How interesting. In what way can I possibly be of help to you?"
Hester regarded her with equal curiosity. She might have only a few moments in which to form an opinion before she was asked to leave. The woman in front of her standing by the mantel wore a full crinoline skirt, emphasizing the extreme femininity of her form. It was up to the minute in fashion: pointed waist, pleated bodice, floral trimmings. She looked both voluptuous and fragile, with her tawny skin and mass of fine dark hair, dressed immaculately but far fuller than the fashion dictated. She was one of those few women who can defy the current mode and make her own style seem the right one, and all others ordinary and unimaginative. Self-confidence surrounded her, making Hester already feel dowdy, unfeminine, and remarkably foolish. She knew immediately why Alexandra Carlyon had expected people to believe in a passionate jealousy. It must have happened dozens of times, whatever the reality of any relationship.
She changed her mind as to what she had been going to say. She was horrified as she heard her own voice. It was bravado, and it was totally untrue. Something in Louisa Furnival's insolence provoked her.
"We learned a great deal in the Crimea about just how much good nursing can save the lives of soldiers," she said briskly. "Of course you are probably aware of this already." She widened her eyes innocently. "But perhaps you have not had occasion to think on the details of the matter. Miss Nightingale herself, as you well know, is a woman of excellent family, her father is well known and respected, and Miss Nightingale is highly educated. She chose nursing as a way of dedicating her life and her talents to the service of others - "
"We all agree that she is a most excellent woman, Miss Latterly," Louisa interrupted impatiently. Praise of other women did not appeal to her. "What has this to do with you, or me?"
"I will come immediately to the point." Hester looked at Louisa's long, slanting eyes, saw the fire of intelligence in them. To take her for a fool because she was a flirt would be a profound mistake. "If nursing is to become the force for saving life that it could be, we must attract into its service more well-bred and well-educated young women."
Louisa laughed, a rippling, self-conscious sound, made from amusement but tailored over years to have exactly the right effect. Had any man been listening he might well have found her wild, exotic, fascinating, elusive - all the things Hester was not. With a flash of doubt she wondered what Oliver Rathbone would have made of her.
"Really, Miss Latterly. You surely cannot imagine I would be interested in taking up a career in nursing?" Louisa said with something close to laughter. "That is ridiculous. I am a married woman!"
Hester bit back her temper with considerable difficulty. She could very easily dislike this woman.
"Of course I did not imagine you would be." She wished she could add her opinion of the likelihood of Louisa's having the courage, the skill, the unselfishness or the stamina to do anything of the sort. But this was not the time. It would defeat her own ends. "But you are the sort of woman that other women wish to model themselves upon." She squirmed inwardly as she said it. It was blatant flattery, and yet Louisa did not seem to find it excessive.
"How kind of you," she said with a smile, but her eyes did not leave Hester's.
"Such a woman, who is both well known and widely..." She hesitated."And widely envied, would find that her words were listened to with more attention, and given more weight, than most other people's." She did not flinch from Louisa's brown-hazel eyes. She was speaking lhe truth now, and would dare anyone with it. "If you were to let it be known that you thought nursing a fine career for a young woman, not unfem-inine or in any way degraded, then I believe more young women, hesitating about choosing it, might make their decisions in favor. It is only a matter of words, Mrs. Furnival, but they might make a great deal of difference."
"You are very persuasive, Miss Latterly." Louisa moved gracefully and arrogantly to the window, swinging her skirts as if she were walking outside along an open path. She might play at the coquette, but Hester judged there was nothing yielding or submissive in her. If she