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Henry.”
    “Rest assured I have not.”
    Louise eyed her speculatively. “I knew your ‘illness’ for a ruse, you know. I expected you to remain deathly ill until well past the day, and then maybe he would think you were too sickly to be worthwhile. Not strong enough to bear the noble heirs and such. You truly were ill, though, were you not, to get your voice like that? Or are you faking?”
    “My illness might have killed me.”
    Louise giggled. “You could always relapse Friday morning.”
    “When there have been so many preparations made?” Elle paused, trying to think of something else logical to say. “I wish Lord Henry would not be there, of course.”
    Louise broke into gales of laughter and collapsed onto the opposite chair. “I was worried about you for a moment, Ellie. Yes, it is too bad that Lord Henry will be there. Pity we could not do the thing without him.”
    “He is unpleasant.”
    “You have grown kind. What happened to ‘penniless parasitic pauper, grubbing in the dirt for farthings’? And ‘tasteless, uncouth barbarian, with a face like a stone’? And let us not forget how old he is. Why, he is positively ancient compared with you. An eighteen-year-old girl should not waste her life on such an old man.”
    Eighteen? Elle was twenty-five. Apparently no one had noticed Eleanor’s sudden aging. Perhaps they put it, as well as the accent, down to the flu. Useful thing, influenza. “He’s not really that old, is he? And money isn’t everything.”
    “Well, of course it is not everything to me , Ellie, but you cannot pretend that you have not been complaining for the past three months about how poor you will be after Lord Henry spends all your money on his dismal farm. It is not like he bears any love towards you, like my George for me. My heart weeps at the thought of you married to the earl of Allsbrook, no matter his title.”
    Elle’s mouth dropped open as the light belatedly clicked on. Eleanor was to be married on Friday, and now that she was playing that part, she would be the one getting a husband in an arranged marriage. Just as she’d wished on that coupon.
    “Do you think it will be such a poor match, then? Truly?” she asked, stunned.
    “How you have found the courage to go through with it, I do not know.”
    She wasn’t really going to have to marry a man she had never seen, was she? None of this was at all what she had intended when she’d used the coupon. She hadn’t been serious. No, this was not acceptable. Not acceptable at all. She had to find a way to wake up, or get back home, or do something to get out of here.
    She took a deep, shuddering breath. “I’m not feeling well, Louise. I’m sorry, but I think I should return to my room.” Elle got up and shuffled to the door, then turned. “I forgot to ask—I’ve been so sick—what day is it today?”
    “Wednesday, Ellie.” There was concern in her voice. “You look ashen all of a sudden. You really were sick, were you not?” She came over to her, and gave her a warm hug. “Are you certain you truly are well, and well enough to be married?”
    “Do I have a choice in the matter?” she asked wistfully.
    “We both know what happened to Catherine Toomesby when she tried to refuse marriage to that awful man her parents chose,” Louise said, her voice dropping.“Locked in her room for three weeks, given brown bread to eat, and beaten into submission. Father is that determined to marry us up the ranks; I would not be surprised if he stooped to the same measures if thwarted.” Louise looked uneasy, her smile gone. “His temper is short enough as it is, Ellie, with you being ill so close to the day. Dr. Simms had quite a job convincing him that you truly ailed.”
    “Yet you seem so willing to run off with your George.”
    “You know it is but a dream. Father would never allow it. I do not want to think about what he would do if I attempted such a thing.”
    Elle nodded with new, unwelcome understanding,