‘Last ball?’ the duke said, surprised. ‘Have I missed my final opportunity to stand up with you, then?’
Final was such afinalword. But he was right. It had been their last chance ever. She had hoped, perhaps just once, the night would end differently than it always did.
But that was silly.Shewas silly.
‘That’s all right,’ she said softly, smiling as if nothing was wrong. Really, it was better to be forgotten. It saved her wondering whether he’d only ever asked her to stand up at Percy’s request, or if he’d done it of his own accord.
‘Well, there is always next year,’ he said with his usual kind smile. ‘You must put me down for the first dance of the Season.’
‘I doubt I will have that pleasure,’ she said quietly, staring out into the darkness. ‘But thank you for thinking of me.’
An awkward silence followed. It was surprising, for her brother’s friend was normally so good at filling in gaps like that with a compliment or an encouraging word. Did he truly notunderstand what it meant for her to be still single after three years of trying?
‘This was Louisa’s last Season,’ her brother said gently. ‘It is a shame that it did not turn out as we’d hoped for her. But there is nothing to be done, now.’
‘Her last Season?’ the duke repeated, confused. ‘But she is barely old enough to marry.’
‘Two and twenty,’ Percy said in reply.
She set her jaw and resisted the urge to thank her brother for reminding his friend of her advancing age.
‘As I said,’ the duke replied, ‘barely of age.’
‘That is not the way our grandfather sees it, I’m afraid,’ Percy said. ‘He has control of the purse strings and has said this was to be her last trip to London.’
Now, the duke would probably say that he would miss her. It would be a polite lie, but she would treasure it all the same.
Instead all he said was, ‘Oh.’
‘It has been dashed difficult for her,’ Percy added. ‘Our father arranged for a settlement that was to come to her once she married. But nothing was said about what should be done if she decided not to marry.’
Decided.
That was one way to put it, she supposed. When no one offered for her, three years in a row, she’ddecidedto be an indigent spinster, instead.
‘Perhaps your grandfather will relent,’ the duke suggested.
‘He prides himself on his inflexibility,’ Percy replied with a grim smile and a shake of his head. ‘He only agreed to this year’s trip after we assured him it would be the last.’
‘There must be provision in the instructions your parents left for your care,’ the duke insisted. ‘An increase in her dowry, perhaps? I doubt they’d have wanted to give up so quickly.’
Louisa said nothing, though she thought he was being far too generous in the time he assumed it took an average girl to find a husband. All the other girls who had come out in her first Season were now married and so were most of those from the second. She was sure even her late mother would have despaired of her chances had she asked for a fourth trip to London.
‘We will never know,’ Percy said with a shrug. ‘Since Grandfather has not seen fit to share our father’s will with us, we have only his word for what they desired.’
‘Surely there is a family solicitor who could give you the details? You have been of age almost seven years, Percy. You have a right to know.’
Percy made a dismissive noise. ‘I asked the lawyers to show me the papers on the day I turned twenty-one. The oldest partner assured us that what money there is will come to each of us upon our marriages. The bulk to me, of course, but two thousand pounds was to be Louisa’s portion.’
‘That is not the most generous sum,’ the duke said with a frown. ‘But I suppose too much might tempt a fortune hunter. You would not want your sister to marry one of those.’
Regardless, the amount set had not been enough to overcome her obvious flaws. Louisa was relieved that he did not complete the thought. She would hear far too much of that from her grandfather when she got home.
‘It would probably be sufficient for her to have some independence, should she wish,’ Percy said, easing the plans for her future into a more realistic direction. ‘We might find her a small cottage somewhere that she could share with a paid companion. But to do that, we would have to get our hands on the money and only Grandfather has access to it. The solicitor’s clerks could not find a will or documents of settlement in their files. It seems, when Grandfather took on our care and the handling of our finances, he kept all copies for himself. Now, wehave only his word for how much there is and when the money is to be released.’
‘He is making that difficult?’ the duke asked.
‘He has kept me in the dark as well,’ Percy replied. ‘The old man claims my allowance is small because he has no ready money beyond the house he lives in and our rooms here in town. He claims that my father was largely in debt when he died and that he was forced to sell our childhood home to cover it. There was also some nonsense that happened a generation back that led our great-grandfather to break the entail on the house in which Grandfather lives. He said he could sell it out from under me if he chooses.’
