*
For the firsttime in her life, Verity had admitted to someone that she could not read. She’d said it aloud. To Winsome. It had felt very odd to say it aloud, as it had been all her life such a close-held secret.
At first, Winsome had not believed her, or at least thought she exaggerated. Her sister had even grabbed a book from the shelf and opened it to a page and put it under her nose. She’d said, “Surely, you can read a page.”
She’d tried. She’d recognized a word here and there. Then she gave up.
She told Winsome the whole of it. How many times she’d tried, books by candlelight, the terrible lessons with Miss Pynchon, and the inventing of facts to cover that she knew so little.
Verity had thought Winsome might feel rather victorious over all the times she’d challenged her sister and accused her of inventing something. After all, it must be gratifying to discover that one had been right all along.
She’d been surprised when Winsome had wept over it. She said she never would have teased if she’d known. Then they’d both wept. Then Mrs. Right came in, wanting to know what they were weeping about.
They did not tell her, though.
After that, they’d had a lengthy conversation about it. Most particularly, Verity wished to know if there was some trick to it.Some strategy she didn’t know anything about that might solve the problem.
Winsome did not have any tricks to tell her. Nor did she understand where Verity’s problem was. If her sister knew her alphabet and she knew words, why could she not read them all together?
Verity did not know. She’d hoped for some sort of answer, some clue, but it was not to be had. It was a relief to tell someone, though, even if neither of them could think what to do about it. Or what to do about Lord Wembly. Verity had almost hoped that Winsome would tell her that the lord would not care a jot about it. She had not, though.
Of course she had not. He was an intellectual who said the first thing he’d admired about Lady Verity Nicolet was her mind.
Now it was Sunday. As was their usual habit while they were in Town, they’d all spent an hour in the morning reading their bibles. Verity could see well enough that was another thing that had struck Winsome. They sat in the drawing room with their father and Valor. Verity, as she always did, pretended to read. Now Winsome knew it was all a façade. Now Winsome knew that her sister could not even read the word of God! Even Valor could do it, but she could not.
At least Valor had provided some entertainment to pass the time. She’d searched the passage about Noah for any mention of bringing pugs onto the ark. Then she had to explain to Sir Galahad that while it was not outright said, Noah must have done. Sir Galahad seemed satisfied with the explanation.
Afterward, they’d had a tea tray and the duke’s married daughters brought his grandchildren for a visit. Grace’s son, Miles, was a chatterer going on five years old who had questions about everything, including inquiring of the duke how his stomach got so round. For good measure, Miles pushed out his own stomach out so they could look alike. Then when theamusement of that faded, he inquired if the duke knew he had hair inside his ears.
Felicity’s daughter, Isabelle, was just up on her feet and causing the usual amount of chaos that can be expected from such a development. She also seemed to have inherited Felicity’s temper and would get very red in the face if opposed.
Lily was just a few months old and slept like a little angel, though Patience mentioned she was a bit of a night owl and liked to keep everybody awake with her. Stanford had insisted that the nursery be right next to their suite of rooms in case of an emergency. No emergency had arisen, but the earl was going round a bit bleary-eyed these days.
Felicity said, “Verity, I presume you look forward to riding in the park with Lord Wembly on the morrow?”
Verity nodded, as of course she did, though she was a little frightened too. He might ask her questions she had no answer for.
“I am so sorry I missed the dinner,” Grace said, “did you put him through Fact or Fib?”
“What else would we do?” the duke said, laughing. “To take a man’s measure, it is one of the finest games in the land.”
“I left before I had an outburst,” Valor said, “because I’m older now and can feel them coming on.”
“So she did,” the duke said, giving Valor an approving nod.
“Lady Pegatha thinks Sir Galahad is tremendous,” Valor said.
“No dog more tremendous. Come now,” Grace said, “you will all know what information I am interested in. What was Lord Wembly asked and what did he answer?”
“I asked him what he first noticed about Verity, and he said her mind,” Winsome said. She said it rather dejectedly, Verity noticed. Now that Winsome knew her secret, she understood that Verity’s mind should be the last thing the baron should admire.
Grace looked surprised to hear it, which did not surprise Verity.
“We told him he was a fibber because it’s her eyes,” Winsome said.
“At dinner, he almost made Serenity cry,” Valor said. “I would have cried too, but I wasn’t sure what it was all about.”
Grace looked expectantly around, waiting to hear more about it.
