The Best-Laid Plans

by Sarah M. Eden

  “Good evening, Mother and Father,” he greeted. “I had hoped to see you here this evening.”

  “We had hoped to see you,” his mother said. “You are so seldom home. It seems the Upper Assembly Rooms are the only place we see you any longer.”

  While it was something of a complaint, it was not offered in the same tone of insult Ellie’s family used.

  “I have been enjoying myself,” Newton said. “When you suggested earlier that I enjoy Bath and take advantage of the society here, I confess I balked a little. I’m grateful now to have been pushed toward it.”

  Ellie nodded inwardly. He had quite expertly wielded his shield, shifting the complaint to a compliment.

  “Pleased to hear it,” his father said. The elder Mr. Hughes looked to Ellie briefly. “I believe you are Miss Elfrida Napper.”

  Newton immediately jumped into the gap. “Forgive me. I have neglected introductions. Mother, Father, this is, indeed, Miss Elfrida Napper of Shropshire. Miss Ellie, these are my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Hughes.”

  Bows and curtsies accompanied the expected greetings.

  “I had hoped to come here to see you dancing with Miss Lancaster,” Mrs. Hughes said. “You seem to have developed a friendship and connection with her. She’s quite an exceptional young lady.”

  “We have indeed formed a friendship,” Newton said. “I have missed the company of my sisters since they were married. In Miss Lancaster, I have found something of that connection again.”

  More redirection expertly deployed.

  His parents hesitated but a moment.

  His father took up the discussion. “Miss Lancaster has a significant group of companions. Have all of them come to take on the role of sister in your mind?”

  “I find myself far less heartbroken at the infrequency of my interactions with my sisters. And I find myself no longer lacking for Society. I’m pleased to report your plans have gone excellently.”

  Newton was doing remarkably well. Artemis’s tutoring in boldness had benefited him also.

  “Now if you’ll excuse me,” he said, “I hear the opening strains of the Roger de Coverley, and I have promised that dance.”

  His mother’s expression turned intrigued. “To whom have you promised it?”

  Newton set his hand on hers. “To Miss Ellie.”

  He left no opportunity for objections but simply walked away as if he had all the right in the world to do so. He did, of course. Parents often forgot that their children, once grown, deserved to have the living of their own lives.

  “That was quite well done, Newton,” she whispered. “If you and I are not careful, we will find ourselves considered people capable of deciding our own futures.”

  “Futures free of unwanted masks, I hope.”

  Masks. Was not the ruse they had been enacting one of masks and make-believe? And he wished specifically to be free of that. She had been so grateful when he’d agreed to join her in their little scheme. She felt certain she’d found an ingenious means of escape.

  It was beginning to feel like a trap.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Newton’s interaction with his parents the night before had gone better than he could have imagined. It made him wonder why he hadn’t tried to speak up for himself previously. He, of course, knew the reason: he had been a coward.

  When he was a child, he had desperately feared stepping out of line and disappointing his parents in any way. That worry had stayed with him all these years, leaving him convinced he had to accept the options they offered him. To place his wisdom above theirs felt unforgivably arrogant. He’d assumed he would live his life trying to find happiness in whatever they prescribed.

  Ellie’s willingness to undermine her parents’ demands and eventually stand up to them directly had shown him what bravery looked like.

  In his newfound confidence, he began thinking differently about his future. He wanted to pursue the law, and he knew without a doubt that doing so was well within the realm of acceptable behavior. His parents would rather he didn’t, but that didn’t make it improper.

  “Would you like me to have Jason send his response here or to your family estate in the country?” Charlie asked. He was placing his personal effects into the small portmanteau he meant to take with him on his journey to London. He needed to return to Cambridge and was doing so by way of Town.

  Newton, in an act of borderline audacity, had asked a favor of his friend: to deliver a missive to his brother, the barrister, and ask him to respond.

  “Ask him to send it here. I will be here for the next two weeks, and I would prefer to receive the letter before I embark on my own trip to London, if possible.”

  “Do you truly mean to begin your study of the law regardless of your parents’ dictates?” Charlie closed his traveling bag.

  “Ellie and Artemis convinced me. They are quite persuasive.”

  “I will allow the descriptor where Ellie is concerned, but Artemis is nothing short of pushy.”

  Newton laughed. Even Charlie smiled. His animosity toward their friend was showing more cracks. The two would likely never be on entirely friendly terms, but Newton hoped they would at least find a degree of neutrality between them.

  “Thank you again for your willingness to deliver my letter to your brother. I do think he could help my parents come around to embracing my way of doing things.” That was his plan.

  “If anyone can make a persuasive argument, it is Jason,” Charlie said. “He was always meant to be a barrister. No one can make a case better than he can.”

  Newton wasn’t depending on Jason to convince them before he pursued his dreams. He simply hoped to add one more brick to the foundation before setting off and claiming his future.

