Page 119 of Of Fate and Phantoms
I rolled my eyes and caught Lincoln smirking. "I don't think the ministry is at the point where it needs an emblem," I said.
"We need someone to draw it," Gus went on. "Alice, you said you're good at watercolors."
"I can sketch well enough," she said, "but only if I copy something. Creating a design from scratch is not a skill I possess."
"Seth's creative," Lady Vickers piped up.
Alice looked impressed. "Is he? I never suspected."
Seth gave a nonchalant wave of his good hand. "I've dabbled."
"Aye, but dabbled at what?" Gus said wryly.
"Fetch a sketch pad and pencil," Seth ordered him. "I've got some ideas already."
"You can't," I reminded him. "Your hand."
"Oh. Right."
Gus rose anyway. "I can work a pencil as well as him."
I left them to it and went to sit beside Lady Vickers. Lincoln joined us. "Maids and a footman have been employed and will begin tomorrow," she announced. "Mrs. Cotchin is proving to be a marvel. Lichfield is in safe hands with her."
"My thanks, madam," Lincoln said.
"I could never have done it on my own, and nor could Lincoln," I said. I hoped he would offer to give Lady Vickers something as compensation, but he walked off. It was left to me. "As a token of his appreciation, Lincoln would like to take you shopping. Well, I will be the one to take you."
She patted her hair and her cheeks blushed. "That's very kind of you."
"I thought a new gown, something to wear to dinner parties. Something to wear toourdinner party."
She clapped her hands. "Charlie, what a wonderful idea. I already have a list of guests. There are invitations we must reciprocate, of course, and some dear friends who've been kind to me since my return. And eligible young ladies, too," she added, eyeing Seth and Alice, their heads bent together in discussion.
I almost mentioned inviting Lady Harcourt but bit my tongue. Did I want her at my first dinner party? She may be in an unhappy situation, but how was that my fault? It was her stepson's doing.Heought to be the one making it up to her. I would think about it some more.
"It's not so bad," Lady Vickers said quietly.
"Pardon?"
"I know what you're thinking, and I want you to know that it can be as wonderful as it can be awful. It all depends on whether you love one another enough to endure the lows."
"Hosting dinner parties?"
She laughed. "No, marriage."
"Oh!"
"I have had one awful marriage and one good one," she went on. "Take it from me, Charlie, how you feel about one another makes all the difference. If there is no respect between you, no genuine friendship, and no love, then you'll end up despising one another." She looked to the door through which Lincoln had just left. "Mr. Fitzroy is not like any man I've ever met. You can't compare him, and your relationship, to any other. You are both unique individuals, and what you have now and what you'll have in the future has no precedent."
"Thank you for your advice."
"Will you put him out of his misery?"
"I…I think I need to talk to him."
I rose in something of a daze but did not leave to follow him. I wanted to be among my friends and their lively chatter, so remained in the parlor. We ate an informal luncheon in the cozy room, although Lincoln was absent. Doyle informed me he'd gone out, but he didn't say where. I found myself alone in the parlor with Seth after lunch, the others having gone in search of more paper for their sketches.
"You look contemplative," he said, stretching out his legs. "Anything you want to talk about?"
