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countess!
Just imagine!”
    Kate rolled her eyes in exasperation. She
couldn’t understand why the Earl of Devonshire would offer for
Dorothea. They were so different. Dorothea was incredibly shallow
and the earl had so many facets to him that a woman could spend a
lifetime getting to know him better. The earl had a brilliant mind,
while Dorothea’s only thoughts seemed to surround her next trip to
the dressmaker’s shop.
    “Actually,” Edgar interposed, a smile
quirking up one side of his mouth. “Viscount Marbury came to speak
with me before he left.”
    “He – he did?” Penelope prodded. “What could
he possibly - ? You don’t mean?”
    Edgar raised his eyebrows.
    “He wants to marry Dorothea?” Penelope
gasped.
    Dorothea squealed in delight and hugged her
sister, Helen.
    “We could have a double wedding, Mama!” Helen
cried. “Wouldn’t it be wonderful?”
    Penelope didn’t seem impressed.
    “Well, I - I’d certainly hoped for better,
child,” Penelope mused in disappointment. “Still, being the wife of
a viscount might not be all bad.”
    “The gentleman tells me he clears over thirty
thousand pounds a year,” Edgar softly interjected.
    Penelope’s eyes widened.
    “Oh, I can’t wait until he asks me!” Dorothea
gushed.
    Apparently, the Earl of Devonshire was now
forgotten. Obviously, Lionel’s thirty thousand pounds a year spoke
volumes.
    “You will accept, of course,” Penelope
chided.
    “Yes, Mama,” Dorothea readily agreed.
    “Oh, I don’t believe it!” Penelope happily
cried, holding her daughters close. “My two girls married at
last!”
    Edgar cleared his throat and gestured toward
Kate, who stood by the fireplace silently observing the revelry.
Before he could utter a word, however, Penelope, Helen and Dorothea
put their heads together, already busily making plans for the
upcoming nuptials.
    “We must go shopping for your trousseaus at
once. How much time do we have, Edgar? Has a date been set yet?”
Penelope demanded.
    “Not yet,” Edgar replied. “Penelope, aren’t
you forgetting that -”
    “Oh, I hope it’s soon, Mama!” Dorothea
cried.
    “Not too soon, dear. Remember, people do talk
when there’s a hasty marriage,” Penelope reminded her.
    “Penelope,” Edgar tried again, his face
getting redder by the moment.
    “We can put both of your names on the
invitations. That should save a little bit of money, won’t it,
Edgar?” Penelope asked.
    “I daresay, but --”
    “However, we simply must have two
cakes,” Penelope gushed with enthusiasm. “It just wouldn’t be
proper if we combined the two.”
    “Thunderation, woman!” Edgar shouted,
erupting to his feet. “Will you be silent for a moment?”
    Immediately, the women stopped talking. Her
sisters’ mouths dropped open in shock. Always more reserved, their
father had apparently chosen that moment to make a stand.
    Penelope sighed in irritation. “What is it,
Edgar? What could possibly be more important at a time like this
than your daughters’ weddings?”
    “The choice of brides, for one,” Edgar firmly
explained.
    Penelope frowned in confusion.
    “I never said that Viscount Marbury wanted to
marry Dorothea,” Edgar supplied.
    “What? Well, he can’t very well marry Helen.
She’s already promised,” Penelope reasoned.
    “A fact of which he’s well aware,” Edgar
noted. “That’s why he wants to marry – Kate.”
    “Kate?”
    Kate clutched the side of the mantel, her
senses reeling from the news. Dorothea’s and Helen’s mouths hung
open in shock. Only Penelope was able to find her voice.
    “Who would want to marry Kate?”

Chapter 5
    After that startling announcement, the rest
of the day held little promise. Night eventually fell with welcome
relief and the household settled itself for the evening.
    Even as she sought her bed, Penelope’s words
continued to ring in Kate’s mind like a death knell. Who would want
to marry her? Kate was neither exceedingly pretty nor