“Oh, pish,” Caro said, her concerned frown easing. “Your husband will remain the same man whether or not he has a title.”

“Well of course he will! That Dare will continue to be a most remarkable, exceptional man no matter what his station is not in question; the point is that Society is notoriously fickle, and you know well how easily they can shun someone on the slightest triviality. I am living proof of that.”

“You eloped most scandalously, Char,” Caroline gently reminded her.

Charlotte stood and worried the curtain cord as she gazed out the window at the busy street below. “But my husband will not elope most scandalously, nor will he have done anything to justify being made a pariah if the Pretender has his way.”

“But—”

“You see my worry, Caro—I am helpless to do anything to help Dare with the one facet of life I have expertise in: Society.” The glass felt cool against her brow, soothing somehow. Charlotte was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to curl up into a little ball and let the world go on its way without her. She had never been one to back down from a challenge, but for the first time in her life she wondered if it was worthwhile to keep fighting.

“What does it bring you but more heartache?” she murmured.

“What brings heartache?”

“Life,” Charlotte replied, closing her eyes and giving in to the pain that filled her. “It seems like all I’ve done lately is fight for what I want, but for what purpose? I fought to come back to England and ended up penniless and unwanted by my own family. I fought to marry Dare and ended up a burden around his neck, driving him deeper into despair with his worry about my life with him. I fought to show him that I would stand by him, that I love him no matter what happens, and yet everything positive in my life—Dare being the exception—everything I’ve fought for has been stripped from me.”

“Char, I don’t know what to say. If you need money—”

Charlotte smiled without the least sign of dimples. “That’s kind of you, but it isn’t necessary. Lack of money isn’t the problem, not the true problem.”

“Then what is?”

She sighed and sat down on the settee again, wondering how to express the feelings that had been growing steadily ever since she’d seen Dare. She knew full well that no lady ever thought the sorts of things she had been thinking, and she wasn’t sure of Caroline’s reception to her radical ideas. “The problem is that I’m not necessary. There is no rhyme or reason to me. I am needed by no one. Ladies of our class are useless, worse than useless, dependent on everyone for everything, from cooking their meals to dressing themselves. When’s the last time you dressed yourself, Caro? Combed your own hair? You see? I’m no better than the rest of our class. All I’ve been raised to do is look pretty and entertain people and spend my husband’s money. There’s no future in any of that for me—Dare wouldn’t notice if I suddenly sprouted an extra limb or two, there’s no one left in the ton other than you who will acknowledge me, and I have to admit that a lifetime spent with the sole purpose of entertaining you is not what I’m looking for in a life goal, and as for spending money, there’s nothing to be spent.”