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“ N ow, Joceline.”

Joceline glanced at her mother as they stepped into the ballroom. “Yes, Mama?”

“This is not to be as things were last Season,” her mother said, briskly. “You are to push yourself forward a little more. You are to seek to have your dance card practically filled at as many balls as we attend. You are to laugh and smile and converse – but not too much, you understand.”

Fully comprehending what it was her mother was saying by making such a statement, Joceline nodded. “Yes, Mama.” She had no intention of pretending that she was anything other than a bluestocking, however, for having overheard her mother and father’s conversation, Joceline felt herself confident in her father’s encouragement of her. “I shall do my best, certainly.” This was meant in every seriousness though Lady Melford did not appear to take it as such, given the frown that quickly settled over her forehead.

“You are the only focus now, Joceline,” she said, putting her hand on Joceline’s arm as if to make sure that she was paying full attention. “I will be watching your every step and listening to your every word.”

This made Joceline scowl.

“You may think that you can do as you please and continue as you did last Season but I am telling you now clearly, I will not permit it,” Lady Melford stated, looking into Joceline’s eyes. “You cannot hide behind your sister this Season and thus, you must be seen by others, known by others, and acknowledged by others. That is the only way.”

Joceline nodded though, inwardly, her stomach twisted at the thought of trying to have a conversation with a gentleman that she did not know and who might not have any interest in knowing her! Sarah had been excellent in her conversation and her manner, able to have words flowing between herself and whomever she was speaking with, all within a matter of seconds, it seemed! Joceline, on the other hand, had found it difficult to speak easily with others, for, truth be told, the conversation had been vacuous and disinteresting. The talk of gossip had been most displeasing to her and she certainly had not had any thought of joining in and whispering about others in society! Even the imagining of it had been displeasing and thus, she had spent many a time in society standing very quietly indeed as her sister, mother or another in the group had spoken. She had been a very willing observer.

Not this Season, it seemed.

“Joceline!”

Her considerations flew out of her mind at a familiar voice and, turning, she quickly grasped the hands of Lady Rosalyn. “Rosalyn! How wonderful to see you!”

“And I you!” her friend exclaimed. “Goodness, it has been some months since we were last in company together and I confess that I have felt your absence every one of those days.” She grinned, her eyes twinkling. “I have had no one to discuss the recent goings on in – oh!” Her smile cracked and she bobbed a quick curtsy, her gaze going over Joceline’s shoulder. “Lady Melford, good evening.”

“Good evening.” Joceline’s mother said, her tone a trifle cold. “Lady Rosalyn, I presume that you are not here alone?”

“Not at all, but I am being permitted to come and join my friend for a time,” came the reply, as Lady Melford’s lip curled just a fraction as though this was greatly displeasing. “I am grateful to know that I am trusted!”

Joceline, catching her friend’s intention in saying such things, turned to look up at her mother. “Might I walk with Lady Rosalyn for a time? Just around the ballroom, no further.”

Lady Melford drew herself up. “I am disinclined to permit such a thing, Lady Rosalyn. Joceline’s dance card is not yet filled, though we have only just arrived.”

This did not put Lady Rosalyn’s enthusiasm to the test. “Then I shall return her to your side with every dance filled, I assure you. Good evening, Lady Melford.”

With that, she took Joceline’s arm and then hurried her away from her mother, pulling her to the quiet part of the ballroom so they might speak together.

“It is truly delightful to see you again,” Lady Rosalyn said, squeezing Joceline’s arm. “I was so hoping that you would be present, for there is much that I need to tell you!”

“Tell me?” Joceline asked, turning to look at her friend, a trifle wide eyed. “Is it that you are engaged?”

This made Lady Rosalyn laugh aloud, making Joceline’s face heat. “No, no, not in the least. That is not something that I should undertake lightly. Since I have been away from London, I have not found any interest from any gentleman in the nearby vicinity of my father’s estate. Though that is to be entirely expected given that they all only think of shooting and hunting and the like!”

Joceline laughed softly at this. “You mean that you have tried to engage them in conversation about other matters?”

“Indeed.” Lady Rosalyn looked suddenly very serious. “I have tried to speak of the war and all that has been happening there but I am given nothing more than an incredulous look and then a stunned silence. Either they do not know what it is that I am speaking of or they do not think that a young lady such myself ought to know anything about it and thus, they do not wish to encourage me!”

With a grimace, Joceline sighed and looped her arm through her friends as they meandered slowly around the ballroom, forgetting all about her mother’s expectation that she return with a full dance card. “That is not at all encouraging.”

Lady Rosalyn nodded. “Indeed, it is not. My father is not particularly concerned as regards my unwed status, which is a relief, but then again, he is not particularly concerned about anything aside from his own estate and family name!”

Joceline smiled sympathetically. “That brings both its own difficulties and its blessings, I suppose.”

