threatened to derail the conversation. Alec shoved them aside. “Unacceptable. In fact, I cannot imagine an acceptable reason for you to leave this house without informing someone. Since you apparently do not have the judgment to know that, you are forbidden to go out at all.”
“Anne’s dancing class is tomorrow,” objected Lizzy.
“She should have thought of that before…”
“I made her go without telling,” Lizzy interrupted.
“I am older; I should have refused,” said Anne.
It was perfectly true, but Alec was only too aware of Lizzy’s powers of persuasion. “Anne will go to the class with her maid, as before. However, you, Lizzy…”
His younger sister’s chin jutted even further. “I’m going to see Callie. If you try to stop me I will climb out the window and run away!”
“You know you cannot go to the country just…”
“To Charlotte’s. Every day. I promised.”
It took Alec a moment. “You passed that hellish cat off onto…?”
“She was happy to have her. She’s kind!”
He wanted to ask about her. But the very intensity of that desire, the fact that he had been missing her so much even in this short time, made the question impossible. “You are both confined to the schoolroom for the rest of the day.”
“I’m hungry,” Lizzy objected. “Are you going to starve us?”
Alec glared at her. “A tray will be sent up. But be warned! If you do not begin to conduct yourself with more propriety, Elizabeth, I will have to take extreme measures.”
Lizzy started to answer, but Anne tugged at her arm. “Come on, Lizzy.” She pulled her from the room, for which Alec was deeply grateful. He had no notion what he meant by “measures.”
Frances remained, still looking at him in that odd way.
“Something has to be done about Lizzy,” he told her. “She seems to have gone quite wild during Anne’s illness.” Frances nodded; what was wrong with the woman now? “Should it be a governess, imagining we could find one able to manage her? Should we send her off to school?” She so passionately did not wish to go. Everything was a passion play with her lately. She wouldn’t listen to sense; she wouldn’t compromise. He had no doubt that she would disrupt any school he chose with rebellious pranks. “Frances? Are you listening to me?”
“I’m sure you will think of something,” was the calm reply. She smiled and left him there, wondering if his whole household had gone quite mad.
Alec sat at his desk and stared unseeing at the welter of papers. A cold trickle of dread pricked through him; his sister’s stubbornness and wild exaggerations had begun to remind him of his grandmother’s intransigence. Temperaments were inherited; he had seen as much among his own acquaintances. But surely such tendencies could be… diverted, guided into wholesome paths? How? Shouting at Lizzy was useless, yet he kept doing it. He couldn’t seem to help it.
Alec rested his forehead on his hand. Frances was no help these days. The thought of going to his stately, censorious Aunt Earnton for advice made him cringe. He became conscious of a desire to ask Charlotte what to do. She’d been so helpful with both Anne and Lizzy. She would know…
The look on her face as she’d slammed out of his study came back to him, as it had a hundred times since then. He had to go see her on his own account. He’d put it off because the idea roused such regret, doubt, confusion—and because he wanted it so much.
***
Lucy came into the kitchen, dusty from a morning’s cleaning, to find a bright fire and the scent of apples. Tess Hopkins, who had come down a bit earlier, stood beside Mrs. Trask, watching her every move. “You cut the shortening into small bits, and then work it into the flour with this.” Mrs. Trask showed Tess the proper tool and then vigorously demonstrated its use. “See how the dried apples have plumped up after we soaked them,” she added, hands busy.
Tess’s youth and lack of experience made Lucy feel mature and competent. Tess was a good girl, if shy. Unexpected happenings made her jumpy. It was a pure pleasure to see how Mrs. Trask drew her out and taught her.
Lucy got a glass of water and sat at the kitchen table to drink it. Most everything about Mrs. Trask, and her husband too, was a pure pleasure. This kitchen was a different world with them in charge—spanking clean, full of delicious smells, calm and comfortable. It was a marvel how