So much for Julia. What about James, then? Louisa mused, curling herself into a smaller ball as she considered the other person for whom she had come to London.

Well, what about him? She had told Julia that courtship was a matter of logic, so she might as well be logical about this.

James was unfailingly gentlemanly to her. She saw him often. He liked her family quite a bit, and he certainly gave their aunt tit for tat, for which Louisa thought Lady Irving rather admired him.

His family had become more polite as well; Louisa even had a standing weekly engagement to take tea with them. The invitation had been extended by his sister, who was thawing out noticeably. Given time, Louisa thought, she and Gloria might come to be friends.

But time — time was the problem. How much time did she have to give? Or want to give, for that matter? How much time would she give herself to feel right about her decision to marry James? Was she ready to give a lifetime?

Families aside — how did she and James really feel about each other?

She tried to curl up even more tightly, but she had reached the limits of how small she could make her long form. She wasn’t ready to think about the answers to those questions, especially not the last. She might read a lot of novels, but she had always tried to be a sensible girl, and it would hardly be sensible to jeopardize her standing as one of the luckiest girls of last year’s season.

If she just wasn’t so tired, maybe everything would make more sense. And so, very sensibly, she went back upstairs to her bedchamber, and did her utmost to fall asleep, until she heard others moving about the house and could get up again.



Naturally, Sir Stephen called later that day, bearing a bunch of snowdrops “as fresh and dainty as are you, Miss Herington, if you’ll permit my saying so.”

Julia was willing to permit this statement, although it seemed a bit. . well, flowery, to be honest. But she couldn’t help being flattered; she’d never had a man give her flowers before.

She had liked talking to Sir Stephen the evening before. He’d been interesting to talk to, unlike Freddie Pellington — who, though she supposed he really was as kind as James had promised, couldn’t seem to make anything come out of his mouth that didn’t involve at least two “dash its” and one “old fellow.” But Sir Stephen had talked with her about household management, and actually seemed to care about what she said and thought. He’d listened, which she knew from long experience with her head-in-the-clouds stepfather Lord Oliver was something that many men just didn’t do. James did, of course, but James was unusual.

Anyway, she was glad to see Sir Stephen again, and he was just as interesting to talk to as he had been the evening before. Julia could talk for any length of time about household matters or her family, and she was delighted to be encouraged to do just this by a new acquaintance.

True, there was that one hitch in the conversation, when she made a mild joke about her young siblings running her down to within an inch of her life. Sir Stephen had blinked at her in concern, and asked if she were “able to apportion herself sufficient time to recuperate from her charges’ enthusiastic behavior, in order to maintain her good health.”

Then it was Julia’s turn to blink, and reel through the lengthy words to figure out what he had asked her.

“Oh,” she finally replied after she had parsed the sentence. “Yes, it’s fine. I, ah, didn’t mean it literally.”

“Ah,” Sir Stephen said, enlightened. “You were being hyperbolic.” He smiled appreciatively. “I understand perfectly.”

Julia just nodded, puzzled. Didn’t the man understand a simple figure of speech? Well, he did now — he knew she was being “hyperbolic.” But still, it was odd to be taken so literally. So seriously. A girl appreciated the attention and everything, but there were limits.

However, she brushed it aside, and they passed the remainder of a very proper twenty-minute visit under the lax chaperonage of Lady Irving, who kept “forgetting” items that she needed and leaving the room to retrieve them.

Sir Stephen commented that it was a shame to have her ladyship’s industry so often interrupted, and he did hope it didn’t make Julia feel uncomfortable to be left alone with him even momentarily. He even offered to stand outside the door until Lady Irving should return to the drawing room. Julia assured him this wasn’t necessary, after which statement he looked at her with concern and said that he only had her reputation in mind.

“Yes, well, I certainly appreciate that,” Julia replied patiently, “but I assure you, my aunt will return in just a moment.”

After that they fell silent, a bit constrained. When Lady Irving did return, the baronet stood and took his very proper leave of both ladies. He asked if he might call again, and before Julia could even reply, her ladyship jumped in with a dazzling smile.

“But of course, Sir Stephen, we’d be simply delighted to have you. Please come anytime.”

