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said.
    He nodded. ‘That’s probably why her father was trying to sell her, so he wouldn’t have to provide one for her eventually.’
    ‘How do poor families manage to provide dowries for their daughters?’ Charlotte asked.
    ‘With difficulty,’ Richard replied succinctly.
    ‘How do women fare in India? Any better than in this country?’ Isobel asked.
    Richard frowned, not certain what she meant, but, before he had a chance to ask, John broke in impatiently: ‘Isobel, women fare very well in this country.’
    ‘Being a man, you would say that, John,’ she returned.
    John gave her an irritated look. ‘Plenty of women would wholeheartedly agree with me. Not everyone shares your discontent with the laws of the land. Most women aren’t in the least interested in politics and the running of the country.’ Turning to Richard, he said crisply, ‘My sister thinks that women are hard done by. She thinks they should have the right to vote in municipal and provincial elections.’
    ‘I do,’ Isobel said. Her sharp brown eyes fell on Richard and narrowed slightly. ‘What’s your opinion, Captain Steele?’
    Richard gave her a blank look. He didn’t really have an opinion. ‘I’ve never given the matter any consideration,’ he answered truthfully.
    ‘Then it’s high time you did,’ Isobel said.
    Richard’s eyes widened in surprise. Isobel had spoken to him as if she were scolding a naughty child. Feeling quite taken aback, he looked away, intending to catch his father’s eye and toss him a look which said in no uncertain terms, ‘You’re right, she is bloody rude!’ But instead of catching his father’s eye, his own was caught by Charlotte. She was laughing. Not overtly, but she was laughing all the same. She had covered her mouth with her fingers so no one would see her smile, but she couldn’t cover her eyes and they were twinkling like beacons. Suddenly realizing that Isobel was talking to him again, he swivelled his eyes back in her direction.
    ‘You might also like to consider, Captain Steele, whether the property laws relating to married women are fair and just. Is it just that, when a woman marries, she is required by law to forfeit any property she owns? That thereafter it becomes the property of her husband—his to manage and control, his to bequeath in his lastwill and testament to whomsoever he pleases? To his mistress, if he so chooses? Paraphernalia, clothing and personal ornaments—those are the only possessions a married woman may bequeath in her will, for as the law stands they are all a married woman owns! The rest belongs to her husband. As for the laws in England pertaining to adultery—how anyone can defend the justice in those and maintain that they are fair and equitable is beyond my comprehension. A man may divorce an adulterous wife, but how can a woman divorce an adulterous husband when divorce would leave her penniless? Moreover, adultery alone is usually insufficient grounds for a woman to be granted a divorce. She must prove that her husband has mistreated her, and if she can’t prove it then the law expects her to stay married to him, and to turn a blind eye to the fact that he keeps a mistress. Show me a man who’d turn a blind eye in an intolerable situation such as that!’ Her impassioned speech finished, Isobel leaned back in her chair, tightened her mouth, and gave a small nod as if to say, ‘Consider the justice of those things, Captain Steele.’
    Richard gave her a long look. He was tempted to present his own views on some of the issues she’d raised, if only to show her that he did have some views on them, but if he did they’d be arguing all night and, given Isobel’s sharp tongue and her indiscriminate use of it, he felt that this was one occasion when discretion was indeed the better part of valour. So he merely said, ‘It wasn’t I who made the laws, Mrs Wyatt. I merely do my best to abide by them. As we all must.’
    ‘We must indeed,’ Letitia