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Chalmers. You will have a difficult time, as he lives and breathes army life.”
     
    The marquess turned away, and Mira said to the elderly gentleman next to her, “I am interested in finding out, sir, whether anyone ever really believed Napoléon would actually invade.”
     
    “He is still a threat, and invasion may happen yet,” said the colonel. “But you are too young to remember the fuss. We had tunnels dug into the cliffs at Dover so that several regiments could hide in there.”
     
    “Why was that?”
     
    “Don’t you see,” he said eagerly, “the idea was simple. If Boney invaded with his armies, then these regiments would stay hidden until the French troops moved inland. Then they would emerge from hiding and take them in the rear. And that’s why we still have the cannon in Green Park, in case of invasion. Everyone used to drill every day in the parks. Then there was the threat of invasion from the sky.”
     
    “I read about that,” said Mira, green eyes sparkling. “The emperor had hundreds of balloons massed outside Boulogne.”
     
    “But he decided to invade Russia,” cried the colonel, thumping the table in his enthusiasm.
     
    The marquess, making polite conversation with the lady next to him, experienced amusement mixed with irritation when he realized Mira had temporarily forgotten his existence as she discussed military matters with the colonel.
     
    In fact, as supper finished, he had to try several times to catch her attention until she turned at last to him with a glowing face and said, “Is not the colonel a famously interesting gentleman!”
     
    “I am glad you enjoyed your conversation,” said the marquess. “I shall escort you back to the ballroom.” As they left, the marquess heard the colonel say in a very loud voice, “Now that is the prettiest and brightest girl I have ever met!”
     
    Perhaps, he reflected, Mira’s very unconventionality might gain her a place in society’s notoriously flinty heart.
     
    Mira entered the ballroom on his arm with a brand-new confidence, and then her heart soared as her mother approached her and said, “Lord Charles has kindly asked my permission to take you driving tomorrow.” And before she could reply, her spirits were dashed when the marquess said firmly, “I must insist that I have the prior claim. Miss Mira has already promised to accompany me, subject to your approval, Mrs. Markham.”
     
    Even forthright Mira knew it would be in the worst of taste to protest. The marquess moved off, and Mira was immediately claimed by a gentleman for the next dance.
     
    Between dances later that night Drusilla said to her mother, “I am to drive with Lord Charles tomorrow. I assume he asked your permission.”
     
    “Oh, yes,” said Mrs. Markham vaguely, still mulling over the unexpected success of her younger daughter. “Lord Charles asked at first to take Mira, but the Marquess of Grantley protested that he had asked her first, and so Lord Charles, when I told him, said he would escort you, Drusilla.”
     
    Two angry spots of color burned in Drusilla’s cheeks. “Then I shall not go driving with Lord Charles, and so you may tell him, Mama. I do not like being second-best.”
     
    “As to that, you must not be silly, Drusilla. Lord Charles is vastly taken with you. But he said to me that he felt he had been cruel in neglecting Mira, as he had always felt like an elder brother to her. He kindly volunteered to take her driving so that he could lecture her on how to go on.”
     
    “In that case,” said Drusilla, mollified, “I shall go with him. But you should warn Mira about making a cake of herself over the marquess. He is merely amusing himself with her, rather in the way that Charles was wont to do.”
     
    Mrs. Markham said, “That is possible. But she appears to have developed a freshness and charm that are somewhat appealing.”
     
    For the first time in her young life, Drusilla began to fret about her own appearance.