Page 54 of His Illegitimate Duchess

“W ake up, kitten.” A deep voice in her ear broke through the fog of sleep.

“No,” she mumbled when she took a peek and saw that the room was still dark. “Night.”

“We have a long day ahead of us, the carriage is ready, we’re just waiting for you.”

Never one to inconvenience other people, Elizabeth sat up at his words.

When Colin had learned that Elizabeth had never seen the sea, he immediately arranged for the two of them to drive to the shore and stay there for two days. She’d been so excited that she'd had trouble falling asleep the night before.

“I’ll get dressed as quickly as I can,” she promised.

“I’ll wait for you downstairs.”

Lady Burnham had gone to stay with her brother and would drive back to London with him and his family in late October.

Mary was feeling unwell, so Elizabeth insisted that she stay behind.

I can manage on my own for two days, she’d told her husband, who had then decided to give Stevenson two days off as well.

“I miss the days when Mrs. Clark cared about my preferences,” her husband said in his most mournful voice, and she laughed softly.

They had just opened the basket the cook had put together for their trip, and it was filled with Lizzie’s favourites. Since Lizzie suspected it had been done under Colin’s orders, she enjoyed his teasing.

“I like being in carriages with you,” he said pensively. “I don’t know what makes it different from all the other times I’m with you. Perhaps it is the feeling of being enclosed in such a small place, like having a separate world that is just ours.”

Elizabeth didn’t know how to respond to that observation, aside from telling him that she could smell his perfume (mixed with some faint tobacco) whenever they were in a carriage and that she greatly enjoyed that, so instead, she said, “Tell me about Cromer.”

Her husband linked his hands on his stomach and leaned back, instantly accepting the change in topic.

“I’ve chosen Cromer not because of its proximity – although it does lie close, only twenty miles from Norwich, but because it is a rather popular sea-bathing place. I don’t know whether you’re aware, but bathing in seawater, and even drinking it, is said to be a remedy for many ailments.”

“I wasn’t aware of that,” Lizzie replied. “How does one bathe in seawater? Do they fill the hotel tubs with it?”

“No,” he said. “People rent bathing machines. Those are types of carts that you enter while on the beach. They are completely closed, so you can change into your swim clothes inside them, and then the cart is rolled into the water, where it protects you from being seen as you bathe.”

Elizabeth was once more struck by the different levels of experience they had, for she’d never dreamed of the existence of such a device.

“Isn’t that dangerous? I assume most ladies don’t know how to swim.”

“They don’t need to swim, nor go deeper into the water. You simply exit from the bathing machine into the water and… wash yourself,” he explained.

“What happens to my regular clothes? How do I prevent them from getting wet?” Elizabeth frowned.

“There is a raised compartment where you store them to keep them dry. We shall purchase a swimming shift for you at the hotel.”

“What shall you bathe in?”

“Gentlemen bathe in the nude,” he revealed, and she frowned again, since she disliked the idea of her husband strutting around unclothed.

“And how exactly is the machine rolled into the water?”

“It has wheels, and there are wooden rails leading it into the water. Once there, you open the machine door and, using the steps, you descend into the water, while still completely hidden from view by the machine, and then,” he concluded with a flourish of his hand, “you enjoy.”

Elizabeth had a hard time seeing how she was supposed to enjoy a large, unfamiliar body of water she would be wheeled into in order to wash herself while worrying that someone might see her. And how would she go back?

“What happens if I want to go back to shore?” Panic was starting to well up inside her at the thought of being stranded in the water behind some strange mechanical contrivance she’d never used before.

“There is a flag you can raise as a signal.” He must have noticed that something was bothering her, because he added, “Are you worried about something?”

“I’ve never done this before and I rather dislike not knowing what to expect,” she admitted somewhat reluctantly. “Shall you be in the machine with me?”

There was no concealing the vulnerability in her voice.

“I cannot, for men and women bathe on separate sides of the beach.”

Her eyelids fluttered as she tried to blink the tears away.

“But I shall swim to where you are to keep you company.”

Her shoulders visibly relaxed, and she exhaled.

“Thank you.”

Talbot cleared his throat. “I have a friend who is a physician, and he told me that sea air is beneficial as well. He tends to read all the most recent journals and books, so he should be right.”

