He glanced around the room, then at the registry again before nodding.
“Yes,” he said. “Though James and Eleanor are already arguing over the nomenclature of Romano-British pottery.”
She allowed a faint smile.
“Then the symposium has begun ahead of schedule,” she said with a nervous laugh.
He looked at her then, longer than necessary.
“You have made them feel welcome,” he said. “That will matter more than you think.”
Catherine held his gaze, heart lifting, though she offered only a quiet reply.
“I have a most capable example near at hand,” she said.
***
That evening, the long dining table glittered beneath the soft glow of candlelight, each place setting arranged with meticulous care.
Catherine moved with quiet efficiency, ensuring each guest found their place without confusion. With Mrs Thornberry’s help, everything had been timed to the minute.
Tonight must unfold without incident,Catherine thought, smoothing the folds of her light green evening gown as though she might press her nerves into submission as well.
“Lady Penwood,” William said warmly as she passed behind his chair. “Permit me to commend the seating arrangement. I find myself beside James and opposite your husband—excellent company in every direction.”
Catherine smiled.
“I am gratified to hear it, William,” she said. “It was my hope that such a configuration might promote lively and agreeable discourse.”
The professor nodded with approval.
“And you have succeeded,” he declared, lifting his soup spoon. “We were just speaking of Tacitus and his account of Boudica.”
“A fierce subject to begin a meal,” James observed with a dry smile as he joined them. “But one impossible to resist. The Roman treatment of native resistance is ever fertile ground for dispute.”
William turned toward Marcus.
“Would you agree, my lord, that Tacitus presents her less as a historical figure than as a moral exemplum?” he asked.
Marcus inclined his head, his manner thoughtful yet composed.
“In part,” he said. “Yet we must also acknowledge that without him, her revolt might scarcely have been remembered at all. His rhetoric shapes the tale, but it does not strip it of worth.”
Eleanor’s eyes brightened at his reply.
“Well said. The very fact that we debate the framing centuries later is proof enough of its enduring power.”
Sophia cleared her throat, so softly that Catherine almost missed it.
“And yet,” she ventured, “her image has already been pressed into quite different service in more recent writings.”
Charles laid down his spoon with deliberate precision.
“Indeed. Because resistance lends itself easily to romance,” he said. “Divorced from its realities, it makes for stirring verse. But in truth her forces were poorly supplied, ill-organised, and fatally flawed in their strategy.”
James raised an eyebrow, lowering his fork.
“Yet they burned Londinium to the ground,” he said.
