“My apologies, Your Majesty.”
“You would do well to behave impeccably for the next while, Kendall, as we assure ourselves that you are truly recovered. This is your new bride, I presume?” Victoria surveyed Isolde with a censorious up-down glance that exuded acres of judgment about Isolde’s choice of dress, exuberantly-colored hair, and excessive height. “We do not approve of your method of gaining a wife, Duke. We were seriously displeased when we heard of the mishap at Kew Gardens. ’Twas another mark against you. It is fortunate that you married post-haste.”
Tristan tucked Isolde’s hand closer to his body. “Despite our unorthodox beginning, Your Majesty, I consider myself the most blessed of men.” Though he said the words in his expressionless Kendall voice, Isolde still felt heat flood her cheeks.
Victoria harrumphed, keeping her critical eye on Isolde. “We understand you are the eldest of Lord Hadley’s daughters, Duchess.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“The daughter who attended university in Boston?”
“The very same, Your Majesty.”
“Dreadful business, that.” The queen fanned herself. “Women are not meant for such educational endeavors. I cannot imagine what your parents were thinking, permitting you to sail halfway around the world to sit amongst men while listening to more men lecture on topics that women have no reason knowing. The scandal.”
Isolde’s mouth flapped open for a second before she could rally her voice. “I cannot speak to other universities, Your Majesty, but Broadhurst College is a female-only institution. Yes, we did have the occasional male professor, but as ladies, we were always heavily chaperoned.”
“Is that so?”
Isolde nodded, swallowing her tongue against offering to recite Latin declensions herself.
“Which subject was the focus of your studies?” Victoria asked.
“Engineering, Your Majesty.”
“Engineering? Such as building bridges or a steam railway, as if you were a man intent on employment?”
“The very same.”
“How preposterous!” Victoria’s fan picked up speed as if she might need smelling salts to accommodate the idea of a woman learning about Milton’s Laws of Motion or the physicsof Mr. Watt’s steam engine. “Have you since repented of your decision?”
“Pardon, Your Majesty?”
“Have you repented of your decision to seek a university degree?”
Isolde froze, the air sucking from her lungs.Repent?Whyever would she repent of gaining an education? How could she reply without offending the queen, and by extension, Tristan and their potential future children?
“I c-cannot say I have given it much thought, Your Majesty,” she managed to stammer.
Victoriaharrumphedagain and then looked past Isolde, her eyes lighting up.
“Duchess,” the queen said, voice warm and welcoming to whomever she saw beyond Isolde’s shoulder. “I was merely telling Isolde, Duchess of Kendall, that she should renounce her educational leanings immediately. They are hardly seeming for a woman of her station. A Duchess of the Realm must be of singular reputation.”
Isolde turned to see the Duchess of Andover, Lady Lavinia’s mother, standing behind her. Like her daughter, the Duchess had rather pinched features—a long, narrow face and an equally long nose that she now peered down to study Isolde, as if the woman were pinning Isolde like a moth to a board and examining her with a quizzing glass.
“Your Grace.” The Duchess of Andover tilted her head in Isolde’s direction.
“Your Grace,” Isolde said in return.
“I must agree, Your Majesty. The wrong education can indeed be perilously inappropriate for a woman,” the duchess said. “Dangerous even.”
How so?Isolde longed to ask.Is it the broadening of the mind? The cultivation of thoughts and ideas?But due to herexpansive education, she recognized—with no small amount of irony—the strategic wisdom in holding her tongue.
“Well said, Duchess.” Victoria nodded in approval. “As usual, your wisdom and perspicacity are a boon to us all.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” The Duchess of Andover continued to stare at Isolde. “I have spent my days ensuring my own daughters do not harbor unseemly ambitions for such mannish pursuits. I am sure as Her Grace settles into her new role as duchess, she will heed the wisdom in Your Majesty’s words and forsake her more prurient endeavors.”
A terrible ringing started in Isolde’s ears. Was this true? Would her new station force her to abandon scientific interests? Why should anyone care what she did in her spare time?