Elizabeth nodded thoughtfully, not seeing the connexion, but trusting that the physician knew better than she did. “Have you visited many sea-bathing places?”

“Some,” her husband said nonchalantly. “I approve of exploring one’s homeland.

If there is one thing that this terrible war was good for, then it was halting the practice of the European Grand Tours.

What can the Continent offer me that Britain cannot?

Besides, I can always go look at panorama displays to learn about other places. ”

Elizabeth took a moment to think about his words.

“But you enjoy reading about travels so much, one would think you would, at some point, feel the pull to go out and explore,” she said, recalling that they had once briefly discussed the same issue.

So much has changed since then, she thought.

Her husband said nothing.

*

After they had settled in at the hotel and changed in their rooms, one of the maids brought up a bathing flannel for Lizzie.

“Why is it so heavy?” Elizabeth asked as she weighed it in her hand.

“It’s got weights sewn into the hem, ma’am,” the maid explained, “so it doesn’t float up in the water.”

“Oh,” Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “How clever.”

She packed the bathing dress and nervously waited for Colin’s knock on her door so they could walk to the beach together.

The smell was the first thing that she noticed. It reminded her of one of Mrs. Barlow’s brines, but was somehow fresher. Whenever she inhaled, she felt something inside her lungs expand.

Perhaps Colin’s doctor friend is right, she thought.

The beach was long and covered in smooth sand. Beyond it, the sea stretched as far as the eye could see, and it melted into the sky on the horizon. The other people on the beach were further away from them.

“I don’t know why I imagined it would be rocky,” she whispered while Colin observed her wordlessly. “It is huge,” she said as she turned to him.

“The sea? Yes, it is.”

“It’s like my mind knew that already, but now that my eyes see it… It’s something else.”

Colin smiled. They stood in silence for several minutes, and then he led her to the bathing machines for women.

They resemble coffins, she thought as she wrung her hands.

“I shall watch your machine carefully,” Colin whispered to her. “Don’t exit it until I swim over to you, all right?”

She nodded gratefully, unable to speak. Colin helped her into the machine and closed the door. She was alone in the small ( coffin-like , she thought again) wooden box. There was a bench in it, so she sat down, bracing herself as she felt the device being wheeled into the sea.

It’s merely a carriage, she tried reassuring herself. On water instead of land, but a carriage nonetheless.

She strangled the apprehensive thoughts about her inability to swim and a potential horrifying death by drowning as she changed into her swimming dress and sat back down to wait for her husband.

“Elizabeth,” she heard his voice outside the cart after what felt like an hour, although she rationally knew it couldn’t have been more than fifteen minutes.

She slowly opened the door and looked out.

All she could see was two blues: a darker one below, and the paler blue of the sky above it, with one line separating them.

It was the strangest sight of her life. There was nothing else in front of her – no clouds, no people, no things, no other colours. Just the two blues.

“Elizabeth,” she heard his voice again, more impatient now.

“I’m here,” she called out, after which she heard the splashing of water and saw Colin approach from the side of the machine.

“Come join me,” her husband said with a smile so wide it showed off the gap between his teeth.

He looked like he had immersed his entire head under water at some point, and his excitement was almost palpable. Elizabeth, on the other hand, was terrified of giving herself over to the seemingly endless sea.

“I’ll help you,” he said, coming closer, and Elizabeth tried not to think of his nudity.

He gently took her fingers and loosened her grip on the rail of the steps. She hadn’t even realised how hard she’d been gripping the wood.

“Hold on,” Colin urged, and with his help, she walked down the steps and submerged her calves in the cold water. She shrieked when he pulled her in all the way.

“I’m sorry,” he said, laughing.

“Liar!” Elizabeth said angrily, still holding onto him despite herself.

“I truly am, but it is easier to take the plunge and be done with it.”

“I am freezing,” she complained, and he pulled her further out to the open sea.

“Give your body a moment to get used to it,” he said and put his arm around her waist.

“Colin, don’t go any further,” she said in a panicked voice, and he stopped.

“Don’t worry, I won’t take you too far. See if you can touch the bottom with your feet.”

She held onto his shoulders and tentatively stretched out her foot. She soon found that she was able to stand, with the water reaching her chin. Colin watched her with amusement, the water covering most of his naked chest.