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"That sounds monstrously improper," Eleanor observed

"My favorite kind of activity"

Chapter Eighteen

She should probably stop by her ht to write a note of condolence to Gideon Instead Eleanor called for a bath, added essence of jas Shakespeare’s Sonnets

Willa took down her curls and brushed out all the wilting violets Then she poured a bitinto the bath

"Would youyour linens, my lady?" she inquired

"Absolutely not," Eleanor said "This bath is deliciously waret out when I wish"

"It’s right there," Willa said, "but your wrapper is downstairs to be ed the fabric"

"Oyster!" Eleanor said He raised his head groggily and gave her a little woof before subsiding again "Has he been outside lately?"

Willa frowned "Perhaps I should take him for a walk as well, my lady"

"I can puthim up later"

Willa let herself out and Eleanor returned to Shakespeare’s sonnets, which probably everyone in the world had read except for her That factto discover that she couldn’t e of true ain An impediment was an obstacle It made her feel a little sad, really She and Gideon had been a

She and Villiers spent their tiht as one They had talked for countless hours and agreed on everything, though all these years later, she couldn’t re was a terrible sin, she rereed There was no point to dueling It was dangerous

She dragged herself back to the sonnet Let e of true minds admit impediments Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds

This line was even harder Alteration? Could Shakespeare be talking about getting older? So love is not love if a ray Her love for Gideon would never have faltered if he lost his beauty Or bends with the reht Just as the reh, was that first line She kept reading it over and over Let e of true minds admit impediments True love doesn’t admit impediments Gideon’s father’s will had been an impediment And Gideon obviously admitted the i cold She clioing over all this old ground? But she knehy She had to put Gideon out of her one But that didn’t mean Gideon wanted to marry her, that he loved her the way she had loved hier Love was not love when it admitted impediments When it bent with the remover to remove Gideon had bent to his father’s will

It would be far better to marry Villiers Their relationship was not as heady, not as romantic--but what emotion they had was real

She and Villiers would never fool thee of true e That of true bodies