“It does.” Lady Rosalyn sighed and then, after a moment, gave herself a small, brisk shake. “But I do not mean to be throwing all of my concerns out on you. That is not what I meant when I said there was much I needed to tell you.”

“No?” Joceline’s interest quickened. “Then what it is?”

Lady Rosalyn beamed at her. “I have found some new friends and I have been eagerly awaiting your arrival so that I might introduce them to you.” When Joceline nodded, Lady Rosalyn laughed softly. “You do not understand, they are not just any sort of acquaintances. They are all bluestockings!”

Joceline’s eyes widened. “Truly?”

“Truly,” Lady Rosalyn smiled. “Come with me now and I will introduce you to them all.”

Allowing her friend to lead her, Joceline’s eyes caught on a familiar face though there were two others that she did not recognize. “Miss Sherwood – Eugenia.” She smiled and embraced her friend. “It has been so long since I have seen you!”

“Almost a year!” Miss Sherwood responded, as Lady Rosalyn smiled. “But we are back in company together again now, are we not?”

“And let me introduce you to two new acquaintances so that we shall be a merry little band of bluestockings!” Lady Rosalyn said, with a smile. “Lady Amelia, Lady Isobella, might I introduce you to Lady Joceline, daughter of Viscount Melford.”

Joceline curtsied and then, as she rose, smiled warmly. “I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Lady Isobella, and yours also, Lady Amelia.”

“And we you!” Lady Isobella exclaimed, her eyes alight with clear excitement. “Lady Rosalyn has told us so much about you and we have been eagerly awaiting your arrival here in London.”

Joceline threw a sidelong glance toward her friend. “Just what have you been saying?”

Lady Rosalyn laughed. “I have been telling them that your father is supportive of your desire to learn and to read and the like. That is not something that all of us have been granted, unfortunately, though I know that we are all glad to have some solidarity.”

“Indeed.” Lady Amelia nodded fervently. “It is good to know that there are other young ladies like us, those of us who seek to expand our knowledge and think it a good thing to do.”

“Especially when society thinks it ill,” Lady Isobella added, with a grimace as the light faded from her eyes. “It certainly does make one feel a good deal less isolated.”

Joceline smiled at the small group, feeling her spirits a good deal lifted now. “You are right that I have my father’s support but I certainly do not have my mother’s and it is she who is here with me in London.” Her smile began to dim. “I have overheard her speaking of my bluestocking ways with a good deal of disparity and that has made things a trifle difficult for me, I confess.”

“I can imagine that must have been very troubling to hear also,” Miss Sherwood said gently, her understanding and sympathy apparent in her expression and in her voice. “I am sorry for that.”

Joceline hesitated, wondering if she ought to speak honestly when in the present company given that she had only just been introduced, but then she considered herself right to do so. “It was painful, yes. I confess to you all that my heart was sore upon hearing all that my mother thought of me but, at the same time, I was also grateful for my father’s support and understanding. Though I do wish that he was in London with us!”

“He is not here?” Lady Rosalyn asked. “I thought he would be.”

Joceline shook her head. “He was called away on business.”

“I am here with my brother,” Lady Rosalyn told her, with a wry smile. “So though he is just as disinclined towards my learning and the like, he is a little… distracted given the very many young ladies present and his own desire for a bride.” This made not only Lady Rosalyn laugh but the others with her and, as they did so, Joceline felt her heart squeeze with a sharp, fierce delight. She had not had any sort of camaraderie like this before! Yes, she had known Lady Rosalyn and Miss Sherwood the previous Season, but for there to be five of them who all felt the same way was quite different!

“I think we shall all be excellent friends,” she said, making the other young ladies smile. “It will be an excellent Season, I am sure, now that I have you all with me. No amount of constant demands from my mother shall dampen my spirits, not now that I have friends with whom I can share my passion for reading.” She chuckled softly to herself, a lightness in her spirit now. “In fact, even though I am expected to dance and to smile and to converse as my mother expects, I will have a fresh endurance, knowing that I have many a friend sympathizing with me as I endure dull conversations and the like.”

Lady Rosalyn giggled. “Oh, we shall have to put up with many a frustrating conversation, I am sure! Do you know that the last time I tried to speak to a fellow about what I had been reading recently, he turned bodily away from me and showed me no further interest whatsoever?”

Lady Isobella gasped. “Goodness, that was most rude of him!”

“Indeed,” Lady Rosalyn agreed, “though at least I knew that this was someone I am now able to ignore for the rest of the Season!”

This sent smiles around the small group and Joceline drew in a long, steady breath and then let it out again just as slowly. Here, she felt herself at ease – and that in the center of a London ballroom! She had never expected such a thing as this, had thought that it would be a good deal more difficult than this for her first ball and yet now, despite it all, she had not only met her friends from the past Season but also made two more acquaintances! Yes, she determined as she looked at each and every face, this would be a very good Season indeed.