Suzette sighed and glanced out the window toward the house. No doubt the maids had gone above stairs to help ready their rooms while they waited for the chests to be brought up. She considered going in to fetch them, but then shook her head. “Perhaps it is better to leave them here for now. At least until we are sure we are welcome at Christiana and Dicky’s.”

“Of course we are welcome. She is our sister,” Lisa said at once, seeming startled at the suggestion they might not be.

“Yes, well, but she hasn’t written us since leaving, has she?” Suzette pointed out gently.

“I’m sure the letters were just lost,” Lisa said at once.

“Or Dicky won’t let her write us,” Suzette murmured, biting her lip.

Lisa frowned, but then said reluctantly, “I suppose he could have. Father did say Robert claims Dicky treats Chrissy awful.”

“Exactly.” Suzette frowned and shook her head with bewilderment. “It is so hard to believe. It has only been a year and he was so charming and loving when he courted her.” In truth, the man had been the perfect romantic hero, sweeping in to save them from ruin, professing undying love for Christiana and courting her with such verve and charm that all three girls had been half in love with him.

“Robert wouldn’t lie,” Lisa pointed out unhappily.

“No,” she agreed with a sigh. “Which means all that charm and verve he showed in courting Chrissy was probably for show, to bait the trap and get her to fall in love with and marry him.”

“Why?” Lisa asked with a frown.

“What else? The dower,” Suzette said dryly. “If he didn’t truly love her that could be the only reason to want to marry her.”

“But no one knows about our dowers,” Lisa said at once. “Grandfather insisted on it so we could avoid fortune seekers.”

“Well, Dicky must have found out,” Suzette said reasonably. “Besides, nothing is ever a secret. You know that. Servants talk and secrets get out.”

“I suppose,” Lisa said reluctantly. She grimaced. “And it was all rather sudden, a whirlwind really. It was only a couple of weeks between when father came home with the news of our impending ruin and Christiana and Dicky’s wedding. I suppose Dicky could have pretended his adoration for a couple of weeks.”

“Yes, he could have,” Suzette agreed grimly.

“What if you are stuck with a bad husband too?” Lisa asked unhappily.

Suzette felt her lips tighten. There was little chance to meet a man she could love and be sure loved her in two weeks, and she was damned if she was going to spend her life being treated shabbily by her own husband. So she wouldn’t look for love, Suzette decided and announced, “I shall look for a husband I can control, or at least one I can insure won’t control me.”

“How?” Lisa asked uncertainly.