“But they don’t know us,” Gwendolyn said. “What are we going to do? Show up on their doorstep and beg an invitation to their next party?”
“Of course not. That is not how it is done,” Dara answered knowledgably. After all, she’d been studying this for some time. She had even been compiling a list of the rules of Society. “We will send them a letter of introduction. Then they will invite us to pay a call. Finally, after we have met them, they will invite us to a ball. It is all so clear and simple.”
Elise lifted a skeptical eyebrow. “It is?”
“It is,” Dara assured her. “The duke will introduce us to other dukes, and then we marry. Oh, don’t make those faces. It has happened before.Have you not heard of the Gunning sisters?” She knew they hadn’t, and it gave her great pleasure to share. “They were poor but genteel young Irish ladies—likeourselves. They had nothing but their looks and their wits—likeourselves. They went to London and ended up marrying important noblemen and becoming great ladies—just as we can.”
“Could we meet these sisters?” Gwendolyn asked. “Perhaps they could help us?”
“There were two sisters, and they are no longer alive. However, if they could fly high, even several decades ago, why can’t the Lanscarr sisters?”
Elise looked to Tweedie. “Did you know these Gunning sisters when you lived in London?”
“I can’t say I did,” Tweedie admitted. “But I have heard of them. One of them had just died when Sir Phillip and I moved to London. They married very well.”
“See?” Dara said, using Tweedie’s verification to support her idea. “Bold women reap rewards. We can capture the hearts of theton. All three of us could marry dukes.”
Gwendolyn frowned. “Dara, how would we travel to London, let alone rent a house? That takes money.”
“And what of clothes?” Elise wished to know.
Dara took Elise’s question first. It was the simplest to answer. “We know how to handle aneedle. We have been making our own dresses and refashioning them for different Assemblies for years. We will do it there.”
That made sense to Elise.
Gwendolyn’s question was more of a challenge.
Money.
Dara folded her hands in her lap. She needed Gwendolyn’s support to make her plan work. “I’ve made an accounting of how much we would need for one Season, which should be ample time for us to find suitable dukes to marry.” She drew a deep breath and dropped the concerning news. “We can do it for four hundred pounds. We could even,” she hurried to add as she watched Gwendolyn’s eyes widen and Elise almost fall off the stool she’d sat on, “manage to be highly respectable for three hundred. That is for the whole Season, including lodging, servants, and whatnots.”
“Threehundredpounds?” Elise repeated in disbelief.
Gwendolyn shook her head. “Sometimes, Dara, your imagination makes you nonsensical. We only have thirty-four pounds between us. Remember?”
She did. They had taken an accounting last week when Richard had announced he was going to let some of Wiltham’s servants go. He might have claimed the estate as their father’s heir, but that did not mean he could afford it. He’d imagined there had been coffers of money that wouldcome into his possession. The Lanscarr sisters had laughed and laughed over that one. No gambler of their father’s stature let money lie around untended.
Of course, Richard’s announcement had sobered them quickly.
The sisters had been determined to do what they could to help their faithful servants. They had fifty pounds because their grandmother had been a great one for hiding money. When Richard and Caroline had first arrived to take over the house, the sisters had gone in search of every shilling they could find. Gwendolyn guarded the money in a carved wooden box with a secret compartment.
The sisters had divvied up some of that for the leaving servants. The balance was thirty-four pounds.
Thirty-four pounds was not a small amount. It could support them in a tidy cottage for a year, maybe two if they were very frugal.
But Dara didn’t want to live in a cottage, two years wasn’t a lifetime, and she knew their days were numbered under Richard’s roof. If Squire Davies couldn’t succeed, their cousin would find other men to marry them off to.
So Dara spoke with a confidence she wasn’t certain she felt. “I believe we can turn our thirty-four pounds into three hundred pounds.” For a second there was a startled silence. Dara nodded,knowing she had their full attention, and then she announced her plan. “Gwendolyn gambles for it.”
They all stared at Dara as if they were waiting for more explanation. And then Gwendolyn declared, “You are jesting.”
Elise burst out laughing before saying, “This is your plan? Sending Gwen to the gaming tables? And you being such a stickler for manners?”
Dara had also expected them to balk at her solution. They lacked her imagination. Therefore, it was up to her to help them embrace the idea.
“I have thought this out very carefully, I assure you. Father said highborn ladies gamble all the time. Remember?” She looked to her sisters for confirmation. Elise’s brows came together in puzzled concern, Gwendolyn was withholding judgment, and Tweedie appeared fascinated.
Dara stood and began pacing as she continued briskly, “He also said that few could match Gwendolyn’s luck at games of chance, especially faro. Remember how many twigs she won whenever we played with Father?”
