Elinor lifted a shoulder in a weak imitation of a shrug. “I thought that if I surrounded myself with women of similar ideals, I might benefit from their influence and find what I secretly sought. Instead, I find those women ostracized, and though I lack the same number of years, I feel the same ruthless banishment, even within my own family. I cannot give them up, as I have come to value them and their friendship beyond what I can express, but in declaring myself a Spinster with a capital S, I seem to have also declared myself the lowercase version, as well. And everybody in London agrees with it.”

Hugh said nothing to this, the moment hanging heavily between them

She could not stand the awkwardness. She looked up at him with a bland, but playful smile. “Hence the application of the expression, you see.”

He nodded in understanding. “I do see. Don’t understand, but I see.”

“You would have understood not all that long ago,” she pointed out without malice. “Enthusiastically. When you were… a different man.”

His eyes seemed to brighten, even in the diminished light around them. “You see it, then? The change?”

Elinor laughed quietly, the eager note in his voice giving her more joy than she should rightly have. “Of course, I see it, Hugh,” she murmured, mirroring his pose against the wall. “I’d have to be blind not to.”

His grin would have lit a ballroom with a brilliance beyond compare. “I cannot tell you what that means, Elinor. I cannot…” He shook his head, then cleared his throat. “I have hope, then.”

“Hope?” she repeated. “Hope for what?”

“The future,” he replied, his voice dipping, “and whatever it holds.”

A tightness began in her chest, and rippled down the length of her, forcing her to push away from the wall and turn to continue walking, but not before turning to him, invitation in her expression, posture, and soul.

She didn’t want to flee from him, only from her impulse to do something from which she could not retreat.

He took the hint and came with her, the two of them walking side by side, no particular direction in mind.

“So, what happened to Barbara and Mr. John?” Elinor asked, forcing her voice to be light.

Hugh chuckled with real delight. “Oh, they are in the library still. I have my recommendation for reading from her, but John required a bit more discussion. A voracious reader, that one. He’ll need quite the list, I fear.”

“Lord,” Elinor laughed. “Must I rush to the library to ensure my cousin’s virtue?”

“Not at all,” he replied. “Your cousin Fredericka happened to appear after checking on her children, so they are quite suitably supervised. I think I could quite like Fredericka, if I knew her better.”