Colin said, “This is an opportunity for men in particular to show off their fancy footwork.”
“Why only the men?” Georgie asked.
Sarah spoke up. “Because ladies—at least, English ladies—are taught to dance with decorum, with no capering about or kicking up their heels.”
Effie’s lip curled. “Sounds borin’.”
“Thankfully ours is to be a private ball,” Georgie said. “So we can do as we like.”
“Exactly.” Colin grinned. “So caper to your heart’s content.”
When the lesson ended and Hubert Cornish had taken his leave, Georgiana praised their instructor. “Well done, Colin. Thank you.”
“That is kind of you to say.”
“I know you mentioned you were not a great student, but you could be an excellent teacher.”
“Me, a dancing master? My father would die of an apoplexy.” Suddenly Colin’s entire face withered like a prune. “Sorry. What a thoughtless thing to say when your own father...”
“Never mind. I know what you meant. And I was not thinking of a dancing master specifically. You might teach any number of things. You said you liked history.”
“True, though I doubt I could teach Latin, Euclid, or Homer.”
“Perhaps not. But students at, say, the Sidmouth School would not require such lofty classical education. They need to learn to read, write, and cipher, and perhaps some world history and sport.”
“That I might be able to manage, were there a need.”
“There is. The Sidmouth School does good work for poor children. But Mr. Ward will retire eventually. And, at present, there is no academy for young gentlemen here, so that might be another opportunity.”
“Do you think so? As a younger son, I know I should have some profession, yet I can’t seem to settle on anything. Well, thank you, Miss Georgiana. You have given me much to think about and some needed confidence as well.” He looked at her more closely. “And what is it you’d like to do?”
“Me?” For a moment Georgiana stood there, mouth agape. “Do you know, you are the first person to ask me that.”
“Am I? My father has been asking me that for years. Drilling me, more like.”
“He has high expectations of you. That’s not all bad. No one expects anything of me. Except perhaps to marry one day. Shudder.”
“Would marriage be so bad?”
“As a formality? It seems so to me. Though to be fair, my sisters who’ve wed seem sickeningly happy.”
“My brother too. What else, though? If it were only up to you?”
“I wish. If only I were independently wealthy.”
“Let’s say you were.”
“Hmm ... I suppose if money were no object, I should like to travel. I have only ever been here and May Hill. I also dearly love visiting the children at the charity school. So I suppose, after I’d traveled, I would like to help children like them, like Cora, somehow. And I would have my own dog. Not just adopt the town stray.”
He nodded. “Those seem modest, attainable goals.”
“To you, maybe.”
“Georgiana Summers, I have absolutely no doubt that with God’s help, you can do anything you set your mind to.”
Georgie smiled. “And now you’re giving me confidence. We are quite a pair, are we not? Um. Platonically speaking, of course.”
He hesitated only a fraction of a second. “Of course.”
