“That will do,” Alice agreed.

“He must allow me to be myself. I will not have anyone trying to control me.” Eleanor could not think of a worse fate.

“Indeed,” Alice and Madeline said at the same time, then laughed.

Madeline set down her pen. “It would be nice if we were not too far apart.”

“That would be ideal,” Eleanor said. “Yet none of our sisters or their friends live at all close to one another, but they all seem to know everything that is going on, and we do get together every summer and every other Christmas.”

“Very well.” Madeline picked up the pen. “I will leave that off the list. What else can you think of?”

Alice raised a brow. “He does not have to be as wealthy as Golden Ball, but he does need to be able to support a family.”

“Agreed.” Madeline dipped her pen into the ink. “No falling in love with a fortune hunter or pauper.”

Eleanor quickly stayed her sister’s hand. “Do not write that. It will be tempting fate.”

Madeline’s eyes widened. “Oh, you are right. I will just say ‘must be able to support a family.’”

“Anything else?” Alice asked.

The three of them looked at one another and shook their heads.

“This does not have to be the end of the list,” Eleanor pointed out. “We can always add to it.”

“Very true.” Alice nodded.

“We can watch our sisters and their friends with their husbands,” Madeline said. “That might give us other ideas.”

Eleanor remembered some of the fraught beginnings they had. “But do not forget, not all of them had an easy time falling in love and getting married.”

Alice frowned. “Did any of them have an easy time?”

“You know”—Madeline tilted her head to one side—“I do not believe they did.”

Eleanor thought back to what they knew of the courtships and caught herself frowning. “Perhaps it will be better for us. Although, that brings up something we forgot to write down. Any gentleman I marry must love me as I love him.”

Madeline turned back to the desk. “How could we have forgotten that?”

“We probably simply assumed it,” Alice said.

As Madeline wrote down the last point, a knock sounded on the door.

“Come,” Eleanor called.

Charlotte, their eldest sister, entered the parlor. “I am glad you are all here.”

Madeline looked around the room. “Where are the children?”

“Playing with Gideon and Elizabeth. Mr. Winters agreed to begin their Latin instruction while we are in Town and help us find a tutor before we go home.”

Madeline pulled a face. “I remember how hard I found it to catch up when we all started living together. But Mr. Winters made it seem easy.”

“He is very good at explaining things,” Alice agreed.

Eleanor realized that her sister was still standing at the door. “What are we thinking? Please come in. Would you like tea?”