“Do what, Henry? What have you done?” I saw the note pinned to his coat, pulled it off, and read it. The charity school had tossed him out; he was never to return. I felt my shoulders drop, and the letter fall like a weight in my hand.

“You threw a rock? Through a window?”

“The other boys said it was a science experiment.”

“Oh, Henry.” I pulled him toward me and let his forehead fall to my shoulder. “Why would you listen to stupid boys?”

“They said we’d put it back together, all of us, like a p-p-puzzle. But then they ran away when the glass fell.” He twisted the buttons on his shirt. “And it was only me left.”

“Never mind, Henry,” I said, stroking his hair. “Never mind.”

Eliza and Everina stood in the doorway, now understanding Henry’s plight, and our own. We traded stricken glances. If Mama found out, or Father, all hell might break loose, and the ball be forbidden, when we were as close as we’d ever been.

“What will we do, Mary?” Eliza asked.

Thinking quickly, I installed Henry in the kitchen with buttered toast and a pile of illustrated books, some paper and pencils to draw with, and made him promise to be quiet. Lucy, who had charge of James and Charles, agreed she would try to keep him occupied until he tired, then put him to bed herself. She would make Mama dinner, and if Everina could take it to her room, perhaps she’d not find out. Not until tomorrow, anyway.

“Can you do that, Everina?” I asked.

Everina shook her head. “Mama likes me least of all when she’s in a mood!”

“It’s me she doesn’t like.”

“But me next, after you.”

“You could offer to brush her hair,” Eliza said. “She never refuses that.”

“When you offer,” said Everina, biting her nails. “You’re the one who brushes her hair. Not me!” She was crying now, afraid she would fail at her task.

Eliza looked at me, and I knew at once what she was thinking.

“No!” I said.

“I don’t want to go, anyway,” said Eliza. “I just wanted to have a dress, and put it on, and curl my hair, and imagine myself at Norwood, but I’m not ready. I wouldn’t know what to say if a man asked me to dance.”

“You’d say yes!”

“No I wouldn’t! I’d be too afraid. And then I’d sit the rest of the night pretending to be like the drapery, and hoping that no one talked to me at all.”

“You’re going to the ball!”

“You can’t make me, Mary. And Everina’s right. Mama likes me better. I’m the one who should stay. I’ll brush her hair. You go. Be with Jane.”