“Oh, Madame!” Adelaide took her hands, squeezing tightly. “There will be nothing like it! Your shop will be flooded with business for weeks and months after the wedding, which, I hope, will be a small way I might repay your kindness.”

“It will be magnificent, miss,” Madame assured her, “for us both. And we shall see if you must think of the coast after all of that.”

The reference made Adelaide frown, not holding any more answers now than it did before.

Madame must have seen her confusion and ignorance on her face, for she cleared her throat and turned to call for Adelaide’s mother.

Adelaide caught her hand before she could do so, thoughts of her future husband reminding her of the task he’d asked after. “Madame, a moment.”

Instantly, her attention was back on Adelaide. “You have a question?”

“A favor,” Adelaide corrected, wondering what question the lady thought Adelaide bold enough to ask. “And… it is not just for me. It is for Lord Basset.”

Madame Hubert snorted softly. “You do not care for your intended, yet you are doing a favor for him? What kind of favor can a man ask of his bride when he is already getting the woman herself?”

“Just so,” Adelaide murmured a bit awkwardly, flashing a hesitant smile. “Believe me, if it were only for him, I’d have tossed the request back in his face. But it seems his lordship has a sister. One who is quite shy and has remained behind in Cornwall rather than come to London for the wedding. He would like a dress made for her and asked me to look after it, as he knows nothing of such matters. Something she might have worn to our wedding, had she felt the courage.”

The request took the modiste by surprise, and a sheen of speculation fell across her features. “I’d have said it sounds like a mistress, only I cannot think why a man would want a gown fit for a wedding made for such a woman.”

“How do you mean?” Adelaide asked, tilting her head in curiosity. “What sort of gown would be more appropriate?”

Madame’s eyes widened before she averted them, muttering incoherently under her breath. “This sister of his lordship,” she said hastily, “did he give an age?”