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"No child is going to win the prize," Roland said disgustedly, looking up froe of clues "I wouldn’t be able to solve them Listen to this: In marble walls as white as milk, lined with a skin as soft as silk, within a fountain crystal clear, a golden apple doth appear"

"What?"

"Wait, I’hold, yet thieves break in and steal the gold What am I?"

"I haven’t the faintest idea"

"I know that one, but only becauseLisette apparently expects the children to figure the riddle and then be able to find the henhouse and bring back an egg"

Eleanor shrugged "I suppose she’ll just give the prizes to whichever children solve one or two riddles, then"

"That will be Villiers’s bastards," Roland said with a sneer

"Why do you say so?"

"Because Lisette isn’t playing fair, of course" He nodded

Sure enough, Lisette hispering in Lucinda’s ear The little girl dimpled up at her and patted her hand, and then ran off

Eleanor discovered that she was s The expression on Lucinda’s face didn’t display adoration, the way Willa had described She would describe it as so--and more manipulative Well, ould she have expected? They were Villiers’s daughters, after all

She looked around again, trying to ignore the way Roland was standing too close to her Gideon was basking in her mother’s smiles Lucinda had run directly fro by the raspberry bushes There was no sign of Oyster, to her relief A great flock of orphans in blue pinafores were clustered together, puzzling over the clues; they see them

Villiers was nowhere to be seen It was ridiculous to find that the day lost its flavor simply because an errant duke had chosen not to participate in the frolic

Just then a soft voice said, "Lady Eleanor" She looked down to find Phyllinda s up at her

With precisely the same smile her twin had just used on Lisette

"I don’t know the answers," Eleanor said bluntly "I can’t help you"

Phyllinda’s smile just broadened and she held up her hand "Will you helpin the house, Lady Eleanor? Please?" The last please was tacked on with pitiful eiven the fact that the child was clearly up to so "What?" she asked

Phyllinda leaned close and whispered, "It’s private To do with my petticoats"

Since, in her better moments, she was a lady, Eleanor didn’t roll her eyes Instead she took the hand Phyllinda was offering and followed her into the house They passed Gideon, who cast a look at their linked hands and grew a little stiff

"It’s up here," Phyllinda said, lisping a bit

Having a naturally suspicious ht back to the way Phyllinda spoke when she and her sister were first uncovered in the carriage No lisp One had to suppose that the lisp had been proven effective in outwitting adults susceptible to mindless sentiment

"This is your bedcha to the side She was overacting terribly