Movement beyond Zurie caught Margot’s eye—Mrs. Neville, a busybody forever trying to arrange a meeting between Margot and one of her many grandsons. Given the current ratio of men to women in England, she hadn’t any idea why the woman insisted on bothering her with nearsighted Thomas or London-stationed Richard when there were any number of young ladies happy to vie for their attention, but Margot didn’t much fancy ruining yet another Sunday with the argument.

She gripped Dot’s elbow and steered her away from the door. “Mrs. Neville at two o’clock. Hurry and perhaps someone will waylay her before she can catch up to us.”

Dot laughed and made no objection to the increase of pace. “Aunt Millie was always complaining of her. Might we begin walking to your brother’s?”

“I daresay no one will object.” Even Maman understood the desire to flee Mrs. Neville’s clutches. She never made any attempt to hinder Margot’s escape.

They hurried around a group of chatting parishioners and caught Maman’s eye. Margot gave her the prearranged signal for the gossip’s approach by checking the watch on her pendant, and Maman gave her a twinkling-eyed smile and nodded toward the street.

It was all the approval she needed. She and Dot hurried away. Clouds obscured the sun, and the wind whipped down the street, but it was a warm wind, and Margot felt no need to complain. With Dot still chuckling at her side, they turned left and increased their pace still more.

“Shall we walk or take the tube?” Dot darted a glance over her shoulder. Apparently there was no Mrs. Neville hunting them down, given that she faced forward again without comment.

“Walk. It won’t take us long.” And she had a key to the townhouse Lukas and Willa let, so even if their housekeeper wasn’t back from her own church yet, Margot could let herself and Dot in.

Once they turned the corner at the first intersection, they slowed their pace and Dot let out a happy little sigh. “We’ll walk by the park going this direction, won’t we?”

“Yes.” It wasn’t much of a park—neither large nor grand nor a draw from other parts of the city. But it was the nearest one to both her flat and Lukas’s house, not to mention the church, so Margot had spent a fair amount of time on its walking paths and benches over the last three years.