“Oh.” Lisa smiled with relief. “Well, I came to tell you that Robert is here.”

“Oh,” Suzette murmured, not really caring that Lord Langley was visiting. A family friend and neighbor, Robert had spent a good deal of time at Madison over the years. In truth, he had been at Madison more than away from it and was like a big brother to them all. An annoying big brother who liked to tease and harass them like any true brother did.

Shortly after Christiana had married Dicky and moved to the Fairgrave townhouse in London which Dicky apparently preferred to the family seat, Robert himself had moved to town, abandoning them in the country for the lure of London life. Apparently, he had kept track of Christiana however, since it was his letters that had their father come to town where he’d wound up landing them in trouble again with his gambling.

“I thought perhaps you might want to ask him about Lord Woodrow,” Lisa persisted. “I thought perhaps he could tell us if he is honorable and what he thought of him as a man.”

That caught her attention and Suzette was suddenly sitting up. “That’s a good idea,” she announced, slipping her feet to the floor to rise. Perhaps she could learn enough to understand if she had erred horribly in her behavior last night, and how she might fix it if she had. Besides, she’d like to know more about Daniel, everything about him really. He was to be her husband after all. Well, at least she hoped he would be.

“I shall send Georgina up to you,” Lisa announced, rising and heading for the door.

“Thank you,” Suzette called, but didn’t wait for the maid to arrive. Now eager to get below, she slipped from bed and began searching for clothes to wear. She had selected an outfit and was brushing her hair when Georgina arrived with a basin of water. Suzette smiled at the maid, and listened absently to her chatter as she quickly washed herself. She then dressed with the woman’s help and stood patiently as Georgina again brushed her hair. The moment she was done, however, Suzette rushed out of the room and headed downstairs, eager to question Langley. She considered him a good judge of character and was curious to hear what he thought of Daniel.

The parlor door was closed when Suzette stepped off the stairs. She almost stopped to look in, but then spotted Lisa in the breakfast room and headed there instead.

“Oh, that was fast.” Lisa rose as Suzette entered, but then hesitated and asked reluctantly, “Did you want to break your fast before we join Christiana and Robert?”

Suzette glanced toward the food on the sideboard, but shook her head. “I shall eat something after we talk to Robert.”