“We will keep this for the London season,” Livia explained with a slight gesture of her hand. “But we are to have a large estate in the country for our home. The only thing that will cloud it at all is that my father will not be here. He wanted to build all this for us. It is so unfair that he should not be able to have the rewards of his life’s labor, all the risks and the skill that went into it.” She picked up her tea also, but did not drink.

“He must have been a remarkable man,” Hester prompted, feeling that her hypocrisy must show in her face. She despised Baltimore.

“He was,” Livia agreed, accepting the praise eagerly, as if somehow her father could still be warmed by it.

Hester wondered how well Livia had known him. Was her change in tone due to the fact that she was not remembering him so much as saying what she wished were true?

“He must have been very clever,” Hester said aloud. “And very forceful. A weak man would never have been able to command others in the manner that must be necessary in order to build a railway. Any sign of indecision, or wavering from a principle, and he would have failed. One has to admire such . . . spirit.”

“Yes, he was very strong,” Livia agreed, her voice tense with emotion. “When Papa was around one always knew one would be safe. He was always quite certain. I suppose it is a quality men have . . . at least the best men, those who are leaders.”

“I think the leaders are the ones who do not allow us to see their uncertainties,” Hester replied. “After all, if someone does not feel confidence in where they are going, how can they expect others willingly to follow them?”

Livia thought for a moment. “You are quite right,” she said with sudden understanding. “How perceptive you are. Yes, Papa was always . . . I think brave is the word. I know now that there were some more difficult times, when I was a child. We have waited many years for this great success that is coming now.” A smile flickered across her face. “It is not just the new railway line, you know, it is a new invention to do with rolling stock—that means carriages and wagons and so on. I apologize if I tell you what you already know.”

“Not at all,” Hester assured her. “I know only what anyone may read about, or overhear. What kind of an invention?”