The housekeeper stepped in, neat and composed, and dipped into a curtsy.
“Miss Charity,” she said. “His Grace requests your company at dinner this evening, in the small dining room.”
Augusta went stiff beside Charity.
Charity kept her face calm. “I will come,” she said.
The housekeeper nodded and turned slightly.
“The young ladies may continue to dine here, as they please,” she added, as if it were meant kindly.
Augusta’s head snapped up.
“Why?” she asked.
The housekeeper hesitated, just enough to show she had expected this to be easier. “His Grace thought it would be… more comfortable,” she said.
“Comfortable,” Augusta repeated, “Or he does not want us in the way.”
“Augusta,” Charity said.
The housekeeper looked at Charity, then back down again.
“If there is anything you require, miss, you have only to ask,” she said, and she left with the same careful speed she had entered.
The moment the door shut, Augusta rounded on Charity.
“So you’re going to see what he has to say?” Augusta said. “And keep even more secrets from us? I don’t think you’ll tell us about what you both talked about, though I am sure that it will be discussed.”
“Augusta, please,” Charity pleaded. “You are being extremely difficult, and I do not know what to do with you right now.”
Matilda’s fingers twisted in her skirt.
“Is it… is it because of us?” she asked.
Charity turned to her at once.
“No,” she said. “You’re exhausted, and you don’t need to be privy to conversations that adults are having. Please, finish up your food and then retire to bed. Everything will be all right.”
Augusta’s eyes narrowed.
“So you are going to go sit with him alone,” she said, “and then you will come back and tell us what he decided?”
“I will have to see what he has to say first.”
“My point is that anything we might have to say will not be taken into consideration,” she replied. “Nor you, for that matter. That is how it always goes, Charity, the men decide, and we adjust.”
“I need to talk to him without you two listening,” Charity said firmly.
“And what if he says something that neither of us won’t like?”
“Then I will stand up for you,” Charity promised.
Augusta was quiet for a moment, then she looked away, swallowing hard as if she did not want to show she had been close to tears.
“You are both going to rest,” she said, brisk now. “You are going to eat properly, and then you are going to sleep. Tomorrow we start acting like we live here, whether we feel like it or not.”
Augusta scoffed, but it sounded weaker than before. “You cannot order me about,” she muttered.
