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“ S he’s going to end up kissing him and being completely happy eventually,” Charlotte said.

“I think she’s bound to kill him first,” Marianne replied in a subdued tone. Evelyn stayed where she was, on the gravel path before the gardens. She had come to visit her sisters and aunt, but had inadvertently come upon them gossiping about her.

Not that she was too upset about it. She and her sisters often talked about each other behind their backs. It was hardly ever anything malicious.

Even if what was said was unkind, it was usually said amidst the recent argument. But she couldn’t help but wonder what her sisters truly thought about her marriage.

“Girls,” Aunt Eugenia said. “Your sister is very upset about the current situation, so let us not talk about it so much. It must be?—”

“Oh yes, so difficult to be married to a handsome, dashing duke,” Charlotte interrupted.

“She says she didn’t want to marry him,” Marianne defended her. “What good does it do to be married to the most beautiful man in the entire realm when he doesn’t want?—”

“She says he doesn’t want her,” Charlotte replied. “But I’ve seen the way he looks at her. It is obvious that he is moon-eyed over her. And they must have been up to something in his study for Lady Charmaine to say what she did. She would not have just made that?—”

“Ladies make things up all the time.”

“So do gentlemen,” Aunt Eugenia chimed in.

“None of our society is immune to the desire to gossip—from the lowliest pauper to the Prince Regent himself. Everybody does it. This entire realm would be better off if people would not constantly let their tongues spread gossip. We all have our own lots to bear. We ought to focus on ourselves. Starting with you two ladies,” she said.

Evelyn wanted to rush in to hug her Aunt Eugenia. She was a true ally.

Still, even as she thought that, she felt an ache in her chest. An ache for her mother. How different everything would be if her mother were living. And as so often in her life, the burden of carrying the family rested on her shoulders.

She pulled her shoulders back and walked out around the corner.

“There she is!” Charlotte called at once, and both her sisters got up to hug and kiss her cheeks.

“Yes, that means you have to stop talking about me behind my?—”

“You heard what we said?” Charlotte said. “Well, even if you did, it was all the truth.”

“I doubt that,” Evelyn said. “Especially the part about Nathaniel. And I agree with Aunt Eugenia. I do not wish to talk about him. Just for once, I wish to talk about something other than my precarious marital status.”

“It is hardly precarious,” Charlotte said. “What I said stands. You are married. None will gossip about you. You have a fortune of your own, and it’s about time that you stop fretting and instead start thinking about what it is you wish to do with your position.”

“Do with it?” she said and placed herself in one of the woven chairs.

“Well, yes. You are a duchess. You cannot let this opportunity escape you.”

“Opportunity?” she repeated, feeling as though she were a little dim.

“The opportunity to do good. Yes, it is true—as a duchess, you are still female, a woman, and the possibilities are limited—but you have more options than you ever would have as a daughter of a nobleman. You could run a charity.”

“That is right,” Marianne said. “You could start your own circulating library with books that women actually want to read. You can start a school.”

Charlotte snickered. “Duchess Evelyn’s Finishing School for Impossible Ladies.”

“Stop it,” Marianne said. “I mean, she could do much good.”

From the corner of her eye, she saw her aunt looking at her. Evelyn realized her aunt agreed with her sisters. Perhaps not with Charlotte’s less-than-charitable proposition, but certainly with the notion that she should do something with her life.

“Truly, what else are you going to do?” Charlotte continued. “Sit in your drawing room, your hands folded while you read books by some lady author, and stuffing your mouth with marzipan?”

Evelyn had truly thought about this. For the time being, she had quite enjoyed sitting down, reading, and eating marzipan, amongst other things.

But it was true. Ever since her mother’s death, she had represented the family on her father’s arm for many years, looking after her younger sisters, along with Eugenia.

She had married to keep her family secure.

But she was free of all of that now. Well, she would always have responsibility for her sisters, but finances were no longer a burden upon her shoulders. And she was a duchess. That meant she could do as she pleased.

She wetted her lips. “I always wished that there was a place where young ladies could come together and talk about things that burden them. Things that they would like to see changed. There is no such space. Other than the café for ladies.”

“That is true,” Marianne said. “Sometimes I do wonder what other ladies are thinking, but it is so hard to have serious conversations when one’s surrounded by men all the time who look down upon a lady for having an opinion.

I would like to discuss more serious topics.

Interesting things that truly affect me and those around me. ”

“Your father would not like it,” Eugenia said.

“My father has not liked much what I have done of late. He wanted me to be a duchess, and now I am. And my sisters are quite right. I ought to do something with the title. Perhaps I should invite some like-minded young ladies to come visit me at Sinclair. We can have tea and discuss what we would like to do. What society needs. I should not think that there is a need for yet another orphanage or yet another society for the war-injured. There are many. I want to do something for women. There are so many who have lost their husbands in this wretched war, and none are given priority. The gentlemen care more about producing more ammunition and ensuring that the perfect set of Waterloo teeth are made, instead of caring about the widows and their children.”

“A society for women,” Marianne said. “That sounds interesting.”

“I am sure there is much more,” Evelyn said, growing excited now about the idea.

