THE NEXT MORNING Phoebe arrived on the doorstep at precisely the same moment as Lucien Boch. Gabby hurried into the drawing room to find them seated together as Lady Sylvia lazily watched from a nearby armchair.

“My new mama,” Phoebe was saying, “is a very important person. She decides what everyone in London wears.”

Lucien rose as Gabby entered the room. “I trust you are well, Miss Jerningham? You see that I have had the pleasure of renewing my acquaintance with Miss Phoebe.”

Gabby quickly bobbed a curtsy at the handsome Frenchman. “It’s splendid to meet you again, sir.” Then she turned to Phoebe. “How are you, dearest?”

“I am very well, thank you,” Phoebe replied, in her most grown-up fashion. Then she threw formality to the wind. “My new mama is very, very important! And Aunt Louise owns a teapot that might have a genie in it, and she swears—a lot! She said, ‘Zooks,’ and my mama told her that she had to hold her tongue in front of me. And then Aunt Louise said, ‘Zooks to that!’ And Mama got really mad.”

Gabby laughed. “Aren’t you a lucky girl?”

Phoebe nodded. She seemed to be shedding the unnatural formality her ayah had fostered. “Mama lowered my hem, you see?” She stuck out her little boot.

“Your mama lowered the hem by herself?”

“Oh, yes,” Phoebe said. “Our house isn’t full of servants, as yours is, Miss Gabby. There’s only Cook, and Sally, who does the cleaning, and Sherman. Sherman helps with the door, but he’s very, very old and often sleeps during the day. Mama says it’s more cozy with no strangers about, but we must all do our part, and this morning I carried my own dish into the kitchen after breakfast.” She paused to take a breath.

Lucien was listening with a great deal of amusement. “Mrs. Ewing sounds like a most intrepid woman,” he said. He twinkled at Gabby. “I only wonder how she became so very, very important—and how she determines what everyone in London wears!”

“She writes it down,” Phoebe said. “Mama writes and writes, and then people read what she wrote, and they daren’t wear anything that Mama didn’t say they might. She knows all about clothing,” she added. “I told her about the pin tucks, and she thought my new dress sounded lovely.”

Gabby looked a puzzled question over Phoebe’s head.

“Perhaps Mrs. Ewing writes for a fashion magazine,” Lady Sylvia put in. “There are several, you know. The most influential one is La Belle Assemblée.”

“Mama’s writing is read by everyone in London,” Phoebe reported. “She tells them how they should behave, as well as what they should wear.”

“Quite likely La Belle Assemblée,” Lady Sylvia commented. “Does yer mother attend many social events?”

“I don’t think she does,” Phoebe replied.