Their mutual scowl held for about three seconds. Then suddenly her father’s face cleared and he snapped his fingers. “You know, by God, I thinkshedoesneed a husband,” he said. “Something to settle her down, keep her occupied, on her toes. No time towonderabout church bells or whatnot with a husband and children.”
It was acid poured on a wound.
Lillias’s mouth dropped open.
After a moment, an arid sound emerged from it.
“Henry, darling, I think you’ve hit upon the problemandthe solution.” Her mother was pleased.
The earl slapped his hands cheerfully on his thighs, as though it was all settled. “Suitable young men abound in our circles. Pick one or I will! As long as he has a title and a long lineage and piles of money, you’ll be fine. They’re most of them decent lads. They’ve got all their limbs and teeth and the right manners and belong to the right clubs. You’re a wonderful catch.”
A high-pitched humming sound had started up in her ears. “You make it sound as though it’s a sale at Tattersall’s!”
“In the end, is it truly much different, dear?” her mother said practically.
She was teasing, of course. And two months ago, Lillias might have laughed. She’d been confident that her own match would not only be forthcoming, it would be as spectacular as thetonhad long anticipated with delicious degrees of envy and resignation, and as blissfully content as her parents’.
Now she felt as though someone were holding her over the edge of a cliff while her feet thrashed about in midair.
“But—I—”
“You’ll make some titled young man very happy. Just look how happy I made your mother. She findsnothing more satisfying than time spent with her family.”
“Yes, it’sdelightful,” her mother said dryly. “If you like finding new gray hairs every morning.”
Her parents were happy. Lillias was learning that happy people tended to live in a land with its own happy culture and rules and language. They could be utterly baffled by the notion that someone might feel otherwise, and were often incapable of noticing it at all.
“So that’s settled,” her father said with great satisfaction. “You’ve had a few seasons of fun. It’s time to be serious.”
“To be clear, you’re equating marriage with the end of fun?” It was a risky gambit, pitting her parents against each other, but she wasn’t about to go down without a good fight.
“Aren’t you clever. Of course,” her father said blithely. “Now off to bed with you. And I should think a fortnight’s confinement to the premises of The Grand Palace on the Thames will give you time to reflect upon the wisdom of smoking cheroots. No social calls, no riding in The Row, nothing but gazing out the window and reflecting upon your choices. But of course...” he added on his way out of the little sitting room, “...you will join everyone in the drawing room... as the rules compel.”
She’d been confined to the premises ever since.
She eyed her paints, but she couldn’t seem to bring herself to touch them.
Lillias plucked up the little printed card handed to her family when they’d arrived and, improbably, been interviewed about whether or not they’d be suitable for The Grand Palace on the Thames.Imagine the Earl of Vaughn and his family not being consideredsuitable. Laughable.
All guests will eat dinner together at least four times per week.
Day by day over the past near fortnight, her father had fallen more and more in love with the food. “I don’t know what it is,” he said with almost pained, misty reverence. “It’s simple... eel pie? Butflawless.” Perhaps it was. Lillias put a certain amount of food in her mouth every day, but it had mostly lost its taste about two months ago.
All guests must gather in the drawing room after dinner for at least an hour at least four times per week. We feel it fosters a sense of friendship and the warm, familial, congenial atmosphere we strive to create here at The Grand Palace on the Thames.
Her parents had been enchanted by this outlandish requirement. “You’ll all be grown and out of the home soon enough and I’d like us to be together every night. Perhaps it’s a blessing that St. John won a snake.” And if her father said it, then it was law. Claire was enjoying it. Lillias was enduring it.
But her brother St. John was suffering. He reliably left a trail of blushes and a veritable breeze of fluttered eyelashes and fans behind him when he strolled throughtonballrooms, but he’d failed to engender much more than bemused, kindly tolerance among the ladies of The Grand Palace on the Thames. Not even when he’d tried striking his most insouciantly masculine pose against the mantel during the evenings in the parlor. Not even when he strode from one end of the room to the other “like a panther—it’s my panther walk” he’dtold Lillias and Claire, which was a grave mistake as they never, never let him forget it, and often slinked about after him growling softly, then falling apart in giggles.
And almost no one adored being handsome as much as St. John did. He wasn’t wholly insufferable. He was just male. They did tend to abuse such gifts.
All guests should be quietly respectful and courteous of other guests at all times, though spirited discourse is welcome.
She wondered if Mr. Delacorte muttering, “Oh, bollocks,” fell under the definition of spirited discourse. So far, the most spirited discourse had been regarding a book calledThe Ghost in the Attic, about which the maid Dot and guest Mrs. Pariseau seemed to hold very strong opinions.
Perhaps, “Go back inside, little girl, you wouldn’t know daring if it bit you,” was an example of spirited discourse. She clamped down on her back teeth. She could think of a dozen retorts now... now that he wasn’t hovering over her, all blue-eyed self-righteousness.
Guests may entertain other guests in the drawing room.