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evening.
    "I met up with Lord Rathbourne and Lord Lisle at
Popham's today," she told Olivia as she took off her shabby
cloak.
    "Lord Rathbourne?" Olivia repeated. She
pretended to be trying to remember who this was.
    "You know perfectly well who he is," said her
mother. "You assaulted his nephew. Then you tried to recruit the
boy as a drawing student."
    "Oh, him ,"
said Olivia. "I told you I felt sorry for that boy. Obviously he
was in desperate need of lessons."
    "And we, obviously, are in desperate need of
money," said her mother. "But you are barking up the wrong
tree."
    Olivia quickly began to lay out the tea things. Her
mother watched, her face so stern. But she didn't look well. She had
deep shadows under her eyes and her skin was too pale. Poor Mama!
    "You are right, Mama," she said soothingly.
"Everyone knows aristocrats never pay their tradesmen. I should
have realized they'd treat teachers the same."
    "That is not the point," her mother said. "You
are grown up enough to understand our position. You know we are
lepers and outcasts from the Great World."
    "Lord Rathbourne didn't look
disgusted when you spoke to him," Olivia said. He had looked at
her as Papa used to do. And Mama had blushed .
    "He was acting" her mother said. "He is a perfect gentleman, and a perfect
gentleman is always polite. He would no more agree to my teaching his
precious nephew how to draw than he would consent to your best friend
the pawnbroker teaching him sums."
    Well, this was disappointing.
    But it would take more than one setback to daunt Olivia.
    Already she had an Idea.

    THE LETTER ARRIVED on Thursday in a furtive manner
calculated to awaken Peregrine's curiosity. The young under-footman
slipped it to him, whispering that his lordship would have his head
if he heard of it, but he didn't know how to say no to the young
lady.
    Possessing more than average intelligence, Peregrine had
little trouble deducing the young lady's identity from the servant's
description. The letter's clandestine arrival intrigued him to a
painful degree. However, he knew better than to open it when anyone
else was about. One of the other servants would see. The more who
knew, the more likely the butler would find out. He would tell Lord
Rathbourne.
    Peregrine tucked the letter into an inner coat pocket
and bore several hours of silent agonies before he was at last alone
in his room, unwatched, and could open it.
    Written in a large, elaborate, and untidy script, the
thing took up a great deal of paper.

    My Lord,
    It is exceedingly wrong — and
Fast, I believe — for
a Young Lady to write privately to a Young Gentleman. Nonetheless, I
must bow to a greater Necessity: To
Tell the Truth. I know 1 risk
lowering your Opinion of me. Not that I can imagine how you could
think any Less than you do, for you must be aware by now that Tragic
Circumstances have made me a Leper and an Outcast from the Great World to which you belong. Until
the Family Curse is lifted My dear Mama has told me of meeting with you and His Lordship your
Esteemed Uncle yesterday at Popham's Print Shop. She has chided me
for my Audacity and explained why 1 should not have tried to enlist you as a
    drawing student. Furthermore, she
tells me I shall Never See You
Again. I know this is of no consequence to you, for I am merely
an Insignificant Girl, one you hardly know or would wish to know better. Yet our Meeting
left a most Forceful Impression upon me. Since our Elders have de-creed that we are NEVER
TO MEET AGAIN. I must take the
Liberty of telling you through these Secretive Means how greatly I admire your Honorable and Courageous Ambition to be a GREAT EXPLORER instead
of another Idle Aristocrat .
I most earnestly wish you well in your Endeavors to learn to Draw .
    Yours sincerely,
    Olivia Wingate

    P.S. Please do not attempt to
communicate with me. One day
the Family Curse's h all
be lifted, and then In
India, there is a class of people known as Untouchables. Until Henceforth you must consider