“What then? Is she delicate? Easily cowed? I haven’t heard such a description of her. She will manage as well as anyone, and perhaps better than most. After all, she probably doesn’t give a damn what our family thinks of her.”
Kevin frowned over the truth of that, and its implications. She most likely did not give a damn, although she wanted acceptance in a larger way. “It would have helped if this invitation came after the program of self-improvement, is all. With whom do you suggest I make arrangements?”
“How should I know?”
“You are a man about town. Surely you have heard of people who do this kind of thing. Perhaps you have met someone who has already completed such a program and can direct me there.”
“I don’t know why she charged you with this. If I needed to find such instructors, I would ask Minerva. It is her business to find people, isn’t it? With several letters, she probably can have all the names you need.”
Which begged the question of why Miss Jameson hadnotasked Minerva. She might feel she had imposed too much already. Minerva was going to help her with her penmanship, if he remembered correctly. Miss Jameson might think it unseemly to ask for more generosity from that quarter.
That would be understandable. Miss Jameson would not want to take advantage of that friendship.
He, on the other hand, had no compunctions at all about doing so.
* * *
The Parker School for Girls inhabited an old manor house in Essex, off the main road that led into London. It really might have been a manor house a hundred years ago, but only its size suggested that now. In appearance it more resembled a very large cottage, and to Rosamund’s eye it required some maintenance this season.
Lily fell silent as soon as she saw it, and remained that way all through the introductions with the mistress, Mrs. Parker, and the tour of the school rooms and refractory. The girls were sitting to a meal when they visited there, and Rosamund had her first good look at the other students. Finally, a chambermaid brought them to the chamber that Lily would use.
Rosamund set about unpacking Lily’s clothes while her sister sat on the bed and watched. Rosamund kept glancing over, marveling at how much Lily had changed in the last year.
Taller now. What had been awkward, over large features had suddenly found harmony on Lily’s face. Rosamund examined that face, young still, but now lovely and fresh. She pictured her sister a few years older, blond hair up and curled and her lithe body encased in a column of white.
“I’ll put your nightdresses in this drawer here,” Rosamund said. She closed the drawer and went to the window to peer out. “You’ve a nice prospect.” She glanced back at her sister. “The other girls looked nice too.”
“They looked proud. They’ll be saying things about me soon if they aren’t already.” She glared at Rosamund. “I said I be wanting to stay put. I don’t need no schooling. Not here, at least. This place is not for such as me.”
“It is for anyone who can pay, Lily. Mrs. Parker knows you have not been schooled much yet. She is willing to help you catch up.”
“I’ll be with the children, you mean. In that room with tiny desks. I won’t fit in one.”
“They will bring in one that you do fit.” She knelt in front of Lily and grasped her hands. “If you try, in a year you will be in the other room with girls your own age. You are smart and will learn fast. I know it.”
Lily shook off her hold and looked down belligerently. “Seems I should have some say in all this. It be me life, after all.”
“Well, you don’t. I want you to learn to speak well, and write well, and know how to read better than I do now.”
“So I can be putting on airs like you do?” She gave a derisive snort.
“Those airs mean I can sell a bonnet for fifteen shillings when without them I couldn’t sell one for more than three.”
“I’ll be the best-spoken farmgirl in England, then.”
“You will be far more than a farmgirl if I have my way.”
“Being a farmgirl not good enough for you?”
Rosamund rocked back on her heels and stood. “Not good enough foryou, Lily.” She moved aside the valise she had unpacked and pulled up another one. She set it on the bed. “Look here, what I have for you. When you come to visit me, you can wear this in the carriage.”
She opened the valise. Lily peered in. Her frown softened to an expression of wonder. She reached in and lifted the garment resting at the top of the valise’s contents. “What’s this here?”
Rosamund took it and let it drop so she could hold it up. “Stand up so I can see if I got the length right.”
Lily stood. Rosamund held up the dress against her. Lily looked down at the beautiful, soft muslin. Cream with blue sprigs of flowers, it boasted a thin line of lace at the bodice and the sleeves.
“There be—isa blue pelisse to go with it,” Rosamund said, pleased at her sister’s reaction. “When you visit me in London, we will have more made.”
