New York City, April 1829
Charlotte led her best friend, Emma, into her bedroom and closed the door. The lock slid into place with a satisfying click. They fell onto the bed together, in a pile of giggles.
Charlotte put her hand to her stomach. "I thought dinner tonight would never wind up. All that talk about your brother ‘coming home from college in a month and what a fine catch he’d be.’”
“Well, he would be a fine catch for someone, just not for you, Charlotte. As much as I’d love for us to be sisters, let’s face facts—Theo’s a bore. All he wants to do is chase after women and drink with his Harvard chums.”
“That much is true. But there is no other man on the horizon, Emma, for either of us. We must rectify our sorry state of affairs.”
“And how are we to do that, pray tell?”
“We need to do something exciting." Charlotte Ashcroft tapped her teeth with her fingers as she pondered.
"You're planning something, Charlotte, and I can bet it's not going to be good."
Charlotte's gaze focused and she gave Emma a shrug of her shoulder as she picked up a cupcake layered with frosting. "On the contrary. It will be immensely good fun. You can stay home if you want." She wanted to draw out Emma's reaction, so she stuffed some of the cake into her mouth and closed her eyes, enjoying the taste of the cream frosting.
"Stay home from what? What are you planning?"
Charlotte moved across the room to her desk and took a newspaper clipping from a cubbyhole. "Here it is."
She handed the story to Emma.
"Frances Wright is speaking on women's rights in two days' time, right here in New York City. We must go and see Fanny. I adore her."
Emma cast a glance at her friend, her brow furrowed. Charlotte smiled. “None of your skepticism, Emma, please.”
"Well, if ever there was cause for skepticism, this is it. You’re now on a first name basis with one of the foremost speakers for women’s rights? Since when? Besides, our mothers won't allow it."
"So, we won't tell them."
"And how are we going to manage to keep it a secret?"
Charlotte flopped back onto her bed, her jonquil satin skirt billowing out around her. She smoothed out all the flounces before she replied. "We'll tell our mothers we're going to the park after church is over, and we'll take your ladies' maid, Katie, with us. After all, the speech takes place at one o'clock in the afternoon and it's perfectly acceptable for single ladies to be on the streets during the day if they are properly chaperoned. And Katie's as much an advocate of women's rights as we are. It'll be fun."
Emma fanned the clipping before her as if it was a hot August day and she was melting like chocolate in the sun. "It is a nice idea, if somewhat flawed. If we're going to see 'Fanny' we're going to need some sort of conveyance. It's one thing for us to walk from your house to mine, but Miss Wright's event is going to be on practically the other side of town. How do we get there without revealing to our families what we're doing?"
"That's the only dilemma facing us. And I, of course, have the answer. I think we should try New York's new omnibus service. I've been dying to ride on it. It's dashing, and fun."
Emma's mouth dropped open at Charlotte's statement. "Ooh, Charlotte, we can't ride the omnibus without a male escort. All manner of New Yorkers ride on that thing. Even with Katie, it's just not done."
"Well, it's high time it is done! For heaven’s sake, we are going to a rally for women's rights, Emma. Are we going to slink in with our tails between our legs or are we going to hold our heads high and walk in as if we own the place?"
"Well..."
"Then we're on. Let's plan what we will wear."
