust my word on this matter.”

Neville tutted, his gaze returning to Mistress Payne with renewed interest. “Well, well. Perhaps there is more to the lady than first appears. It is true, she is a buxom lass,” he pondered aloud. “Some men like that. Not you, I know,” he said hastily as James opened his mouth to disparage this sentiment. “Not everyone has your refined tastes, brother.

“Some of these knights are particularly crude and barbarous, and you know how they always flood to court at this time of year, with their rough speech and boisterous spirits. I daresay Mistress Payne will garner admirers enough if she continues to flaunt her plentiful hair and...person.”