  He walked with Charlie from the guest bedchamber his friend had been using down to the front of the house. Having Charlie’s company had been an absolute highlight of his time in Bath. He had tried to convince Charlie to come to London during term break in the spring, too, but Charlie, true to character, did not have much of a desire to do so.

  During their holiday here in Bath, Newton had solved one of Charlie’s mysteries: the reason for his animosity toward Artemis. Now if only he knew the reason for Charlie’s dislike of London.

  He saw Charlie off. Things would be different between them moving forward. They would no longer be in school together, something that had been true for only one year of the past seven. Life would take them in different directions now. Change was a good thing, but it was also difficult. Somehow, Newton needed to convince him to come to Town, if not for the social whirl, then at least to spend a little time together.

  Newton found himself restless, unable to remain at home. And though he was feeling more confident where his parents were concerned, he wasn’t particularly in the mood for a confrontation. So he set his feet to the pavement and began to walk. He told himself he was aiming for the Gravel Walk, but his steps took him, instead, to the Lancasters’ house.

  Henson showed him inside with a little more finesse than he usually employed. The man was learning his job. Newton hoped Henson never became truly stodgy. That would be a shame.

  “I would like to visit with Miss Lancaster and Miss Ellie,” Newton said when the man neglected to ask for whom he had called. Henson nodded but seemed a little unsure what to do next.

  “You can wait in the sitting room,” Henson said. “I’ll go ask what’s to be done.”

  Upon entering the sitting room, Newton discovered it was not empty. Lillian Napper sat inside.

  Newton kept relatively near to the ajar door. No maid was present, no parent, no sign of the master or mistress of the house. Ellie’s sister had shown herself to be quite single-minded and unlikely to give up easily on something she wanted. Newton knew with perfect and alarming clarity that one of the things she currently wished for was an advantageous ma
tch with him on account of his family’s connections and coffers.

  “Do you need to stand uncomfortably far across the room?” the lady inquired with sweetness that did not ring true.

  “I assure you, I am not the least uncomfortable in my current location,” he said. “Henson has gone to quickly ask a question. I am remaining only until I receive that answer.”

  She could not have missed the lack of intimacy in his response, though she showed no signs of being discouraged. Indeed, she lifted a shoulder a little, watching him with head slightly tilted. It was the practiced pose of a young lady hoping to lure a gentleman closer. How little she knew him. He remained near the door and did his utmost to show no signs of interest.

  “I was pleased to see you at the Fancy Ball last evening,” she said. “I must confess myself deeply disappointed to not have the opportunity to dance with you.”

  Newton would not be shamed into committing himself to a dance in the future. “I found myself engaged for every set,” he said. “The ladies, you will remember, far outnumbered the gentlemen. Such is too often the case, even though we are no longer in a time of active warfare.”

  “I do hope should such a thing be once again true, you will reserve a dance for me.”

  “‘Should such a thing happen again?’” he asked, feigning confusion. “A return to war? Heaven forbid.”

  Her eyes narrowed the tiniest bit, as if she were attempting to sort him out. “No, of course not. I meant a ball at which the gentlemen are outnumbered.”

  “Ah.” He nodded but made no commitment, what Artemis would have deemed “retreat.”

  Lillian Napper, though, was not the sort to be distracted. “I saw that you found time to dance with my sweet younger sister. It has been nice to see her taken under wing by somebody. The poor thing has no experience in Society. We have resigned ourselves to knowing she has found her best home in being someone’s compassion project.”

  If shaming him was a bad tactic, shaming Ellie was a far worse one.

  “I am quite honored that your sister thinks me enough of a friend to spend time with me. Indeed, all of Bath has declared her a delightful addition to the Lancasters’ list of friends and close associates. Should I cross paths with your parents again, I will make certain to thank them for bringing her here.”

  Lillian did not seem to miss the importance of his word choice and the slight turn in topic it constituted. “We would love to receive you at our house here in Bath,” she said. “We will be home tonight, in fact. We would be delighted to have you come. And Ellie will not be there, so you needn’t be worried that you will spend your evening advising the poor thing in how to go about in company.”

  Retreat had failed. His shield had proven insufficient. There was but one tactic left.

  “My parents are quite in demand amongst Society. I cannot remember the last time they had an evening without social obligations. Should they find themselves home tonight without plans, I will mention your invitation.” Goodness, he hated sounding so pompous and so pointedly dismissive. But returning fire was the only option remaining.

  “I realize it is not considered gentlemanly to openly call on a lady when the connection between them is still in its early stages. As such, I suggested your parents calling so you could have an excuse to come.” She moved closer to him. “But I assure you, I am not so fragile as many young ladies. You needn’t wait on a pretense to call. I promise you will be received.”

  He stepped backward as she approached but misjudged the location of the threshold and found his back brushing up against the wall. This could get awkward. “Pretense is not what is preventing me from calling on you, Miss Napper.”

  Lillian had come quite close now, near enough that he could see the expression in her eyes better than he could a moment ago. She did not look coquettish; she looked nearly frantic.

  “Perhaps,” he said, “I ought to simply leave my regrets and call later.”

