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“We will sit under the trees,” she said. “Out of the sun.”

Eloise hesitated, but her face was flushed from the walk, and she was pulling at the neckline of her dress. She followed.

They settled under the nearest beech. Eloise hugged her knees and looked at the water. Juliet sat beside her, pulled off her boots, then peeled away her stockings. The dry grass was warm under her bare feet.

“What are you doing?” Eloise stared.

“My feet are very hot.” Juliet gathered her skirts and walked to the water’s edge.

She put one foot in, and when the cold reached her ankle, she exhaled through her nose, relief rushing up her spine.

“Is it that wonderful?” Eloise called from the shade.

“Oh, it’s cold. Wonderfully cold!” Juliet stepped in to both ankles before she looked back. “Do you want to come in?”

Eloise jumped to her feet, then froze again. “I—I really should not.”

Juliet felt pity for the poor child. “Your feet are very hot, aren’t they?”

Eloise looked at her feet, then at the water.

“It’ll be just a quick dip,” Juliet said. “I’ll be here with you. It’s going to be fine.”

Eloise sat down in the grass with the concentrated urgency of someone who had fully committed to a course of action and was not going to acknowledge the decision had been hard. She pulled off her boots, peeled off her stockings, walked down to the water’s edge, and dipped one toe in. She winced. Then, slowly, both feet went in to the ankle, and she let out a long, relieved breath.

“See?” Juliet said. “It’s nothing dreadful.”

“It is cold,” Eloise complained, and Juliet laughed.

“That was the point.”

Eloise looked down at her feet through the clear water and laughed. It came out as a short, startled sound, as if she had not expected it. She stood there for a while, looking at the pebbled bottom.

Then she said, “Juliet? I… I cannot swim.”

Juliet looked at her. “At all?”

“My father says I am not to go swimming.”

Juliet looked at the water. It was still and clear, no more than waist-deep this close to the bank. She reached back and undid her outer dress, let it drop onto the grass behind her, and stood in her chemise. She held out her hand.

“It’s all right. I will teach you,” she said.

Eloise went still. “To swim?”

“Of course.” She nodded, her expression tender.

“But—” She glanced at the water, then at the outstretched hand. “I am not supposed to.”

“You will be with me. I will not let you go,” Juliet reassured.

Eloise considered it for a long time before she grabbed the hem of her dress and pulled it up over her head.

The water reached Eloise’s waist, and she grabbed Juliet’s arm with both hands and held on with the grip of someone who had decided that grip was the only thing between herself and catastrophe.

“I have you,” Juliet said, and Eloise whimpered, holding on tightly.

Juliet kept one hand under the girl’s back and one under her knees and walked her through how to let the water take her weight. Eloise resisted this for several minutes, every muscle tight, her chin lifted well above the waterline.