The maid curtsied and took herself off.

Fiona would never have realized you could ask for something like that. “There was food in the ballroom.”

“Oh, I’m not really hungry. I just wanted her to leave us alone. Servants often gossip.” Lady Cassandra winked at Fiona. “How can we get to know each other if we’re thinking about whether our words will be repeated?” She looked at Prudence. “You don’t gossip, do you?”

Fiona answered for her. “Prudence is my friend. She would never.” She didn’t really know that, but she couldn’t see Prudence sharing information. Particularly given her assistance yesterday morning when they’d walked to Hyde Park. To see one of London’s primary attractions firsthand had been exhilarating. Fiona couldn’t wait for her first promenade during the fashionable hour.

“Wonderful!” Lady Cassandra sat on a chaise and leaned back, bringing her feet onto the cushion. “Is Mansfield on your list of potential husbands?”

Fiona perched on another chaise but didn’t lie back. “I don’t have a list.” She wanted to tell her she had no plans to wed but also didn’t want to sound provincial or silly. “Do you have one?”

Lady Cassandra laughed briefly. “No. My father does, but I choose to ignore him. It’s a miracle I persuaded him to let me wait this long to come out. I’m twenty-one, for heaven’s sake. Almost on the shelf.”

It definitely seemed as though Lady Cassandra’s mother was no longer living, but Fiona wouldn’t ask about it tonight. Hopefully this would be the beginning of a friendship in which they commiserated about a great many things. “Is that true? I’ll be twenty-two in just a few weeks.”

“I’ll be twenty-two in May, and yes, we are not as young as we ought to be.” She snorted. “But can you imagine being chained to a husband at seventeen or eighteen?” She shuddered.

“No, but then I can’t imagine being chained to a husband now.” She clamped her lips together as if she could somehow stop the words, but it was too late, of course. “Nor can I imagine anything about being in London, but here I am.” She forced a laugh to cover her mistake.

Lady Cassandra swung her feet back to the floor and sat up. She did not angle her legs as Lady Pickering had instructed. And she leaned slightly forward, her eyes animated. “Miss Wingate, do you even wish to marry?”

Fiona wanted to expose her true feelings to this new friend, but Lady Cassandra was the daughter of a duke. On the other hand, she’d also asked for biscuits to keep a maid from eavesdropping on their conversation. Squaring her shoulders, Fiona said definitively, “No.”

Clapping her hands together, Lady Cassandra rocked back with a delighted chortle. “Oh, this is excellent! You are being forced into this absurdity just like me.” She straightened and looked directly into Fiona’s eyes. “Now we don’t have to do it alone.” Her gaze shot to Prudence, who stood to Fiona’s right. “But I suppose you weren’t anyway. You have a supportive young companion—a friend.” She sounded…envious.