“I’m not a complete widgeon,” her mother said curtly, as she pulled open Sophie’s wardrobe and frowned at the gowns. “Your father is trying to pull wool over my eyes, but I have as good an idea as the next person about why this marriage is happening so hastily. So we can dispense with an explanation of wedding nights.”

Sophie’s heart began pounding in her throat with pure shame and embarrassment.

But her mother continued, with more difficulty. “That isn’t truly important anyway, Sophie. I would like to give you advice that would make your marriage different from mine. But I don’t know what to say.”

Tears pressed at the back of Sophie’s eyes. “It’s all right, Maman.”

Eloise swung about and sat down in a high-backed chair by the fireplace. “It is not all right, Sophie. I ruined my marriage somehow. After all the years of finding fault with your father, I am beginning to wonder if there was something I could have done differently. Perhaps I was too bitter.”

Sophie sank into the chair opposite. Her mother had reached the same conclusion that Sophie had: that if only her mother had overlooked her father’s mistresses, they would have had a happier life together. Certainly Sophie would have had siblings.

“I couldn’t do it,” Eloise said in a harsh whisper. “I wasn’t made that way, and I was barely eighteen when I married. You are almost twenty years old, and lighter of heart, Sophie. Please, please, I beg you, turn your eyes away when your husband courts other women. Welcome him back into your bed without a word. Don’t do anything that will give him a dislike of you, such as flaunting your ability to speak languages.”

Sophie took a deep breath. “I will try, Maman.” She strove to make her tone reassuring. “I won’t allow Patrick to know I can speak anything but English. And I won’t be angry when he sleeps with other women. I know that I am marrying a rake.”

“Turn the other way,” Eloise said. She was leaning forward now, looking earnestly into her daughter’s eyes. “Ignore it. The real pleasure—the delight—in marriage comes from children.”

Sophie gave her a crooked little smile.

“I longed to give you the siblings you wanted so much, Sophie!” her mother cried passionately. “Do you remember? You used to beg and beg for a sister. But what could I do? Your father and I had stopped speaking to each other, and I didn’t know how to mend it. The only thing we have in common now is you, Sophie. We both love you. Believe me, children can be a link between you and Patrick, if pride does not sour the marriage.”

Sophie swallowed again and then blurted, “Patrick wants to have only one child, Maman.”