“I know. You’ll find him, be it Lord Ashfield or someone else.”
Georgie gave her a weak smile.
“Are you ready to go down to eat? Isn’t today the day you andMrs. Evans are going to Ravenridge to see the ravens?”
Georgie jumped up, her melancholy vanishing. “It is. We need to hurry. I don’t want to waste a minute.”
Sophie followed Georgie out of her room, down the stairs, and into the dining room. Trying to keep up with Georgie when she was excited was futile. As her friend went to the sideboard, Sophie moved to the table to start with a cup of cocoa. She had the footman pour one for Georgie as well.
There were about a half-dozen ladies already eating, all first-year students. Sophie enjoyed watching them interact with each other. It was clear they had formed strong bonds over the term, just as she had with all her own classmates.
Georgie joined her with a large plate full of pound cake and strawberry jam. The lady had a robust appetite that she hid when in male company, yet she was thin enough for the wind to make her stumble.
“Is there brioche today?”
Georgie nodded as she took a bite of cake.
Sophie rose and walked to the sideboard. She’d just lifted a plate when the conversation in the room abruptly ceased.
She looked over her shoulder at the table and found everyone’s gazes on the parlor. Turning, she saw Rose pushing Arabella toward the dining room in her wheeled chair. The entrance was rather brave, and immediately Sophie put down her plate and moved toward them.
Arabella’s wavy chestnut hair was pulled back in a neat bun and she wore a pretty dress of buttercups with yellow edging. The dress was obviously too big, but it complemented the woman’s skin tone and hid her broken leg well. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be done to hide the bruises on her cheek and forehead or the sling on her broken arm.
Sophie met them just inside the dining room. “Arabella, how lovely to see you down here. I’m so pleased you are feeling well enough to join us.”
Arabella glanced at Rose before responding. “Rose insisted, since my pain is tolerable today. She told me about all the wonderful ladies who will be my classmates.”
Arabella’s smile was genuine, and Sophie gestured toward where Georgie sat. “We are just over there. Mrs. Boyd, the cook, made pound cakes today. Do you like those?”
“Indeed, I do. Rose, wheel me over there so I can see what else Mrs. Boyd has prepared.”
As the two moved to the sideboard, Sophie turned toward the table to find the first-year students still staring. At her look, they went back to eating, their voices much lowered.
Once Arabella had seen the food, Rose pushed her to the end of the table, where a footman removed a chair. Arabella then told the man what she wanted, while Rose introduced Georgie. Sophie relaxed as Georgie smiled and began conversing.
After Sophie filled her own plate, she walked back to her seat. She’d just sat down when Arabella addressed her. “Rose said you are the expert on literature.”
She felt her cheeks heat. “I’m not an expert, but I do enjoy reading poems, plays, and stories.”
“Do you have a favorite?”
“Oh, no. I could ever choose one over all others. There are just so many that I have read more than once because I enjoyed them so much.”
Arabella’s brows rose, before she winced and lowered them. “I am partial to mythology.”
“You will read some of that as well as Greek plays and the best of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. In history, you’ll also read Herodotus and Homer, so if you like the Greek myths, you will be sure to enjoy the rest.”
Arabella smiled before turning to Georgie. “And Rose said you enjoy bird watching and can tell me what bird I saw on my windowthis morning.”
As Georgie asked about the bird in question, Sophie looked over to the other ladies, who kept glancing over. It had to be quite a shock to them to have a classmate in a wheeled chair with numerous physical injuries. She hoped they would eventually make Arabella a friend. Maybe once she started joining the conversations with the instructors.
“Sophie, I hope I can watch you skate one afternoon.”
At Arabella’s statement, she turned her attention back to her friends. “Me? Why?”
Rose, now seated next to Arabella with a plate of food, knitted her brow. “Because you’re so graceful. You outshine us all. Truly, Sophie, you are so good at observing others, you forget to observe yourself.”
Sophie had never thought of observing herself. “That may be a bit difficult.”
