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“What a perfectly ht of a Lord, you know, to take a percentage of anything good produced on his land And I’hed, and when he laughed, it sounded to E at his own joke, she supposed

“Is this your land? Your house?” Emily suddenly noticed thatWhat did those knowing glances mean? Of course, she knew very well that Lord Byron was meant to be mad and bad and all that rubbish, but this Lord Byron was only her own age How dangerous to know could he be just yet?

Byron kissed her gloved hand as they stepped lightly round one another He could dance like rivers could run No one had ever kissed her hand before E to throw up and like she was flying all at once

“It is indeed, my clever dove! My house, my land, my drink, my food I’ve loaned it all out to Douro for his little party,” Byron said, slipping his arht “You kno it is with elderly ure at table, but it’s not quite all there” He tapped the side of his silky head “I myself am merely old money Entirely different But! It is not Douro’s brother and sister in peril, nor mine Did you say a fellow called Brunty took them? Took them how? Took them where? Anyone named Brunty is trouble, it’s true Did he have a surnao? Perhaps they’re having a grand adventure and you oughtn’t interrupt it”

Emily looked stricken Lord Byron’s shoulders slumped

“Don’t giveor passionate faces, none of this pale grief and sour disappoint What can I do to get my merry Ellis back to charm the rocks her brother cannot?”

Emily smiled softly, a smile that any Lord would hear as clearly as words Perhaps there is so

I’ht What a pity I’e!

The song ended abruptly with all the dancers in two neat lines, boys on one side, girls on the other Everyone applaudedout for olden sweat stood out on Charlotte’s brow Arthur looked sorrowfully at her

“I’er than one brother or one sister What help can be spared for such a little thing? I need every man by“We ainst Napoleon at Calabar I cannot hold the capital with even one soldier h it breaks my heart to say it to such a clever face as yours”

Charlotte’s carefully crafted helplessness fell away Now, the helplessness turned horribly real She fought back tears She had just assumed he would say yes He always said yes when she played Wellington in their games at home This was her world Hers and Emily’s and Branwell’s and Anne’s How could he have said anything other than yes? What now? This had been her plan Her only plan And it was finished before it could begin She was left with nothing but a dress and her loss and a coat of paint that was beginning to flake

Wellington winced “No man could call me a coward on the battlefield,” he said reluctantly “But I’ve always cruirl who’s disappointed in me Don’t make such faces, Miss Currer It is politics It is war There is no time for the fates of two little children while the world is falling apart”

Charlotte tried to wrench her arrip was iron—really, actually iron Fear sizzled all up and down her spine Charlotte’s eyes glowed as white-hot as Wellington’s “They are not two little children They are o!”

“Currer, be still You are le so, like a wild, frantic bird rending its own feathers in desperation”

Charlotte drew herself up as tall a