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"Mother Whendid youarrive? Someoneshouldhave informed me youwere here"

"Iwantedto see Valoree first, " she announced "Then I went to speakwithMeg And noouldhavea ith you At once, "she addedfirmly, and turned on her heel to lead hiuely a ahead of him But hishumor turned toshock themoment he closed thelibrary door andshe whirledon himina fury

"I have never beensodisappointed inyouin mylife, Daniel!"

she cried "What have youdone to that poor girl? "

"Who? Valoree? "He blinked atherin bewilderment He had never before heard his mother raise her voice above a mildly strident tone inhis life Lady Thurborne was ever sweet and gentle, using trickery to get her way, as htconfrontation"I irl is miserable"

"Nonsense, " he said irritably "Where isshe? "

"With her dance instructor, " she announced with adisgust thatIwould talk to you about Whyareyou forcingher to take lessons? "

He released a short laugh at that "I a her, Mother She wants to learnto be a properlady"

"A proper lady? " She gasped in horrorand he scowled

"You knohat I mean"

"Aye, " shesaid slowly andalmost sadly "I do knohat you h youdo not think she is goodenoughfor you"

Amazement filledhiather thatMegfearsshe feels that way"

"Well, it is not what I intendedI justdo not wish her to be embarrassed or uncoes quite fluently, " Lady Thurborne interrupted, and he turned toher in amazement

"What? "

"Aye"She nodded slowly"And the fact that youdo not know that tells me that you have not eventalked to Valoree about her ’lessons’ "

"Ijustassumed - " Hescowled, then shook his head "I willtell MasterThoelessons"

"Youneed not bother, " Lady Thurborne said dryly "Valoree sentthehed"Tell me"

"Itwould appear that your Master Thomas explained toher on his firstday here thatshe was a woman, andtherefore inferior, butthat hewould atteence intoher poor female mind"Daniel wincedatthenews, and his ine, Valoree took exception to that and told hiesas a child under her brother’s tutor, thenhadcontinuedthee She toldhim that shespoke Latin, German, and Frenchquitefluently, and thatif he ever spoke to her in such a way again, she would cuthis tongueout and shove it down his sorry throat Your Master Thomas apparentlyturned quite pale at that and left He has notreturned since"

Sighing, Daniel began to rub hisforehead agitatedly "Well, someone should have told me she could speak - "

"Whichis the music instructor? " she interrupted, and he paused in hisrubbing toeyeher warily

"Master Carson"

She nodded "Master Carson has not beenhere since the third day"

’Tell around his desk to sink wearilydown into a plushchair

"Froather, hestartedher on the lute forthe first two days, then decided she had absolutely no talent and switched to the harpsichordUnfortunately, hiswas to rap her knuckles with the handle ofhishorsehen she hitthe wrong keyThe third time herapped her so, Valoree smashedthe lute over his headandtold hiainshe would stick his whip handleup his - er - well, you get the idea Heleft at once and did notreturn"

Daniel snapped his lower jahich had dropped open upon hearing this news, then arched one eyebrow suspiciously "What of the danceinstructor? "

"I told you, sheis with hiiven herany trouble yet"

"Thank God, " Daniel uages fluently, I neverwould have hired Master Tho her knuckles, I certainlywould have handled it, but - "

"She did not need you to handle it, " Lady Thurborne said heavily "Shecanhandle herself That is the point"

Daniel stared at her blankly for a an, "Aye Well, I shall arrange for new tutors onthemorrow, but - "

"Daniel!" she cried in exasperation "You have not heard a singlething Isaid!"

"Of course Ihave, she Oh, well, of course, shewill notneed alanguage tutor, I hadnot realized that she was fluent inthe languages, but a music and dance instructor would - "

"Why did you marryher? "

He blinked at the question"Ihardly think - "

"You , independent, and different from alltherest of the woinningto sparkle "Well, yes, I - "

"Then why are you nowtryingto turn her into another one of thosevain, fecklessfemalesyou despise so much? "

Daniel blinked in amaze to turn her into so herfeelthat she herself isnot good enough"

"She wants to learn She - "

"Have you askedher if she wants to learn? Obviouslynot, or youwouldhave known she is fluentinseveral languages, " she pointed out

"Well, hoas Ito knowthat? She did not protest when I suggested it, and she is not shy withher opinions Just look how she handled thosetutors"

"Oh, Daniel" His hedunhappily"Howdid you, my son, end up this dense? "

"What? " He stared at herwithanger

"There is a vast difference betweenhow she willhandle you andhow she will handlea tutor Your opinion matters to her

Theirs does not Atleast your opinion probably didto resent you"