“It is so good to see you again, Lady Julia,” Miss Ponsonby said into the sudden awkward silence, too polite to demand an explanation for our sudden arrival with a drugged woman, although they had every right to do so. “I have enjoyed our correspondence.”

“As I have,” Julia said. She sounded bright and energetic, but I knew she was drawing upon deep reserves. It was in the angle of her body and the way she had drawn some of the cloth of her gown into her hand, as if to anchor herself. She leaned closer to Miss Ponsonby. “You must be wondering what on earth is going on. Would it be possible for me to speak to you and Lady Eleanor in private about our friends upstairs? I can explain everything.” She glanced at me as she waited for their reply, her eyes flicking to Brummell and back again: Ask him.

I tilted my head with a frown: Yes, yes, I know what to do.

The Ladies of Llangollen looked at each other. I saw the same kind of silent conversation between them that Julia and I had just conducted—a kind of language born from love and a long time in each other’s company—and then Lady Eleanor nodded. “Of course. Come with us.”

“You are not going, too, Augusta?” Brummell asked as the three women rose from their chairs.

“No, I will stay.” I waited until my sister and the ladies had left the room, and then said, “In fact, Lord Alvanley, would it be too much of an imposition if I spoke to Mr. Brummell in private?”

Lord Alvanley—a man of consummate civility—immediately bowed. “Not at all. I shall return to the dining room and reclaim some of Lady Eleanor’s excellent claret.”

As the door closed behind him, George and I contemplated each other. If he did not agree to what I was about to request, the plan would be over.

“I know you have granted me a lot of favors in the past, George,” I said. “But I am going to ask for another. One that vastly exceeds all the others in importance.”

He raised his elegantly arched eyebrows. “Indeed? Go ahead.”

“I believe you are aware of the situation between Lord Deele and Lady Hester.”

He inclined his head.

“Deele will be arriving soon to wrest back his sister from the company of Miss Grant. Lady Julia is, at this very moment, asking Lady Eleanor and Miss Ponsonby to take them in for a few months. If the ladies agree, then the favor I ask of you is to support this arrangement in front of Lord Deele and to condemn his treatment of Lady Hester. I think you know the treatment to which I refer.”

His mouth pursed in sympathy. “The asylum. Is she actually mad?”

“Most definitely not. You should have seen what they did to her, George. We barely got her out in time.”