“This is just the first idea that sprang to my mind. I am sure there are many other bright young ladies who have many more ideas and know of many more causes we could gather behind. You are right—I am the Duchess of Sinclair.” She sat up in the chair.

“I always wanted the house to live in and to be free, but now I think it could be a gathering place. Women could bring books they wish to discuss. They could bring their ideas. It could be a headquarters of a society.” She snapped her fingers and got up.

“The Duchess of Sinclair’s Society for Refined Young Ladies,” she said. “No, that sounds like a finishing?—”

Her sisters snickered, and even her aunt laughed.

“The Duchess of Sinclair Society for the Advancement of Women,” Aunt Eugenia said then, and the three young ladies looked at her.

“That is a wonderful idea. I cannot wait,” Evelyn said, feeling for the first time in a long time truly inspired.

She had worried about nothing other than her family and her marital status for so long.

Having something that was her own, something that she could throw her passions into, excited her beyond measure.

“Goodness, I shall speak to Nathaniel about the use of the house.”

“Will he agree?” Marianne asked. “He is a duke, after all. They tend to look down on such things.”

Evelyn scoffed. “It is in his best interest to let me do as I please. He has made me richly unhappy as it is. He ought to want to do something to please me. All these months, he put me through misery with his insistence that I court one of those awful bores he found for me. He would order renovations in every room I was in just to push me out. Then, when I last thought that we were getting along, he made it clear how little I meant to him, and he told me to move to the dower house. Only to force me into marriage with him. No, no, no. He will not deny me. He will not,” she said.

Marianne opened her mouth, but Charlotte leaned forward.

“What is it?”

“I saw you elbow her, Marianne. What did you want to say? If we’re going to have a society for women, then we will not silence one another.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes and stepped to the window.

“It is just—you blame him for everything. But you played a part in all of this, too. Because truly, you do care for him. And you must believe that—well, at least believe at one point that he cared for you. You would not have pushed away Lord Halston if you believed Nathaniel was as bad as all that. I think the reason you are so angry is that you still care for him.”

“I do not. And it is a good thing. Annabelle told me that before he came to London, he was quite the rake in Scotland.” She turned to her aunt. “Did you know about this?”

Her aunt shrugged. “All these young bucks behave wastefully and are not gentlemanly before they come into their own.”

“So, he was a rake,” Evelyn said. The conversation with her friend had weighed on her for some time, but only now did she realize how much it had bothered her.

“I suppose someone could call him a rake, yes. But he has hardly been out on the town ever since he came here. Clearly, he has reformed. As many of these gentlemen do when they come into that position.”

“Hmm,” she grunted. “I would have liked to have known that beforehand. It does not change anything. But anyhow, it is a good thing that I have come to an understanding with myself in this regard.”

“Have you?” her aunt asked.

“Well, yes. He and I will continue to live side by side as we have been, each leading our own lives. He may do as he pleases. And I may do as I please. And that is it.”

“So you would not care if he went back to his philandering ways?” Charlotte asked from the window.

“He wouldn’t. He is a duke now. He cares about his reputation.”

“Whatever you say,” Charlotte replied, and Evelyn sat back.

It wasn’t true, what she said at all. It would bother her greatly if he went back to his philandering ways, because that would just be another strike to her heart.

He had gone out with Julian every now and again, but she thought that they only went to the gentlemen’s clubs.

“What do gentlemen do at gentlemen’s clubs?”

Her aunt looked at her. “Well, everything you imagine they would do. Eating, drinking, talking.”

“Most clubs,” Charlotte said and returned to the table. “But there are some where they do more. There are clubs,” she said, leaning forward in a conspiratorial manner, “where they have ladies of ill repute in the back, willing to do anything.”

“No,” she said. “I cannot believe that.”

“Of course. You cannot be this na?ve. Not all the clubs are like this, of course. But some are. What do you think—that the realm’s most distinguished peers would venture into Saint Giles whenever they have a desire for a lady’s company?

No. They taste something more refined, even when it comes to ladies of the night.

Why? Are you worried that Nathaniel might be venturing out to such clubs? ”

“Of course not,” she said. “And even if he was, I already said it would not bother me. But I would like to know, so I could be prepared.”

“I see,” Charlotte replied.

“Why not ask him?” Marianne suggested. “If your arrangement is as plain as you made it sound, then surely you could ask him. You could tell him that you were thinking of starting your own society, and you need to know what to be prepared for.”

“I think not,” she said, just as the front door opened and a carriage stopped as her father exited. He stopped and looked into the gardens. Seeing her, he dipped his head and then made his way into the house.

“You could ask your father,” Aunt Eugenia said.

All three girls immediately broke into protest, making their aversion to this known with all manner of retching and groaning.

“Eugenia!” Marianne said. “That is a terrible suggestion.”

“Yes. Father would never,” Charlotte said.

Evelyn’s eyes widened, and she looked at her sister. “And you called me na?ve?”

“I do not wish to discuss this anymore,” Charlotte said. “Now, are we going to get shaved ice or not?”

With that, the rather inappropriate conversation came to an end, and the three sisters and their aunt got up to make their way to the carriage to do the only thing ladies could do on a boiling hot summer’s day—indulge in shaved ice and forget all about the gentlemen that bothered them.