"In this case, I will gladly accept your generous offer of assistance," Juliette said. Maybe she should have refused a second time - for appearances - but she was quite desperate to have this problem solved for her, and the Countess was always so kind.
And then, if she were to go, there was another matter. "Have you... ever attended such an event?" she asked, as delicately as she could; somehow the thought of the Countess lounging around with a crowd of other women, braiding hair and discussing... she couldn't even guess what.... was uncomfortably intimate. "Have you any... advice you might offer me? I do not often spend time with girls my age, unless it is in the training yards."