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after that first meeting with Edward, asking Lucia when she might see him again and had he tried to kiss her yet?
    Lucia felt as if Emmeline was willing something to happen between them in order to have the feather of their romance for her cap.
    â€œI have allowed him to call,” she had written to Emmeline. “He seems a solid and dependable soul, if a little old-fashioned. Mama likes him a great deal as she says he is well-mannered and respectful.”
    Not knowing any differently, Lucia told herself that she would be willing to settle for a man who was decent and upright like Edward. She knew that her stepfather, if he did indeed intend to try and make a match for her, would probably find someone a great deal older and set in his ways.
    â€˜Could I really marry someone to save Mama and Bingham Hall from ruin?’ she asked her reflection, as Mary-Anne brushed her hair out later that evening. ‘Papa always told me that I should put my family first and I suppose if I am forced to, I would do it, but only so that Mama would be looked-after and comfortable.’
    Thanking Mary-Anne, she dismissed her and climbed into bed. She turned down the oil lamp by her bed and stared into the darkness of her room.
    â€˜Could I really marry a man I did not love and still be happy?’ she mused. ‘Perhaps Edward will propose and offer to help once he hears of our predicament. Maybe I should hope that he will ask me to marry him before stepfather finds another suitor for me. I should be so much happier if I felt as if I had some choice in the matter.’
    With this thought comforting her, Lucia drifted off to sleep, trying to think of ways to make Edward fall in love with her.
    *
    The day of the ball soon dawned and, in spite of Lucia’s attempts at persuasion, her mother could not be coaxed down from her bedroom.
    â€œIt will do you good to go out,” she had said to her.
    â€œNo, dearest. I feel far too weak to stand up at a ball all evening. You go with Edward and your stepfather. Keep an eye on him and dance with him at least once – promise me?”
    â€œYes, Mama,” agreed Lucia dutifully, feeling revulsion as she said the words.
    She had not warmed to her stepfather any more since the day of the wedding and she felt as if she never would.
    At the appointed time, Mary-Anne came to dress her. The lemon-silk dress flattered her complexion and made her eyes look bluer than their usual shade of grey. The dress was heavy with cream-coloured lace and she decided to wear her pearls to complement it.
    â€œWill you be wearing your dancing slippers, miss?” asked Mary-Anne, opening the wardrobe.
    â€œThere are some cream ones at the back that I have not worn for a long while.”
    â€œYou can’t wear these, miss. Look, they are nearly threadbare in places.”
    Lucia sighed. She had quite forgotten that she had almost ruined them the last time she had worn them in Paris. And now, she was faced with the prospect of either wearing tatty slippers or a pair that did not match her outfit.
    â€œCould you not freshen them up a little?” she asked hopefully.
    Mary-Anne looked at them again.
    â€œI’ll see what Ican do with a kettle and some steam,”she replied.
    â€œI will be as quick as I can.”
    Half an hour later Mary-Anne brought them back.
    â€œThere,” she beamed, bending down to slip Lucia’s foot into one. “I won’t say they’re as good as new, but I’ve managed to patch up the holes. Just don’t you go scuffing them together and they might hold. No one will be looking that closely at them, I’m sure.”
    Lucia wished she was quite as confident as her maid. She knew that every girl in the County would be present in her best clothes and that some took great pleasure in finding fault with each others’ attire.
    At that moment she heard the front door bell ring.
    â€˜That will be Edward,’ she said to