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sateen?”
    “Worse. Plain cotton.”
    She frowned in such a way that I basked in her sympathy. Then her eyes brightened. “But just think: At the end of the season, once you’re engaged, you can pick anything you want for your trousseau!”
    Marriage. So soon! “But what if there’s no one . . .” I knew, of course, who was expected for me, but what about Lizzie? What if she went through the entire season, only to have her hopes of true happiness dashed at its end? “What if there’s no one suitable?”
    “Suitable? Everyone is suitable. At least everyone at a ball. The thing is to find someone manageable. Someone compatible.”
    “Compatible.” I tried out the word for thought. Surely among the hundreds of people in society, there must be one that would be compatible. With Lizzie. And surely the elder De Vries would be compatible with me. “Aunt has told me I must try for only one. She has fastened on the—”
    “Don’t say it! Let me guess.” Lizzie closed her eyes, folded her hands upon her heart, and took a great breath. Then she opened her eyes and gazed at me mischievously. “She has fastened on the De Vries heir.”
    I felt my mouth tumble open. “But how did you know?”
    “He’s the one Mama has picked for me as well. How perfect!”
    “Perfect? But if we both . . .”
    She linked an arm through mine. “When you tire of him, then you shall give him to me and when I tire of him, I shall give him to you. That way we shall both have the benefit of regular dances with him. And every Thursday, at half past three, we will meet right here and discuss how it’s progressing.”
    “How what’s progressing?”
    “Why, our courtship, of course!”
    “But is that … permitted?” Weren’t we now adversaries? Competing for the same prize? And wasn’t Lizzie sure to win him?
    She laughed. “Oh, Clara, you make it sound as if it’s a crime.”
    “But … do you really have to be set on him? Maybe one of us could refuse him.” I couldn’t, of course, but perhaps she could.
    “I can’t. I wish I could. But Mama, being from the South, with no real connections … she thinks we need them. I wouldn’t tell this to just anyone, but some people haven’t really accepted her here. Still. And she wants more for me. So I can’t refuse him, but … maybe you can?”
    I was already shaking my head. “I have to have the heir. No one else will do.”
    How had it happened that both of us had been pointed toward the same person? Our debut had been planned for years, but never had I thought that we would be pursuing the same man. We stared at each other for a long moment. The dismay in Lizzie’s eyes seemed to mirror my own.
    But then a smile banished the consternation and she broke the silence. “We shall make a promise between us right now. Never, but never, will we ever allow a suitor to come between us. Say it.”
    “Never, but never, will we ever allow a suitor to come between us.”
    She nodded.
    “But what happens if … I mean, he’ll have to choose, Lizzie.”
    “Then he shall choose. If he chooses you, I will be happy and come to your wedding. And if he chooses me, you will be happy and come to my wedding.”
    “I don’t think it’s meant to work that way.” Lizzie was always so genial, so cheerful, that she refused to see difficulty in even the most impossible of situations.
    “We just made a promise. And now there is nothing to do but keep it.”
    “But … how do we know that he will prefer us at all?”
    “Why wouldn’t he? We’re the best catches in the city. Papa has plenty of money and if anyone is to fall sick, your father can cure him. I’m exceedingly gay and charming, and you’re exceedingly smart and pretty. What is there not to like about us?”
    What indeed?
    “Just think: Our debuts await and with them, true love!” Lizzie ducked through the bushes toward the wall. Her blond curls peeked from her hat. “Don’t forget. Next Thursday. Half past three!”

5
    I HAD