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Stella’s heart thudded against her ribs with a sickening thump.

“I told Silvester he was a fool, because you and he are suited to each other. As was I to my husband. No flummery between us, but plenty of old-fashioned lust.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Stella said. She was fighting a horrible rush of misery. She knew Silvester hadn’t chosen her first. She knew he had been in love with Yasmin. Nothing that his mother was saying was particularly fresh.

So why did she feel so cold and miserable?

“You can build on lust,” the dowager was saying. That seemed to be the end of her marital advice, so they sat in silence while Stella gave herself a lecture.

She wasn’t in love with Silvester. She refused to be in love with Silvester. He wasn’t in love with her. That was . . . fine.

She simply had to keep her equilibrium. Stop sneaking looks at him. Romantic love was a fantasy, and besides, he’d given what he had to Yasmin. She’d take whatever the dowager and her duke had. The love that came from years together, from loyalty and passion.

As long as she kept her dignity, she would be fine. No embarrassing Silvester or herself. She couldn’t start hanging on him, like a lovesick ninny.

“My eyesight is worse than it used to be,” the duchess said suddenly. “How would I manage the details of a design, the figures and so on?”

“Spectacles,” Stella said flatly. “I’ll send for the man who sold me these. He’ll come to the house with a box full of them. You’ll try each on until you find the pair that corrects your vision.”

“The queen doesn’t like to see women wearing them,” the dowager said.

Stella shrugged. Whether or not Her Majesty approved of her spectacles was very low on the list of things she cared about.

“You are a real duchess already,” the dowager said, pointing at Stella again.

Stella managed a smile. “I’m not certain that is a compliment.”

“Why should I care what Her Majesty thinks?” the dowager said to herself. “She’s never approved of my chimney. In fact, I don’t think she’s ever mentioned it to me, just complained about my monocle. How on earth could I have designed a chimney while holding a lorgnette?”

“I have wondered the same about reading,” Stella said with feeling. “If I were to hold the lorgnette in one hand, how could I hold a book and turn the pages?”

“Even if I weren’t given to unladylike pursuits,” the dowager said, nodding, “I could scarcely hold a child along with a lorgnette, could I?”

Stella found it difficult to imagine her mother-in-law peering at a baby through her monocle, but she nodded.

“I shall introduce you to the queen,” the dowager announced.

Stella frowned. “I was formally presented at one of the Queen’s Drawing Rooms. Her Majesty wasn’t impressed by me the first time, though I gather now that I was lucky to escape without a comment about my spectacles.”

“What did she say about you?”

“Homely and plump, as I heard later.”

“Heard? From whom?”

Stella hesitated. “A friend.”

The duchess snorted. “No true friend would say that. I doubt it was true. I’ve known the queen since we were both girls. Her Majesty exclaims about the Season’s diamonds but doesn’t dish out insults on the rest of the gals.”

Stella managed a wavering smile. Lydia might have invented the royal insult, but Silvester had admitted to commenting that Stella didn’t care about her appearance, which was just another way of saying she was homely.

“I shall wear spectacles, and you shall wear that blue gown,” the dowager announced. “Then you shall sing for the queen, Stella. My governess would have the vapors if she heard me use your forename. You don’t mind if I address you as Stella, do you?”

Stella shook her head.

“Like shaking hands and spectacles, I must move with the times.” The dowager was sitting bolt upright, looking far more energetic and happy than Stella had seen her other than when waving a wooden sword. “I shall inform Her Majesty that I plan to design a better chimney.”

The upshot of this conversation was that three weeks later the Dowager Duchess of Huntington and the new Duchess of Huntington were bidden to a private audience with Her Majesty, the Queen.