She heaved a deep sigh. “Honestly, Henry, I don’t understand how anyone could be so socially inept. She’s not really my friend. She’s merely someone I call upon.”

“If you don’t like her, why do you call on her?” Rollo asked.

“Paying calls is a duty, not a pleasure.” She directed her gaze heavenward, as though trying to conjure a halo of martyrdom around herself.

Lord Henry and Rollo both snorted with laughter, and Olive quickly joined in, imitating them. “Then I wonder what you’d do if I were to forbid you paying calls. You’d sulk for a week,” Lord Henry said. “You’d run out of gossip entirely, and you couldn’t show off your gowns.”

Her eyes widened in panic. “You’re not going to forbid me, are you?”

“Do it, Uncle Henry!” Rollo urged. Olive merely giggled.

Lord Henry’s eyes twinkled, but he schooled his features into a stern expression—with visible effort—and said, “You may pay no calls.”

“Henry, you wouldn’t!” Flora yelped, throwing her napkin on the table and rising from her seat as her brother and sister sputtered with laughter.

Before Flora could complete her dramatic exit, Lord Henry grinned and said, “Tomorrow, that is. I’ll be teaching you magic in the afternoon, after your music and drawing lessons.”

“He got you there, Flora,” Rollo chortled.

Flora flounced back to her seat. “That wasn’t at all fair, Henry. You’re supposed to be the adult in this house.” Then she added hesitantly, “I may still pay calls on other days?”

“If I am not teaching you magic, you may,” Lord Henry said. “But only if you want to.”

I watched this entire exchange with fascination. I’d never had such conversations at dinner with my family, not only because my father never would have allowed it but also because all my siblings had left home before I left the nursery table to dine with the adults. Was this the way families without shameful secrets were? Behind the bickering, I got a sense of deep affection among the Lyndons, and I felt a pang of envy.

As if reading my mind, Lord Henry said, “We should all have behaved better for Miss Newton’s first dinner with us. She must think we’ve escaped from the zoo.”

“You three, perhaps,” Flora said with a sniff. “I’ve been perfectly civilized.”

“Why don’t you tell us something of yourself, Miss Newton?” Lord Henry asked.

I took a sip of water to buy myself time to think. “My father is a professor and taught me the way he taught his students, starting when I was very young. I’ve done some tutoring and teaching myself. And now, here I am,” I said, unsure what else I could say.

“But why did you decide to come here and be a governess?” Flora asked. “Couldn’t you find a husband? Or is that why you’re here?”