“I know someone who has a copy.” Leorah set her cup down.
“Who? You?”
“No. The Viscount Withinghall.”
Felicity stared with her mouth open, inhaling audibly. “Does he have it with him?”
“He does, but I don’t know if he will be willing to part with it.”
“Has he finished reading it?”
“I believe he is rereading it. I should ask him what he thinks of Miss More’s position on female education. I believe he considers her a kindred spirit, that they two are upholding the faith of the nation with their bare hands.”
“Leorah, you should not make jests about Hannah More. Or a viscount, for that matter.” Felicity was smiling anyway. “I would think we had both learned our lesson after the pirate incident.”
“Imagine,” Elizabeth Mayson said in an awed voice, “to be an actual acquaintance of Miss Hannah More.”
Leorah had met her at a political rally some months before but refrained from saying so.
“Perhaps I could convince Lord Withinghall to allow me to borrow his copy of Miss More’s Christian Morals if I promise to read it and return it the same day.” Felicity clutched her cup so tightly, Leorah feared she would break it and cut her hand.
“Perhaps.” Leorah had known she would have to go visit Lord Withinghall again, but she had hoped it wouldn’t be so soon.
“Hannah More has the most exciting ideas, and she expresses herself so well. She has such a biting opinion of the aristocracy and the ton.” Felicity became especially animated as she spoke. “But they read her books as avidly as anyone.”
“I have not read any of her books all the way to the end,” Julia said. “I need a plot to keep me interested.”
Felicity’s eyes went wide. “Julia, truly? I can hardly believe it. I shall let you borrow a copy of her Practical Piety immediately. I simply love the passionate way she talks about God and about his love for us and our responsibility to live for him. Everyone is so preoccupied with their own dignity and importance that no one ever speaks of spiritual matters the way she does. It is so refreshing!” Felicity’s hazel eyes glowed with enthusiasm as she suddenly seemed to notice the cup in her hand and set it down noisily. “If all the clergymen in England spoke the way Hannah More writes, our entire country would be galvanized into an evangelical revival in a matter of weeks!”
Leorah hid a smile behind her hand. Even though both Lord Withinghall and Felicity were great supporters of Hannah More and her ideas, Lord Withinghall was all humorless advocacy while Felicity was passionate enthusiasm. Leorah believed in Miss More’s ideology as well, but Withinghall’s dogmatic arrogance made her wish she could disagree, while Felicity’s passion made her feel guilty that she didn’t feel the same way about spreading God’s righteous word to the masses.
“Tell me more about her ideas on female education.”
Felicity’s smile lit up her sweet face. “She is very passionate about female education. She says in this day and age, when new trades are proliferating, women need to know just as much as their husbands so that they can help run their businesses. Instead, their typical education includes silly, superficial subjects such as drawing, acting, playing music, and speaking foreign languages. Though there is nothing wrong with learning a foreign language, the purpose should be to speak it, not to simply engage in a frenzy of accomplishments meant to attract a husband and impress others. Women are just as capable of rigorous, useful learning as men.”
Leorah observed Felicity as she continued to tell Julia about the evangelical writer.
Felicity’s cute, upturned nose; slightly pointed chin; perfect, curly, strawberry-blond hair; lovely smile; and small stature all combined to give her a rather pixieish air. But there was no denying that within that small frame resided a very big heart and passionate nature to rival any Leorah had known.
Nicholas entered the room and expressed the usual pleasantries.
“I’m afraid Nicholas and I must go and make a call,” Julia said, “but I want to spend the entire day with you ladies tomorrow.”
After Nicholas and Julia left, Felicity turned to address Leorah. “Do you think we could visit Lord Withinghall and inquire after his health? If he is not in a very bad disposition today, perhaps I could ask to borrow his book.”
Resigned to the prospect of conversing with Lord Withinghall again, Leorah nodded.
“Is the viscount in very much pain from his broken leg? Will he not like us bothering him?” Elizabeth Mayson’s cheeks were pale at the prospect of visiting with a curmudgeonly viscount while he was not well.
“Not very much, I think,” Leorah said. They had all clucked over Leorah’s own broken arm, but Leorah had refrained from telling Felicity that someone had deliberately damaged the carriage, since she didn’t want to alarm Elizabeth.
They finished their tea and went upstairs to see Lord Withinghall. On the stairs on the way up, Felicity took Leorah’s arm and whispered, “The viscount frightens me a bit, but Elizabeth is petrified.”
“I do not think he will bite,” Leorah whispered back. “He is only a man. No need to allow him to intimidate you.”
They found him sitting up in bed, much as he had looked the last time Leorah had seen him, when they had argued so strenuously. Her brother had scolded her soundly afterward, reminding her that Lord Withinghall was not only a guest in their house, but that he was a viscount and the Children’s Aid Mission’s largest supporter, both monetarily and by his advocacy in Parliament.
“But he insulted me!” Leorah protested. “Multiple times!”
“Not as much as you insulted him,” Nicholas fired back. “And he can afford to give offense, for he is rich and a viscount and a very good friend of mine.” Nicholas sighed, his shoulders slumping. “I know you don’t like him, and he can be very difficult sometimes, but please, for my sake, try not to argue so stridently with him. Be polite.” He squeezed her arms as though to impress his words upon her.
Leorah had promised only to try to be polite. And now her promise would be tested for the first time.
“Lord Withinghall, allow me to present Miss Felicity Mayson and her sister, Miss Elizabeth Mayson.” She looked into his blue eyes, which were shaded beneath thick, black, lowered brows. Was he remembering Felicity and Leorah’s earlier comments about his piratical appearance?
Elizabeth was quite pale as she curtsied, then wobbled. Leorah prayed she wouldn’t faint. Felicity, in contrast, was pink-cheeked and fidgety.
“Are you feeling well today, Lord Withinghall?” Leorah asked.
“Except for a leg, which I cannot use to stand or walk, I am very well, Miss Langdon.”