desires and hastily suppressed the thought. ‘I will explain it all in a minute—but do tell me what is so concerning you about Millie.’
Zenna paced around the room, too agitated to join her friend on the sofa. ‘I walked back from the Lang-ton house across the Park and there was Millie, with no female companion at all, arm in arm with this man.’
‘He may have been a perfectly respectable admirer.’
‘You know as well as I that, given her profession, Millie cannot hope to make a respectable connection with anyone of the ton! And this man is nothing if not a member of the most fashionable set—his clothes, his air, everything about him. If his intentions were respectable, why did he not welcome an introduction to one of Millie’s friends?’
‘He did not, then?’
Zenna flushed angrily. ‘I was comprehensively snubbed; not that Millie noticed, it was very smoothly done and she is obviously too entranced by him to see what is under her nose.’
No wonder Zenna had reacted so strongly to Nick Stangate’s cold and judgemental regard. ‘Do you know his name?’
‘A Mr Hemsley. Millie calls him Jack.’ Zenna, who was finally sitting down on the sofa, caught her friend’s look of alarmed recognition. ‘You know him?’
‘Oh, yes,’ Tallie said grimly. ‘He is an acquaintance of Lord Arndale and the Parrys, and he was the man who led the pack of them hunting for me in the studio. I saw him again when I last delivered hats to Lady Parry. You are quite correct to be worried, Zenna, he is a complete rake and I am certain can have no respectable reason for paying attention to Millie.’
‘What can we do? Should we speak to Mrs Blackstock?’
They regarded each other dubiously. ‘It might have been a chance meeting,’ Zenobia said. ‘I would not wish to upset Millie by questioning her judgement.’
‘And we would be suggesting that she might behave imprudently if we were to mention it to Mrs Blackstock …’ Tallie’s voice trailed away. ‘We must keep a quiet eye on Millie. It is possible that, if his intentions are dishonourable, the realisation that she has attentive friends will deter him.’
Zenna nodded decisively. ‘Yes, I agree, that is the best plan.’
An awkward silence followed their decision on what action to take over Millie’s unsuitable admirer. Tallie knew Zenna would be expecting her to tell all about the mysterious request to call upon Lady Parry and she must be equally curious as to why Tallie was being driven home by the very man she was so wary of. But Zenna would not pry and Tallie found her own tongue stumbling over what should be a perfectly simple piece of news.
But it was not so simple, she realised. As the fog of shock and confused delight at the news cleared, things became more and more complicated and delicate.
All her friends were in very straitened circumstances. They would greet the news of her good fortune with unenvious delight, she was sure, but her immediate, unthinking instinct to give money away and make life easier for them was fraught with difficulties.
How could she do it without appearing to patronise and putting them in a position where what had been a friendship of equals would be shadowed by inequality? An outright offer of money would wound the pride of any of them, but she did so much want to help lift the anxiety of making ends meet day after day from all three, just as it had been miraculously lifted from her.
‘Zenna,’ she began tentatively.
‘Yes? Do you want to tell me about this morning? Has something unpleasant happened?’
‘No, nothing unpleasant—far from it. But I have had such a shock my head is spinning and I hardly know what to think or do.’
‘Lord Arndale has proposed?’ Zenna enquired.
‘Proposed? No! Certainly not! Why should he do such a thing?’ Tallie felt so hot and bothered at the very idea that she completely lost her train of thought and simply stared at her friend.
Zenna shrugged. ‘Just a fancy that crossed my mind.’ Tallie regarded her, astonished, until she retorted, ‘Well, he is quite extraordinarily good-looking.’
‘Zenna!’
‘I might be a spinster governess, but there is nothing wrong with my eyesight and I can recognise an attractive man when I see one, even if I do not care for him,’ her friend replied somewhat snappishly.
‘Yes, of course you can,’ Tallie apologised hastily. ‘Do you really think him so handsome?’
It was Zenna’s turn to stare. ‘There appears to be something amiss with your eyesight, Talitha. But never mind Lord Arndale—what happened if it is nothing to do with him?’
‘Dear Miss Gower who died the other week has left me a legacy in her will,’ Tallie said cautiously.
‘Oh, how thoughtful of her. What is it? A piece of jewellery or a small sum of money?’
‘That is what I expected when they told me, but, Zenna—it is fifty thousand pounds.’
‘Fifty thou … are you sure? Not fifty or five hundred?’
‘That is what I thought at first, but there is no mistake. She has left me her entire fortune, beyond legacies to friends and servants.’
‘How wonderful!’ Zenna hugged Tallie hard, then sat back with a face radiant with pleasure at her friend’s good fortune. ‘What are you going to do now?’
‘I hardly know, it is such a surprise.’ An idea suddenly struck her and, without giving herself time to worry about details, Tallie said, ‘I must make some sensible investments, of course. Zenna, you know you have always said your dream is to have your own school? Why do we not go into partnership and do just that?’
‘I do not have any money,’ Zenna protested. But Tallie saw the sudden flare of excitement in her eyes.
‘Yes, but you have all the skills and know how a school should be run. I will provide the money for the house and so forth, you manage the school. And,’ she added as Zenna opened her mouth to argue, ‘I would hope to find somewhere large enough for me to make it my home as well, if you should not object.’
‘Object? Object! Tallie, do you really mean it? How wonderful, there are so many things I want to try, so many new ideas about the education of girls—’ She broke off. ‘But you have not given this any thought yet, have you? You must do so, and take advice. And, in any case, why on earth would you want to live in a girls’ school? With this fortune you can be a Society lady.’
‘I am too old, Zenna, and I know no one.’
‘Nonsense.’ Zenna leapt to her feet and began to pace the room. ‘Lady Parry would advise you.’
‘She already has,’ Tallie admitted. ‘She has invited me to stay with her and make my come-out under her aegis.’
‘Did you not agree? That is a marvellous opportunity, you could not hope for anything more fortunate.’
‘Yes, I did agree, but now I think I
