“Hopefully we will have a more comfortable carriage by this time next year,” Henry said.
Georgiana sighed heavily and ascended the stairs to the top step where I stood. She kissed my cheeks, first the right and then the left, in the way of the French. I found this habit of hers endlessly amusing, seeing as how she’d never actually been to France because of all the wars.
After brushing our boots clean on the scrape, we walked inside to the parlor. Henry and Papa sat comfortably in the cushioned armchairs, and Georgiana took my usual seat on the window bench. She fanned out her skirt into a lovely blue puddle, then beckoned me to sit on the sliver of unoccupied space beside her. Not wanting to wrinkle her, I perched myself on the edge.
“How are you, Hannah?” Georgiana asked.
“I am well enough.”
“You are a bit pale.”
“Thank you for your concern,” I said, “but I am not ill.”
“Perhaps not, but you are not well,” Georgiana said. “A weekend at Captain Bromley’s country house will do you good. Your father was right to write me.”
My nose scrunched. “I thoughtyouwrote toPapa.” I glanced in his direction, but he was suddenly very interested in the cuff of his sleeve and would not meet my gaze.
“No,” Georgiana said. “Quite the opposite. Your papa wrote to Henry that you have become quite morose.”
“Georgiana,” Henry snapped, his gaze flashing to me and then back to his wife.
“What? Even if Papa had not written, her state is hardly a secret,” she said. “Look at her, Henry.” Her gaze moved from my un-styled hair, down my wrinkled dress, and finally landed on my worn—but comfortable—slippers.
Well, whatever Papa was about, I wanted no part of it. “It was kind of you to think to invite me,” I said. “But I do not want to impose.”
“Don’t be silly. Henry has arranged everything. Haven’t you, dearest?”
“Everything,” Henry nodded, and a teasing glint shone in his eyes. “I daresay afterallthe trouble it took to procure you an invitation, it would be quite unfortunate if you did not now attend.”
I raised an eyebrow at Henry. “And just how did you beg me an invite?”
“I asked Captain Bromley.”
I huffed a laugh. “That is all?”
“That is all it took.” He shrugged. “Indeed, when he learned you were young and unmarried, he seemed quite eager to extend the invite.”
I gripped the edge of the seat so I did not fly off it and strangle him. “You didn’t.”
“No.” He laughed. “I didn’t. Though my wife wishes I would have made you such a prelude.”
I sighed. Georgiana was nothing if not a matchmaker.
“Captain Bromley and your brother have become quite good friends,” Georgiana interjected. “They play cards together every Thursday.”
Papa shot Henry a look of disapproval.
“I attend Captain Bromley’s weekly gathering for the company, not the cards,” Henry said.
Papa nodded, pleased, then looked at Georgiana. “Perhaps I was a bit too hasty in writing you. Hannah has just returned from a visit in the country, and I assumed she was longing to return. But perhaps she was only weary from traveling.”
Georgiana studied me.
“Henry mentioned you’d gone to the country,” Georgiana said. “How was your little stay, Hannah?”
“Lovely,” I said.
“And the company?” she asked. “Did you meet anyone in particular?”
