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recognized her cape wrapped about a waif of a girl. “Brown Eyes. What are you doing here?”
    The girl knelt in front of Madeline and wiped away her tears. Then she stroked Madeline’s hair in a way that made Madeline aware that someone at sometime in this girl’s sorrowful life must have shown kindness to her.
    Brown Eyes entwined her fingers with Madeline’s, laid her head on her shoulder, and sat with her. Madeline wasn’t certain how long they stayed that way, but because of the sadness in their souls they developed an invisible bond of trust.

C HAPTER 3
     
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind.
    —S HAKESPEARE ,
A M IDSUMMER’S N IGHT D REAM ,
A CT I, S CENE I
    M OTHER, MUST I have dinner with you and Lord Vale?” Madeline’s stomach clenched at the thought of digesting food while Brown Eyes went hungry. It wasn’t easy sneaking food out of the house, and she’d hoped to make one more trip to the cabin that day. Despite Vale’s unfailing politeness toward her, she couldn’t bear to see him take her father’s place. Truth be told, she’d rather spend her time at the cabin caring for the girl. “I fail to understand why you allow him to impose upon you.”
    “Do you?” Grace’s eyes met Madeline’s. “Madeline, stop chewing your nails. It’s a terrible habit.” Her mother sat in front of the mirror in her bedchamber studying her own perfectly trimmed and polished nails. “You must try. Your hands tell other people about your character. You don’t want tongues wagging. Before you know it, the ton will say you have some dreaded disease, and the gossips will be ever so glad to destroy your reputation. You can never be too careful. Appearance is everything.”
    Madeline wished for invisibility. If only I could live a real life, a life built of purpose and not fluff and fashion. Madeline pulled a finger away from her mouth. “Am I allowed no faults?”
    “Only invisible ones, dear.” Grace held a necklace of pearls in front of her and examined it as if searching for flaws in the perfect gems.
    “He’s so… so…” Madeline fished for a word that would not raise her growing concerns about the man or offend her mother. “…exasperating,” she blurted, but she knew immediately from her mother’s tight-lipped expression that it had not been the right word at all.
    “Really, Madeline. You might attempt to be more gracious.” Her mother tried unsuccessfully to fasten the pearl necklace. “It’s not often we have a dinner guest. I find him gracious and thoughtful.”
    “I find him tedious.”
    “Madeline, how awful. Why would you say such a thing?”
    “Perhaps circumspect is a better word,” she added quickly, hoping to ease the sting of her ill-chosen statement, “but you must admit—”
    “I must admit nothing. He’s simply businesslike. He wants me to think carefully about some investments. He’s only trying to help since our man of affairs died.”
    “Why not hire a new man? Someone you can trust?”
    “I do trust Lord Vale. Why else would I discuss matters of business with him?”
    Madeline stepped behind her mother and thought it best to let the subject drop. But still she disliked the thought of any man taking the place of her beloved father. “Let me help you with those. I may have only one good arm at the moment”—she fumbled with the clasp, laughing at her ineptness—“but together we can do this.”
    “You are tenacious, daughter.” Grace held one side of the necklace while Madeline awkwardly fastened the pearls together.
    “There you are, Mother.” Madeline allowed her free hand to rest gently on her mother’s shoulder for a moment while she studied their reflections in the mirror. “You look lovely.”
    Grace Whittington’s breathtaking features made men stop and stare. Her perfect oval face and fine high cheekbones resembled an exquisite porcelain doll.
    Madeline knew she did not possess her mother’s beauty, yet she had acquired her mother’s