Susanna removed her bonnet and laid it aside. “Yes, some officers are temporarily encamped on the castle bluffs. And no, there is not a lord in the party.” She paused. “There are two.”
The squeal of excitement occasioned by this pronouncement quite pained her ears. She looked to Sally. “Could you show me those two spools of lace again? The ones I looked at Thursday last? I couldn’t decide between the—”
“Hang the lace,” Sally said. “Tell us more of these gentlemen. Cruel thing, you know we are dying of anticipation.”
“Miss Finch!” A most unexpected woman pushed her way to the fore. “Miss Finch, what is this I hear about lords?”
“Mrs. Highwood?” Susanna blinked at the lace-capped widow in disbelief. “What are you still doing here?”
“We’re all here,” Minerva called, standing behind her mother, arm-in-arm with Charlotte. From the counter, Diana gave a shy wave.
Somehow, Susanna had missed them in the initial crush. “But . . . But I saw your carriage leaving yesterday.”
“Mama sent it to fetch all our things,” Charlotte said, bouncing on her toes. “We’re to stay here in Spindle Cove for the summer! Isn’t it marvelous?”
“Yes.” Susanna laughed with relief. “Yes, it is. I’m so glad.”
Even Mrs. Highwood smiled. “I just knew it was the right decision. My friends always say my intuition is unparalleled. Why, just this morning two lords have arrived in the neighborhood. While we’re here, Diana can get well and get married.”
Hm. Susanna wasn’t so sure about that.
“Now tell us everything about them,” Sally insisted.
“There truly is not much to tell. Three gentlemen arrived in the neighborhood yesterday afternoon. They include a Lieutenant Colonel Bramwell, a Corporal Thorne, and Bramwell’s cousin, Lord Payne. For his service to the Crown, Bramwell has been granted the title Earl of Rycliff. The castle is his.” She turned to Sally. “May I see the lace now?”
“The castle is his?” asked Violet. “How can that be? A man just marches into town, and suddenly a centuries-old castle is his for the asking?”
Mrs. Lange harrumphed. “That’s a man for you. Always taking, never asking.”
“He was awarded the earldom in recognition of his valor, apparently,” Susanna said. “He’s been tasked with raising a local militia and providing a review. The field day will take the place of our usual midsummer fair.”
“What?” Charlotte cried. “No midsummer fair? But I was so looking forward to it.”
“I know, dear. We all looked forward to it. But we’ll find other ways to amuse ourselves this summer, never fear.”
“I’m sure you will.” Sally gave her a knowing look. “Cor. Two lords and an officer. No wonder you’re taken with the lace this morning, Miss Finch. With the new gents in residence, all you ladies will want to look your best.”
Several ladies pressed into a circle around her, investigating the wares with fresh interest.
Miss Kate Taylor didn’t join them. Instead, she crossed the room to join Susanna. As Spindle Cove’s music tutor, Kate was one of the rooming house’s few year-round residents. She was also delightfully sensible, and among Susanna’s closest friends.
“You look out of sorts,” Kate said quietly.
“I’m not worried,” she lied. “We’ve worked too hard to build this community, and our cause is too important. We won’t let a few men divide us.”
Kate looked around the room. “It seems to be starting already.”
The group of young women had separated in two groups—those eagerly absorbing Sally Bright’s beautification advice huddled on the left. On the right, the remainder stood in a defensive knot, casting worried glances at their gloves and slippers.
She’d feared precisely this reaction. A handful of the young ladies in Spindle Cove would fall victim to scarlet fever, eagerly chasing after the redcoats. The awkward, demure majority would crawl back into their protective shells, like hermit crabs.
“Diana must have a new ribbon,” Mrs. Highwood decided. “Coral pink. She always looks her best in coral pink. And a deep green for Charlotte.”
“And for Miss Minerva?” Sally asked.
Mrs. Highwood made a dismissive wave. “No ribbons for Minerva. She makes a knot of them, removing and donning those spectacles.”
Susanna craned her neck for a glimpse of the bespectacled girl in question, anxious for her feelings. Fortunately, Minerva had migrated to the shop’s rear corner, where she seemed to be examining some bottles of ink. The middle Highwood sister was not what one could call a conventional beauty, but a keen intellect lived behind those spectacles, and it didn’t need a ribbon to adorn it.
“How do the men look?” Young Charlotte turned to Susanna. “Are they terribly handsome?”
“What has that to do with anything?”