“At breakfast.”
“When else am I going to discuss him? You’re in lessons until four, and William is in his study until–” Letitia looked at William. “When do you come out of your study?”
“When there is a reason to.”
“That’s what I mean. You need a dog. Then, you’d have a reason.”
“I have reasons.”
“Estate reasons. They don’t count.” She reached for the marmalade. “Cecily, tell him he needs a dog.”
Cecily looked up from her book. She looked like she had been listening to everything and had been hoping to avoid being called upon.
“I think,” she said carefully, “that a dog is a significant commitment.”
“Thank you.” William nodded.
“That said,” she continued, “the east grounds are very large, and a dog would have excellent use of them.”
Letitia spread marmalade with the triumphant precision of someone who had just won something. “There it is.”
“Cecily,” William warned.
“I said it was a significant commitment,” Cecily reminded him. “I didn’t say it was a bad one.”
She looked at him and shrugged like she was entirely comfortable with where she had left the argument.
He looked back at his correspondence. There was a letter near the bottom of the pile, beneath the tenant reports and the parliamentary notice, that he had been working his way toward. He found it now and opened it.
He read it once, then set it down.
“There is a ball,” he announced.
They all turned toward him.
“The Pemberton winter ball,” he continued. “Friday . We’ve been invited.” He looked at Cecily. “It will be your first significant appearance since the wedding. Half of London will be there.”
Cecily put down her book. “The other half will hear about it by Saturday morning.”
“Yes.”
“And you think we should go.”
“I think we have no choice but to go,” he emphasized. “Avoiding it would say more than attending it. The ton is watching to see what you are. We will show them.”
“What are we showing them?” Letitia asked.
“That the Duchess of Blackmoor is exactly where she belongs,” William replied.
A brief silence followed.
Isadora was looking at her toast with a smile. Letitia was looking at William with one eyebrow raised. Cecily was looking at the table with a composure that told him nothing.
“You will need a gown,” he added.
She looked up. “I have gowns.”
“You will need a new one for this ball.”
