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“Is that Ellie?” Lizzy May called, sounding weak. “Please let her in.”
The maid stepped back, pulling the door open as she went.
Ellie entered to find the curtains back and the windows open. Sunlight streamed in, making the cream and robin’s egg blue room bright and cheery. Lizzy May remained abed, propped up by a mountain of pillows. She smiled, her lips nearly as pale as her skin.
Ellie rushed over to perch on the edge of the bed.
“You look terrible.”
Lizzy May grimaced.
“That bad?”
“Whatever is the matter? What did Mother say? Shouldn’t we call a doctor?”
Lizzy May started to shake her head, turned a bit greenish, and swallowed.
Ellie watched in dreadful fascination.
“Are you going to be sick?”
Lizzy May grimaced and swallowed again. Through gritted teeth she said, “No, I am not. I absolutely refuse to be sick.”
Ellie placed a hand over her sister’s, where it rested on the coverlet.
“When will you be well? I’m starting to worry. This can’t be something you ate, still. It must be more serious.”
Lizzy May leaned back against the pillows and closed her eyes.
“I’ll be perfectly well. Tell me about the garden party. Do you suppose Roslyn and Marie were terribly angry that I called Mother here? I truly forgot it was the day of Lady Krestlin’s party. I should have arranged for them to accompany you and the Dowager.”
Which would have ruined Ellie’s plans, and the Dowager’s.
“I doubt you could have persuaded her to chaperone them. She hardly tolerates me.”
“It was well done of you to convince her to take an interest in you.” Lizzy May blinked her eyes open to smile at Ellie. “And a great boon to me. She seems content enough with you to leave me be for the time being.”
Ellie smiled as cheerfully as she could manage, but she didn’t like to see Lizzy May so wan. Or to lie to her with such abandon. As fun as being a married Duchess, able to walk about garden parties and theatres alone, could be, guilt ate away at Ellie. She would have to put a stop to the charade. Surely, the Dowager’s circle had been convinced of the amicable nature of their relationship by now. Ellie had perpetrated the myth at nearly a week’s worth of events.
As to the other thing, Ellie having the opportunity to meet gentlemen without being courted by them, that had worked. The Dowager had been fully correct. Unlike Ellie’s previous interactions with gentlemen that Season, dancing a set, or chatting at supper, or taking a turn about the room, men spoke to the Duchess of Aspen on more diverse subjects than the weather and without either the calculating or slightly fearful looks she’d come to associate with gentlemen contemplating matrimony.
And while interacting with them so freely, she’d made her selection and therefore no longer required a ruse.
“So? How was Lady Krestlin’s garden party? I understand it’s a grand event. I’m sorry to have missed it.”
“There were an awful lot of people there,” Ellie supplied. “And the garden is wonderful. What a size, for London. It’s as large as some of the public parks.”
Public parks… like public libraries. If they had the one, why not the other? Should she mention Mr. Carmichael’s idea to Lizzy May? Her sister, with her love of books, would approve. Ellie could imagine how happy Mr. Carmichael would be discussing library plans with Mr. Mclintock, whom they’d met that winter.
“I know that look.”
Ellie focused on her sister to see a smug smile adding some life to her visage.
“What look?”
“You’ve met a gentleman,” Lizzy May said with a smirk. “Someone you fancy.”
Ellie shrugged, her cheeks heating.
