you be allowed to rest. Why, I could hear her! The woman was actually halfway up the stairs when our father stopped her!”
“A close call indeed,” Kat murmured. “But…she didn’t come up. And I thank you, Eliza, for keeping my secret.”
Eliza laughed, “Little sister, it’s as if it’s the two of us against the world, at times. With that wretched woman to make life ever more miserable.”
“Well,” Kat said, “she does bring him a certain happiness.”
This time, Eliza let out an incredibly unladylike snort. “She flatters him! Then she takes his work and he gets a few shillings, and—”
“And what?” Kat said.
“She’s after him,” Eliza said.
“After him? Papa is a poor artist.”
“And a very handsome man. An extremely talented one, as we both know…but so often, artists are long dead before their genius is realized. Kat, I don’t know what it is, but I don’t trust the woman. She did not come with us once we moored the boat today, but then she returned tonight—acting as if she were so concerned about you! I stayed up here, of course, eavesdropping and pretending that we had both gone straight to sleep. I think she really wants the two of us out of the way! I’m telling you, she is looking to marry him.”
“That truly makes no sense,” Kat said. “She is, after all, Lady Daws. And Papa is a poor artist. A great one, but a poor one.”
“Sometimes men of great artistic talent do become known during their lives and are rewarded for it,” Eliza said. “And I can guarantee you that Lady Daws sees that in Papa, and the fact that she is Lady Daws does not mean that she is not in need of support. I think she only pretends that she has money of her own.”
“I’ve thought sometimes that she must make much more selling Papa’s art than what she gives to him,” Kat said worriedly. “She tells him, of course, that she works for a pittance, a small commission….”
“My thought exactly. She has been robbing him blind.”
“She cannot be in such sorry shape. I mean, she is Lady Daws. And she was married to Lord Daws.”
“But Lord Daws had a son by his first wife. The son inherited, and I think he probably despises his stepmother. I would!”
“Do you know that to be true?” Kat asked.
“No, I’m just willing to wager that it’s true. The son, Byron Daws, goes to university with your young swain, you know.”
“Does he, now.”
“Yes. But I never see him out sailing,” Eliza mused.
“Maybe he hates the water.”
“Maybe. Or has other interests,” Eliza said, shrugging. “There’s just so much about that woman that’s…well, frightening. It didn’t matter at first. At first, it seemed she was only being kind. At first, we all saw her as someone admirable. But then…well, to me, her designs on Papa became all the more evident. And, do you know what I heard?”
“No, what?”
“That there was some scandal in her past. That Lord Daws himself was nearly cast out of the family when he married her. But his father died before he could be cut out of the will.”
“Where did you hear this?”
“In one of the fabric shops,” Eliza said.
“Gossip!” Kat protested.
“Ah, but where there is smoke…”
“My dear sister, I think we must face the fact that we don’t like her, she doesn’t like us, but that we must all pretend that everything is fine—for Papa. And whatever the past, she is not an artist herself, but knows art. She finds and sells the work of others,” Kat said. “She makes a living, and we are doing better now than we were when Papa had to go out and sell his work himself.”
“I do not believe she is satisfied with what she is making. She will rob unknown artists like Papa blind,” Eliza said.
“Well,” Kat said very practically, “I don’t care much for her, either. But we’re both grown. And soon enough, we’ll both be gone, either to find a means of support ourselves or to be married. So even if we don’t trust her and don’t like her, if she makes Papa happy…”
“She’s evil,” Eliza insisted.
“Evil!” Kat said with a laugh.
“Yes, evil.” Eliza was truly upset. “Papa will not recognize his own talent. He will not go out and insist that the galleries recognize his work…but she makes him believe that only she can turn him into a true artist. Which is utter nonsense. Furthermore she is ever on about how he can afford to send us to schools elsewhere…in France, in Germany. Places where the daughters of men such as himself can work to earn their tutors and their board. Kat, quite honestly, I believe that she wants to be rid of the both of us. Just tonight, she was talking about a school for young women in Switzerland where Papa could afford to send you because the students earn their keep by cleaning and scrubbing and so forth! She hates us both, I think, but you more, for I have always been the more dutiful one. Quieter, less likely to make a fuss. You must be careful, Kat, because she wants you gone.” Eliza sighed. “If only…”
“If only I were far more pleasant and pliable with her—or about to marry a man of her choosing?” Kat asked dryly. She sighed, as well, and shook her head. “It’s only a dream if and when…never mind. And never fear. I’m not afraid of Lady Daws. She will not get her hands on me! And as to the other…I’ll just keep dreaming,” Kat said. Eliza still stared at her with such concern that she fiercely hugged her sister. “I’m all right. But now, truly exhausted. Let’s go to sleep, shall we?”
“But, Kat, don’t you see?” Eliza said. “Tonight, your dream was shattered. Papa is furious. We don’t live in the same world as the David Turnberrys.”
Kat sniffed. “Lady Daws borders on it!”
“Not in a good way, I don’t believe,” Eliza murmured. “Ah, dear sister! You’re still dreaming away while I…” She laughed. “I would have lived a dream already, having had dinner with such an eminent fellow as Hunter MacDonald!”
“Eminent also in scandal!”
“In a way, but he does nothing underhand. He isn’t secretive, unless he is protecting the honor of a woman. While Lady Daws—”
“We all see and hear, and even believe, what we choose,” Kat said sadly. “Anyway, it is time to go to sleep. And I’m sure you’ll get to go with Papa to return this dress. I mean, you must go with Papa! I don’t think that Hunter would betray me, but…you need to be there to protect me regarding this little episode tonight, and that is all there is to it.”
Eliza laughed. “Well, indeed! I will meet the man of such intrigue and fascination!”
“And I will…stay home. And dream some more,” Kat said.
“Will you?” Eliza said. “If I know you, you will be thinking up another way to get close to your David!”
“Such a dream is hardly likely. We must go to sleep!”
But trying to sleep and actually falling asleep were two different things.
First, Kat allowed herself a few silent tears into her pillow. She’d come so close…
And then, she tossed over, staring at the ceiling.
Eliza was right. She knew her well. She could not just forget.
She wouldn’t be beaten. She simply wouldn’t be beaten. David was going to take a ship and go on a long, long journey, and then spend a season in the ancient sands of the Sahara. His dainty fiancée would not be around all the time. He wouldn’t be