  “Do you not think it rude to leave me here, abandoned?” Her flirtatious tone was falling horribly short of the mark. “I’m certain Henson will be only a moment longer.”

  “Why are you in here alone?”

  “I came to see Ellie, but she is out.”

  Newton shook his head. “She is whom I came to see. There really is no point remaining if she is gone.”

  “No point?” She closed nearly all the distance between them. Standing uncomfortably close. Worryingly close. Scandalously close. “It seems almost like fate, don’t you think?”

  “Fate doesn’t hate me that much.”

  Anger flitted instantaneously across her face, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared. “Ellie has no dowry.”

  “Do you?”

  A quick flaring of the nostrils. A deep breath. “I do have something she doesn’t.”

  “And what is that?” he asked calmly.

  “This situation and the way it would appear to Society.” Gone were the flirting and demurity.

  He’d been too subtle in his return fire. The time for kid gloves had passed. “Are you threatening me?” he asked in a low and intentional voice.

  Again, she shrugged, but the gesture was no longer merely annoying. It was calculated.

  “I think you overestimate the strength of your claim,” Newton said, “as well as my concern for your standing or mine.”

  She opened her mouth, but the sound of Ellie’s voice sounded first.

  “You also overestimate the quietness with which you’re making your accusations. I have heard every word and can undermine your assertions.”

  Lillian’s gaze narrowed as she shifted her focus from him to Ellie standing just beyond the door. “You would speak so insultingly of your own sister?”

  “If need be.”

  Newton turned enough to look at his avenging angel. She stood with the firmness and boldness she’d claimed so adamantly she didn’t have. No one would doubt it seeing her now. Artemis had hoped to give her a bit of courage. In that moment, Ellie radiated with dauntlessness.

  “You are a younger sister,” Lillian said. “Your word against mine is hardly the firm defense you seem to think it is.”

  Artemis stepped into view. “And what of mine, Lillian Napper? Does my word hold weight, do you suppose? If you called me a liar, do you think that would go well for you?”

  Wrapping her dignity around her like a soiled, torn, poorly patched cloak, Lillian swept past them all and, likely, out of the house entirely.

  “I was afraid she would do something like this,” Ellie said. “But I had hoped she would prove those fears unfounded.”

  “At least the threat has been eliminated,” Newton said.

  Ellie looked at him, then Artemis. With a sigh, she said, “I am not at all certain it has been.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Shopping with Artemis and Rose was an experience unlike any other. Their discussion on everything from gowns to ribbon to embroidery thread became a lecture on the science of fashion that would rival any offered at Cambridge, if Cambridge offered education on such matters and, further, if they permitted women to attend, let alone teach.

  Ellie felt like she had learned more in a single afternoon of wandering with them from shop to shop than she had in all her previous years. When she eventually was required to return home to her family, she would do so with a much better idea of how to make a showing for herself, along with knowing how to speak and act in her own defense. Both lessons were proving invaluable.

  Whilst her companions spoke at length over which of Artemis’s necklaces would look best with a gown made of indigo taffeta, the ribbon meant to match it being what they were shopping for in this particular shop, Ellie became aware of eyes watching her. It was not the first time that had happened since they’d been out that afternoon. She understood people’s watching Artemis—she was a diamond, by anyone’s estim
ation—but their attention was on her, and the looks she received were a bit unsettling. She didn’t feel threatened, by any means, but she felt their gazes. For someone accustomed to being invisible, it was not a terribly comfortable experience.

  She met the gaze of two matrons not too far distant. The moment they realized she was watching them in return, they looked away and immediately began whispering. Ellie couldn’t overhear their conversation but had a sinking suspicion they were talking about her. This repeated not much later with a different gathering of ladies, this group younger than the first, though a little older than Ellie herself. It had happened at the linendraper’s. It had happened at the millinery. She wanted to think she was imagining the stares, but the frequency prevented her from completely dismissing the experiences.

  “People are watching you in odd ways,” Rose said without preamble. “I have noticed it all morning. And the whispers are quite obvious too.”

  Somehow Ellie found the confirmation both reassuring and worrisome. “I’d hoped I was imagining it.”

  “You aren’t.”

  Artemis watched the two of them, a little confused and more than a little concerned.

  Rose took up the explanation. “Something about Ellie has captured the curiosity of Society, and not in a way that appears positive.”

  “What could possibly have happened?” Artemis said. “I have heard no rumors or whispers. And I can think of nothing that has happened that would cause speculation about her. Perhaps they are not unkind glances.”

  Rose examined a satin ribbon hanging nearby. “I am acquainted enough with disapproving stares and gossip and whispers to recognize them as such when I see them.”

  Artemis drew Ellie closer to the both of them. Voice lowered, she said, “We will solve this mystery, I promise you. There is nothing that happens in Society that I cannot sort.”

  “With help,” Rose said.

  Artemis dipped her head in acknowledgment. “Wade into your river of information, Rose. We’ll meet you back at the house.”

  Rose left without a word or a backward glance.