Sure enough, her father spoke to Edwina first. “Darling, did you meet any gentlemen you liked?”
“Not particularly.” Edwina was dismissive. “Plenty of them were friendly, but none were special.”
“That’s all right,” their father assured her. “You have plenty of time. Your goal for this weekend is to create a good reputation for yourself, so that when people think of you in the future, they will remember what fun you were at this party. I’d say you’ve gotten off to a good start.”
Then he turned to Lavinia. She expected criticism and braced herself to receive it.
“How was your morning with Lord Ocherton?” he asked.
“Oh—fine.” She hadn’t expected that. “I didn’t see him again after that, though.”
“No, I didn’t expect you would,” her father agreed. “And that’s all right.”
“It is?”
“I saw you this evening. I saw that you spoke to the Duke of Loxburgh and the Earl of Rickenbock. Much more socializing than I would have expected from you, I must say.
“Thank you, Father.” It felt good to know that he was proud of her. “But I don’t think I’m going to marry any of those men.”
“One never knows—but I agree, you probably won’t,” her father said.
“You knew that I probably wouldn’t marry Lord Ocherton when you made the arrangement for me to spend the morning with him?”
“The point wasn’t to have you spend time with someone I thought you would marry, necessarily,” her father said. “WhatI want is for everyone at this party to see you as desirable. And because of the way you behaved today, and the way other gentlemen seem to see you, I think the perception of you will begin to change. People will stop thinking of you as odd and begin to think of you aselusive. That’s what we want to see happen. And then I’ll be able to marry you to someone very easily.”
“Someone?” Lavinia asked, picking up on how vague her father was being.
“Well, I do have someone in mind, of course,” he said. “How could I not?”
“Are you going to tell me who it is?”
“You’ll be introduced to him soon enough. In the meantime, I want you to keep doing exactly what you’ve been doing, Lavinia. The way you’ve handled yourself so far at this party has pleased me enormously—more than I would have thought possible.” He smiled. “I must admit, I thought I was going to have more trouble with you, but it seems that you finally understand and are ready to comply with the requirements I’ve set down for you. You’ll be married by the end of this season with no trouble at all if you keep it up.”
Though she’d been happy to have her father’s approval, Lavinia couldn’t help feeling uneasy. She’d known that he meant to marry her off tosomeoneif she didn’t manage it herself during this party, and she had known—if she was honest with herself—that he had assumed she wouldn’t be successful. But she hadn’trealized he had such a well thought out plan ready to go. For all she knew, the gentleman he had in mind for her had already been informed of his plan and was eagerly awaiting his chance to meet her.
For all she knew, she had met him already.
Her father got to his feet. “You ladies ought to head to your beds for the evening,” he said. “Tomorrow will be another big day, and you want to be well rested, I’m sure.”
Lavinia recognized her dismissal and knew that she wouldn’t be welcome to ask any more questions about her future tonight. She got to her feet as well. “Good evening, Father,” she said.
“Make sure you come down early for breakfast tomorrow,” he told her. “I don’t want you lingering up in your room and missing out on the party.”
Lavinia wanted to protest that she wouldn’t do any such thing, that it was unfair of him even to suggest it. But the truth was that, if she had believed she could get away with it, she was sure she absolutely would have lingered in her room. She nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ll come down early.”
“So will I.” Edwina said, sounding much more eager about the prospect than Lavinia felt. “I can hardly wait to see what tomorrow brings.”
I wish I had your confidence, Lavinia thought as she and her sister made their way down the hall to their respective bedrooms. When they’d arrived at Edwina’s, she opened the door and waved Lavinia in. Curious, Lavinia followed her sister.
Edwina shut the door and locked it behind her. “What do you think?” she asked eagerly, sitting down at the foot of her bed.
“What do I think about what?”
“About what Father was talking about,” Edwina said. “It sounds as if he already has a plan for your marriage.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him,” Lavinia said.
“And he hasn’t told you anything about it? You don’t know who he has in mind for you?”
