travel or to acquire expensive possessions?'
'I have traveled all my life,' Lily said. 'I have dreamed of staying in one place long enough for it to feel like home. And possessions…' She shrugged. What else would she choose to make this list complete? She would read and write and learn about music. She would play the pianoforte and dress well and elegantly. She would…
'I would like to be able to figure,' Lily said. 'Not just on my fingers or in my head, but—oh, but as Mrs. Ailsham and the countess do in the household books. They showed them to me one morning. They could both make sense of what was written there and they could use the figures to know what had been happening at the abbey and to plan what would happen. I
'And your last wish, Lily?'
'I have always been comfortable with other people,' she said after thinking for a while longer. 'All kinds of people, even the officers when they were a part of the regiment. But I do not feel comfortable with
Elizabeth said nothing for a while. 'I am not sure I should consider your wishes as five, Lily,' she said at last. 'Really they are all one—the desire for knowledge and the education of a lady. One might add painting and needlework and dancing and the knowledge of languages, perhaps, but they would really be included in one or other of the five things for which you have wished.
'I can speak Hindi and Spanish,' Lily said. 'We used to dance country dances. I have never painted.'
But their conversation was interrupted at that point by the carriage's turning into the cobbled yard of a posting inn for a change of horses. It was amazing to Lily to realize that after the first hour her mind had been pleasantly occupied. She had been almost enjoying herself. And it was all Elizabeth's doing—she had set herself to take her companion's mind off the wretched misery of that parting.
The Duke of Anburey had bespoken a private parlor at the inn, and the six of them dined together. Lady Wilma was ecstatic at the prospect of going at last to London, where the Season would already be in progress. Her conversation was all of balls and routs and theaters and court presentations and Vauxhall and Almack's. It was dizzying to Lily, who forced herself to eat at least a small meal and made no attempt to participate in anything that was being said even when Joseph suggested that the discomforts of their journey were probably nothing compared with those of the sort of traveling she had done in the Peninsula. She smiled vaguely at him even as she realized that, like Elizabeth, he was trying to divert her mind from what weighed it down like a ton of lead.
She kept wondering what
Elizabeth resumed their interrupted conversation after Joseph had handed them back into the carriage and they were on their way again.
'Well, Lily,' she said, patting her briskly on the knee, 'I can see that the next month or two with you are going to be interesting indeed. Did I use the word
Lily said nothing for several moments. They had been playing a
'And the best teachers would have to be paid
'But you cannot spend any of it on me,' Lily said, aghast. 'I am your
'Well, yes,' Elizabeth agreed. 'For your pride's sake I will concede that point, Lily. But servants, you know, have to earn their salaries. And how do they do that? By obeying their employers, by catering to their every whim. I am one of the most fortunate of women, you know, for any number of reasons. But having everything—
It had not been a game, Lily realized suddenly. And she had not been hired to serve—at least, not in any conventional sense. Elizabeth had intended this all along. She had intended to amuse herself and delight Lily by making a lady out of her.
It would be impossible.
It would be glorious and wonderful. She could learn to read. She would be able to read
There was a new dream.
'What are you thinking?' Elizabeth asked.
'I will be able—when I leave you, that is,' Lily said, 'to find employment as a shop assistant or perhaps even as—as a governess.' It was a dizzying prospect. She would acquire knowledge and then she would be able to pass it on to others.
'Of course,' Elizabeth said. 'Or perhaps you will marry, Lily. I intend to take you with me to meet the
Lily sat back in her seat. 'Oh, no,' she said. 'No, no, that would be impossible. I am not a lady.'
'Very true,' Elizabeth agreed. 'And the