Grace stood frozen where she stood. Was it something about Lord Dashlend? What could it be? What would Lady Margaret write about? What could be shocking and stunning? Was it news of an engagement?
“I have been looking at things all wrong,” Valor said, throwing up her hands. The letter flew one way and Mrs. Wendover flew the other way. Mrs. Wendover was not long on the carpet as Nelson grabbed her by the neck and returned her to Valor, wagging his tail and hoping for another throw.
“What?” Grace asked. “What has so affected you?”
“I wrote to her about how I have nightmares about monsters or I wake in the night and think there is a monster in my room or under my bed. Guess what she says?”
Grace allowed herself to breathe again. It was not an engagement. She could not give a toss for what Lady Margaret had to say about monsters. It was nothing to do with Lord Dashlend. “I have no idea. What does Lady Margaret say about it?”
“She says they are like village boys who like to bully but if you laugh at them and tell them to be off, they run away ashamed of themselves. Then, while they are running away, you tell them you are going to talk to the vicar about their behavior and they will not dare to come back. They are terrified of the church—it is their great weakness.”
“Yes, indeed, that does make sense,” Grace said, biting her lip to stop her laughter.
“Why didn’t anybody tell me! How many hours of sleep have I lost? Mrs. Right doesn’t know, else she would have said. Wait until I tell her, she will be just as shocked as Mrs. Wendover was.”
Fortunately, Grace was not pressed to explain why nobody had told Valor of the unique weaknesses of monsters until this late date. Mr. Button announced Felicity and Mr. Stratton.
“Felicity!” Valor cried, throwing herself at her eldest sister. “You’ve been gone from us for so long!”
“I know, poppet,” Felicity said. “Grace, how do you get on?”
Grace kissed her sister’s cheek. “Perhaps I save that description for a confidential conversation,” she said. “Mr. Stratton, how do you do?”
Mr. Stratton bowed and said, “Married life suits me, so I do very well. Now, as we are relations, you ought to just call me Stratton.”
Grace nodded, though she could not quite imagine doing so. “You are very kind to agree to look through my calendar.”
“Not at all.” Mr. Stratton paused and peered at Nelson.
“Gracious,” Felicity said, “you’ve got a three-legged dog.”
“And blind in one eye,” Valor said proudly.
“Of course you do,” Mr. Stratton said, laughing. “I suppose we ought to get to your calendar before Dashlend arrives.”
“Oh yes, it is just here, along with some invitations I’ve yet to do anything with.”
Grace and Stratton sat across from each other and laid the calendar out on a table. While they reviewed the invitations she had accepted and opened the pile just arrived, Valor gave Felicity a full accounting of her new understanding of monsters. Nelson sat at Felicity’s feet, seeming very taken with this new arrival to the house.
It was not long before the rest of the sisters arrived. Valor informed them of the information she had received regarding the nature of monsters. Naturally, Verity nodded sagely and said it was commonly understood. She was less successful in answering why she’d never bothered to mention it if she’d known it all along.
Verity dodged that question by turning the subject to Felicity. Their eldest sister was surrounded and peppered with questions regarding married life. Some of the questions made Mr. Stratton downright blush, though he pretended not to hear.
Was it genial to wake up and find a gentleman had been in the room all night? Did he stare at you while you were sleeping? Had Felicity seen Mr. Stratton’s scars from the tiger, as they were under his clothes? Would she have a baby soon? Had Mr. Stratton seen Felicity’s hair unpinned and what did he think about it?
Felicity answered with all good humor. It was very genial to wake to somebody in the room, she did not know if he stared as she was asleep, she had seen the scars and they were terribly attractive, she did not know when she would have a baby but not in the next months, and Mr. Stratton had seen her hair unpinned and thought it smashing.
Mr. Stratton, while not always enthusiastic to see the duke, did seem to welcome the interruption of this sisterly discussion on the finer points of marriage.
“Ho there, Stratton,” the duke said, “I hope you keep my girl happy?”
“I do my best, Your Grace,” Mr. Stratton said.
Felicity kissed her father’s cheek and said, “He does very well, Papa.”
“He’s seen Felicity’s hair unpinned and thinks it’s smashing,” Valor put in for good measure. “Though we don’t know if he stares at her in her sleep.”
The duke merely raised his brows, rather than answer, as a father cannot be expected to inquire into such matters.
