do with his fortune. That, and familiarity, and his new responsibilities on his father’s death, had taken much of the savor from society for him. To idle away hours in amusement, with the way things stood in the country… Still, he could tell Charlotte about the key, set a time to visit and open the room. Yes, of course he should do that. She would be wondering.
At home, he found Lizzy hanging about in the front hall and immediately suspected mischief. “What are you doing down here?”
“Waiting for you,” she said. “What have you been doing?”
“Where is Frances?”
“Working on her embroidery in the drawing room.” Lizzy seemed uncharacteristically listless. “And Anne has gone to one of her dancing parties.”
“Ah.”
“We could play chess. I know I said it was boring, but…”
“I’m sorry, Lizzy. I’m going out this evening.”
“Oh.”
Lizzy’s lips turned down in the expression that Alec had always thought of as a sulk. Now, he saw sadness in it as well. “I thought I might speak to Aunt Earnton and arrange for you to meet some girls your own age here in town. Rather like Anne is doing.”
Lizzy considered this as if it were a trick. “Dancing classes?”
“No, not until you are older. Just, ah, tea, perhaps or… walking in the park.” He had no idea what activities his aunt might find appropriate for thirteen-year-old girls. And still less what they would wish to do.
“They’d probably be horrid,” Lizzy objected.
“Then you would fit right in.”
She laughed and stuck out her tongue. “I… would like that… I suppose.”
“Good. Now, I am going to change, and then we’ll have dinner together.”
“Just you and me?”
“And Frances, of course.” Lizzy wrinkled her nose, and he frowned at her.
“It’s just… she’s gotten so… lugubrious.”
“So…?”
“It’s from Dr. Johnson’s dictionary. It means gloomy and dismal.”
“It very well may. However, it is not a term you should apply…”
“Charlotte said if you learn a new word every day, before you know it you have a prodigious vocabulary.”
“Did she?” Alec was struck again at how rapidly a bond had formed between Charlotte and his sisters.
Lizzy nodded. “And you will sound very well educated without having to read a lot of tedious old books.”
“Charlotte said that?”
“Well… not exactly.”
“Your own conclusion?”
Lizzy nodded, giving him her dazzling smile. Then she turned to skip up the stairs, her mood seemingly lightened. Alec watched her go with a mixture of fondness and exasperation.
“I am not in the drawing room working on my embroidery, nor am I lugubrious,” said a voice from the darkened reception room opposite. “I am plotting and planning.”
It startled him. “Frances?”
She emerged in the archway. “I came down for a book I left in the library. After Lizzy spoke…” She shrugged. “I didn’t want to… I’ll say embarrass her, though that is rather difficult to do. At any rate, bravo, Alec!”
“For…?”
“Your splendid idea. I should have thought of it myself. Amelia will be only too happy to find Lizzy some companions, I’m sure. Some lovely, calming companions. She has a stake in it, after all. She will be bringing Lizzy out in a few years and responsible for her conduct in society.”
“I thought it a good plan.” Alec was glad to have her confirmation.
“Well done.”
“It wasn’t my idea, it was C… Mrs. Wylde’s,” he added absently.
“Was it?” Frances took a step closer. “You have made it up with her then? Good!”
“There was nothing to make up. Just a misunderstanding.”
“Ah.” She eyed him. “You were calling on her then?”
“Yes. If you’ll excuse me, I want to write a note to Aunt Earnton before I go out.”
“Of course. What are you doing this evening?”
“Aunt Bella is taking Mrs. Wylde to a rout party, and I thought that I… that is…” It suddenly occurred to Alec that he wished to keep his motives to himself.
“I hope you have a very pleasant time.” Frances gave him a sweet smile; her dark blue eyes sparkled up at him. Alec was again struck by the resemblance to Lizzy, which had somehow eluded him for thirteen years. “What are you plotting and planning?”
Her smile broadened, and she laughed. “That would be telling.”
“I can be trusted,” Alec suggested. He remembered Frances’s inquiries about the house near Butterley. “Are you plotting escape?” he added lightly.
“I would never wish to wholly escape my family,” she replied.
This did not precisely answer the question. What did she mean “wholly”? But Frances walked up the stairs without saying any more. As Alec went off to his bedchamber to change and dispatch the note to his Aunt