And with that reassurance, their male caller left with a smile on his face.

Lady Irving turned at once to Julia and hissed, “Next time, make good use of the opportunity when I leave the room. Wealthy, single gentlemen don’t grow on trees, you know.”

Julia rolled her eyes. “Yes, I know that, Aunt. There’s no man-tree for husband-grubbing maidens such as myself. I know why I’m here, I promise. But what would you have me do, jump in his lap? Honestly, I think he’d leave in terror.” Not to mention she didn’t really want to jump in his lap.

As soon as the words left her mouth, she knew they had been a mistake. Lady Irving always considered even the most outrageous “hyperbolic statements” with the same level of seriousness she gave to the selection of her silk turban each morning. Which was a surprisingly high level of seriousness.

“Jumping into his lap. . it’s not a bad idea,” the countess now replied thoughtfully. “Good girl. I wasn’t sure you had it in you. Mind you, though, I’m not saying that’s right for Saville. He’s keen on propriety, and it might put him off. But if he doesn’t come up to scratch, that would work like a charm with most other young gentlemen.”

“Wouldn’t it make them think I was fast? You know, like a lady bird?” Julia asked doubtfully.

“Don’t say ‘lady bird,’” Lady Irving admonished. “It’s vulgar. Where did you ever learn about lady birds, anyway?”

Julia had to think about this one. “Maybe I heard you mention them?”

“Hmmph.” Her aunt looked skeptical. “Possible, but it’s unladylike to talk about. For a young miss, that is. I can say whatever I want. Just you keep in mind the difference between an unmarried lady and a widow, my girl — especially a wealthy widow.”

Julia dutifully promised to keep the difference in mind, though she wasn’t exactly sure why there was such a large gulf between what was permitted for a lady unmarried and a lady married. Wasn’t a maiden allowed to have a brain in her head? She was beginning to wonder. Her aunt had certainly told her that any number of her phrases and behaviors were vulgar or unladylike since coming to town. She’d have to watch herself carefully, she was beginning to realize, especially when the ton started streaming back to London in greater numbers to begin the season in earnest.

She sighed. She couldn’t help missing Stonemeadows when she felt London pinching away at her like this. And sure enough—

“It’s unladylike to sigh,” Lady Irving replied automatically. “You’ll be wanting to avoid that type of thing when you’re around Sir Stephen.”

No, actually, she wasn’t sure that she would.



Several weeks trickled by, weeks in which James and Sir Stephen were frequent callers at the Grosvenor Square address. Sometimes both of them came at once and squired her and Louisa around the city. During these outings, they inevitably began with Louisa and James paired, leaving Julia to accompany Sir Stephen.

She supposed he was nice enough, but his intense seriousness began to pall on her, and his eager interest in her every word was intimidating. She felt she had to weigh each word with care lest it be misinterpreted, which was an undeniable hardship for a girl used more to speaking in paragraphs than sentences.

Whenever she could, she tried to break the stride of the foursome as they walked out together — by stumbling, staring into a shop window, whatever it took — so that she could try to switch their grouping around and walk with James. She felt a tiny bit guilty leaving Louisa with the baronet, but Louisa never admonished her for it. And anyway, Louisa got to see James all the time, while Julia did not.

In truth, Julia hardly ever saw James anymore, since she was out so much of the time with Charissa Bradleigh, or paying the requisite morning calls with her aunt. Between the efforts of those two aristocratic ladies, she was learning more and more about the ins and outs of London society as the wealthy and titled, bit by bit, straggled back to town from their country estates.

She had never expected to be kept so busy, and with such a series of inconsequentialities. Some days she came home late, exhausted, and couldn’t think of a single memorable thing she had done. She didn’t mind it, she supposed, since she knew it was the reason for her being in London. But more and more, she understood why Louisa’s spirits had been lowered by the relentless social beating each day brought. Julia liked talking to a lot of people, and still, it was tiring.

So, she and James rarely crossed paths now. No one seemed to think it at all necessary that she should ever get to spend any time in the company of her sister’s fiancé. It was much more important that she meet powerful strangers, or undergo yet another dress fitting, or be seen driving out in Hyde Park with someone or other, by someone or other.