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“Yes!” Grace said with evident glee. “Isn’t it brilliant?”
Alicia pondered her sister’s previous schemes to entice men into the possibility of an engagement. “It’s certainly…ambitious, I grant you that. Though I can’t guarantee everyone will be pleased to see you stealing the show.”
“Oh, who asked you?”
“It sounds as though you have a busy day planned, sister,” said Alicia with as close to a fond smile as she could summon.
Grace rolled her eyes and gave a bitter sigh. “Well? Aren’t you going to sit and have some breakfast? I’ve no patience for waiting for you to finish playing around so we can get to actually important business.”
“Oh, there’s no need to wait on me, Grace.”
“Fine. In that case—”
“I’m afraid I won’t be joining you on this particular escapade, as it happens.”
In the middle of rising from her chair, Grace paused to emit her signature false, disdainful laugh. “What do you mean? Just what will you be doing instead?”
“I will be returning to Dunwood, actually,” she said, fighting to keep her voice calm.
“Where?” Grace asked, uncomprehending.
“The place in the countryside where I was stranded until yesterday.”
Alicia swallowed, her courage threatening to falter.I have to go back. I have to go back.
“I met a man there, Grace,” she continued as steadily as possible. “Laurence Gillingham. I mean to see if he will marry me.”
Alicia had not thought Grace was holding a teacup, yet there was a crash that filled the dining hall as the porcelain vessel dropped from her fingers and shattered on the tabletop.
“Absolutely not!” barked Grace, straightening herself to her full height. “That is out of the question!”
“He is a good man, Grace,” Alicia said coolly, beginning to walk backwards toward the door. “Honest, upright, a pillar of his community. I love him, and I believe he loves me as well. If he will have me, I intend to live with him on his farm in the countryside.”
“Outrageous!” Grace continued, advancing on her now. “Vile! Insolent!”
“I will be taking the carriage again, I’m afraid.”Keep moving, Alicia. One step at a time, you’re nearly there.“But after I reach an agreement with Mister Gillingham I will have Herbert bring the carriage back right away. You will still be able to make it to your important social affairs next week, and we can discuss the practical points of the dowry and my things then.”
“Of…of all the ridiculous…backwards…unreasonable…” From this last word Grace lapsed into incoherent noises of spite, flecks of spittle flying from her lips as she continued to stomp in Alicia’s direction.
“I’ll let you consider the end of that sentence for a while, sister,” said Alicia, then turned to hasten her exit.
“Hold on for just one moment!”
Against her better judgment, Alicia paused mid-turn. She craned her head back around to see what Grace had to say. Her sister’s face was twitching now, her skin turning a lovely shade of violet as she swelled herself up still larger with malice in the manner of a cobra.
“You…are not going…anywhere,” spat Grace, seething with rage. “I forbid you from leaving, and I certainly forbid you from even entertaining the idea of marrying some…somecountry bumpkin!And before your older sister marries! It will be the death of this family, and I will not allow it!”
Alicia expected herself to grow angry at this pronouncement, to shout back at her sister and plead her case. But for the first time, she found that she had nothing but pity for Grace at this moment. And so it was with great gentleness that she said, “That’s where you’re wrong, Grace. You cannot dictate my own life to me any longer. I’m through with helping you get what you want—it’s time at last for me to pursue whatIwant. Goodbye, sister.”
And with that, before she could even witness Grace’s reaction, she completed her turn and strode out into the corridor. She could see the sunlight pouring in the open front door and picked up her pace into a near-run.
But Grace proved less easy to shake than the previous night, and Alicia could not ignore the sounds of her polished leather shoes tapping rapidly across the floor after her.
“I tell you, you cannotdothis!” Grace screeched, hastening to catch up with her.
“I suppose we shall see about that,” Alicia called over her shoulder.
“You’re throwing your life away!”
