ParchmentPlease
"You are just full of surprises aren't you?"
Elle looked pointedly at the stranger's poorly mismatched clothes again, "As are you."
Through the darkness she saw his face split into a grin, "I haven't the faintest idea what you mean."
"Either you are a nobleman dressing below your rank, which would be terribly exciting, or you're just a noble-born architect too rich to have taste, which would be rather dull."
"And which would you have me be?"
"I would hope that you're exciting, good Sir," Elle curtseyed deeply to the strange man before continuing her way to the hat shop.
..............................
Eloise is living as a servant in her own house watching her greedy spoiled step-sisters, Cassia and Abigail, spend more money than is reasonable. Every since her father died their mother, Elle's step-mother, hasn't been the same; still in mourning after two years she rarely leaves the house leaving her two daughters to ruin their reputations. Her sister, the Baroness, has since stepped in to bankroll her nieces as they flit about until they get married. She has worked tirelessly, trying to manage countless household chores while still making time to work in the only bookshop in town for old and blind Mr. Alden.
One day, rumors about architects and nobles coming to their small town has workingmen and nobles alike frantically preparing their daughters to snag an advantageous match. Elle has never worked harder in her life; sewing hems, running deliveries and correspondence, scrubbing copper pots, preparing tea, and more. She's so tired that when a strange man followed by a knight stumbles into her bookshop, she barely even notices. Is this man real or a hallucination? Who is he and why does he have such bad taste in cloths? Why does his companion never remove his helmet?