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Arguably, the most time sensitive task on your plate right now is securing a horse and carriage. You doubt that you will be able to buy one if you put it off until tomorrow, which means that you would end up either having to steal one or having to do without … which inevitably would mean leaving most of father’s equipment and notes behind. That is simply not an option, so it makes sense to go to the Liveries as soon as you can.
It is just that the prospect of buying a horse and carriage is fairly daunting. It is going to be a big purchase, several times larger than that riding dress you commissioned, at least. But the real question is, will a Livery owner or a Wainwright sell to you? You are an unescorted woman, after all. If you showed up wearing your usual street clothes, they might not even let you in to see anyone. Really though, could you blame them?
No, you are going to need your new clothes to get your foot in the door, that much you are certain of. But the more you think about it, the more you doubt that the domestic dresses are going to work either. Maybe they could, if you were to present yourself as a servant – but then you would need to explain why someone would send a maid to go buy a fraying carriage. There are quite a few Liveries and lot more Wainwrights outside of the Landward Walls. If you kept playing the odds, you think you could eventually find someone willing to sell … but at the same time, the more times you try to buy, the more times you are risking someone getting suspicious enough to report you, or even just call the Guards to get you out of their place of business.
Your best bet would be to approach the owners wearing that elegant riding dress you commissioned. At the very least, you could trust that it would get you through to the right people. Of course, even with that dress, nothing is guaranteed. You are an unescorted woman, showing up off the street, unannounced. Anyone you talk to is going to assume that you are spending either your father’s money or your husband’s. As tempted as they are going to be to just take whatever you offer them, in the back of their minds, they are going to be wondering if you had permission to buy this, or that at some point, some fuming father or husband is going to show up and demand the money back. Worse, they might get it in their heads that you are trying to run away from home. And then they definitely would not want to sell to you, for fear of something happening to you, and then a suit being brought against them for damages.
Honestly though, what reason other than running away would a woman need to buy her own carriage? If you were traveling, you could just hire a coach – not to mention, it is expected that you should be escorted by your husband, a male relative … or at the very least, someone reliable.
Maker's Mercy, you wish you had someone to rely on right now.
