Page 2 of The Best-Laid Plans

Mother clapped her hands together, her eyes opening wide with anticipation. “Oh, Newton. He would force you into Society, I am certain of it.”

“Whowould force him?” Father had, apparently, overheard part of her last remark.

“Young Mr. Charles Jonquil.” Mother turned to face the sofa, where he still sat.

“Jonquil? Excellent.” He set his neglected book on the table beside him. He rose with a look of determination on his face. “I will begin seeing to the arrangements for travel forthwith.”

“Let us hope Charlie agrees,” Newton muttered.

Father crossed toward the door but turned back before leaving the room and looked directly at him. “Bath is perfect. No Inns of Court to distract you. We’ll have this sorted, you’ll see. We’ll haveyousorted.”

Ah, lud.

“Do we have to invitehim?” Newton muttered after his father stepped out.

Mother set her arms around him and squeezed, as she’d done so many times since he’d been a young boy. “He wants only what’s best for you, dear. You’ll find he’s not so wrong as you currently think. He understands these things.”

What Father and, unfortunately, Mother didn’t understand washim.

Charlie did though. They’d been friends far too long and been far too honest with each other for Newton to have the least doubt on that score. Charlie would take his part. He knew he would.

Just his luck, really. He was to be assailed by his parents and championed by Cambridge’s unofficial jester. This sojourn in Bath had all the markings of a miserable, frustrating, exhausting disaster.

* * *

Ellie Napper’s sojourn in Bath had all the markings of a miserable, frustrating, exhausting disaster. Her family traveled to Bath at the end of each summer. Doing so allowed them the tiny nibble of Society they could afford, London being quite outside their financial means. She was joining them for the first time and discovering this visit was not meant to be a leisurely holiday.

“The seamstress I engaged is certain she can remake Lillian’s gowns from last year.” Mother sat at the round table in the sitting room, wire-rimmed spectacles perched at the end of her nose. “We will have to pay for new gowns for Ellie.”

“Why should she have new gowns made when I have to make do with old ones?” Lillian would have struggled to sound more offended than she did.

“Believe me, I would not have chosen the arrangement,” Mother said. “But we have funds enough for only one of you to have newly made gowns. And as Ellie has never left Shropshire, nothing of hers could possibly be made acceptable for Society gatherings, no matter how much effort a seamstress put into the task. And the two of you cannot share gowns, which prevents her from wearing your castoffs from last year’s sojourn in Bath.”

It was not a matter of embarrassment but of necessity. Lillian was reed-like. Ellie had ample curves, more than many young ladies.

“Why should the younger sister be given all the advantages of a fine seamstress?” Lillian clearly didn’t mean to give over easily on the matter of their wardrobes.

“The more expensive dressmaker and the more talented one has been engaged to remakeyours,” Mother said. “We’ve found an adequate one to make Ellie a few acceptable gowns. She will not outshine you. Of that you can be certain.”

Ellie had been certain of that even before the topic had been raised. Her family’s preference for Lillian and tendency to belittle Ellie had all but guaranteed it.

Mother ran her finger down the parchment in front of her, updating Ellie and her sister, Lillian, on each item listed there. “Mrs. Clark is in Bath, as usual. We will most certainly call on her. And Mr. and Mrs. Lancaster have come also.” The Lancasters were their neighbors in Shropshire, a young couple not many years older than Ellie. “With their connections, they will be the very toast of Bath. We must make certain to call on them often.”

Mr. Lancaster was also on close terms with a brother of the Earl of Lampton, and he claimed both a countess and a duchess amongst his sisters.

“Will Their Graces be in Bath, do you suppose?” Lillian asked.

Mother shook her head. “Even if the duchess could convince her husband to come, they have an infant. I cannot imagine they would travel while their child is still so young.”

Though Ellie was in the room, she was hardly necessary to this discussion. That was more often the case than not.

“I have heard that Lord Lampton’s youngest brother is in Bath, staying with a friend of his. He will most certainly visit the Lancasters, owing to their friendship.” Mother pulled off her spectacles and set them on the table, eyeing Ellie and Lillian in turn. “We must build on the progress we made when young Mr. Jonquil last visited our neighborhood. We cannot let slip by us an opportunity for a connection to that family.”

“I tried, Mama,” Lillian said. “He did not seem the least interested.”

“Your older sister squandered her opportunity with Mr. Lancaster, preferring her penniless nobody.”

The oldest Napper sister deeply loved the gentleman she had recently married, and he loved her. Beatrice was now the happiest any of them had ever seen her. But the family was meant to have been monetarily and socially benefited by the daughters’ marriages. Mother was still fuming over what she considered to be Beatrice’s betrayal.

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