“Do you really think so?” Hannah lobbed the question ball right back over the net. She must have landed a good one, because her mother didn’t reply. “So how many Regency expressions do you think you know?”

“Hundreds, I’m sure,” Delores answered, not even trying for a return.

Hannah felt the thrill of victory. She’d served and scored on that last question. But just as she was relishing her win, a dire thought crept into her mind. Delores had a computer, and she was using a lot of Regency expressions. Had her mother found another Englishman who piqued her interest, perhaps someone she’d met in some international chat room on the Internet? Delores had already shown that she wasn’t such a good judge of character when it came to handsome Englishmen who liked to dance.

“Mother?” Hannah started out tentatively, but only after she’d replenished her mother’s supply of German Chocolate Cake Cookies.

“Yes, dear.”

“Michelle says you’ve got a new computer.”

“Yes, I do. Norman helped me order it and he hooked it all up for me.”

“Why didn’t Norman tell me?”

“Because I asked him not to. I was going to surprise you the next time you came over, but I forgot to tell Michelle that it was a surprise. It’s an amazing machine, dear, much better than a typewriter.”

“So,” Hannah proceeded gingerly down the path she’d chosen, “you use it for word processing, then?”

“That’s right. And Norman installed a mail program for me.”

A mail program. Hannah digested that bit of information and then she went for another bite. “You’re connected to the Internet?”

“Not yet. Norman says to wait until the cable company has a special on their high-speed line. That’s when you can get free installation. He told me I wouldn’t be happy with a dial-up connection. It’s just too slow.”

“I see,” Hannah said, relaxing slightly. Delores wasn’t connected to the Internet, and that meant she couldn’t be having a cyber romance with a handsome, ballroom dancing Englishman she’d met online. “Is that mail program Norman installed for later when you have e-mail?”

“No, it’s for snail mail. I learned how to make labels and I’m keeping our master address list of customers for Granny’s Attic. Would you believe that Carrie and I were hand-addressing all our sale notices? Now all I have to do is print out labels, and we can just stick them on.”

“That’s a real time-saver.” Hannah still wasn’t completely satisfied. Nothing Delores had told her explained her mother’s sudden obsession with Regency terms. “Have you been doing a lot of reading lately?”