Indeed, she was soon so at ease that she leaned toward Newton now and then, bumping him with her shoulder, smiling up at him, sparkling with joy. His smile never faded; it couldn’t. Her happiness filled his own heart with pleasure.
She adroitly waved off the horrified and scandalized reactions the three of them sometimes chose. Though the real-life versions of these lessons would not be so ridiculous, Newton could already see the benefit in them. One was far less intimidated by a situation one had made jest of again and again.
“Now,” Artemis said after a hilarious quarter hour of pretended conversations. “Let us role-play the receiving of compliments and responses to insults.”
“I am not willing to insult her,” Newton said firmly. “Even in jest.”
That earned him looks of approval from the ladies. Charlie, however, pretended to be sick to his stomach, which earned him a not-entirely-playful swat on the arm from Artemis.
“The ‘insults’ will be too ridiculous to be hurtful,” Artemis assured Newton. “Allow me to demonstrate.” She twisted her features into a sour expression and hunched a little, a well-executed portrayal of the sort of ill-tempered dragon one encountered throughout Society. “Why, Miss Ellie,” she said, speaking through her nose, “how brave of you to wear that particular shade of yellow. Not all young ladies have the fortitude to go about looking as though they are suffering from a liver complaint.”
Ellie was not wearing yellow, which made the observation entirely farcical.
Ellie’s brow pulled in thought. “For insults, you said, ‘Retreat, wield my shield, or return fire.’”
“War terminology?” Charlie asked.
“Being a young lady in Society means being constantly under attack,” Artemis said. “Battle tactics suit the situation horrifyingly well.”
That sent Newton’s heart to his toes. He looked to Ellie. She offered a small nod.
“I’m sorry.” He set his hand around hers. “I hope Artemis’s tactics make life in thetona little easier to endure.”
“I think they will.”
“I am curious what her approaches look like when applied,” Newton said.
Ellie kept their fingers entwined. It felt as natural as breathing.
“Retreat means that the insult is, essentially, ignored. Wielding my shield means that I deflect the insult, usually by changing the topic of conversation.”
Both excellent tactics depending on the situation.
“And return fire isn’t, as I first thought, to insult the person in return,” Ellie said.
“Although sometimes that is too tempting to avoid.” Artemis nodded subtly with her head toward Charlie, eyes pulled wide in theatrical emphasis.
Ellie smiled as she continued her explanation. “To ‘return fire,’ in this instance, means to stand my ground, to speak in my own defense, to make quite clear to all those within earshot that what was said was not acceptable and no one of manners or civility would think otherwise.”
That was bold by anyone’s standards.
“I think returning fire will be the most difficult to do,” Ellie said. “We are taught quite specifically that a young lady does not take a stand in her own defense. Our required response is to sit in silence and endure whatever is flung at us.”
He’d chosen that approach, more or less, with his parents. What must it be like to have that approach required of oneself inallsituations?
“What is your response to Antique Artemis’s observation of your fictionally sallow complexion?” Charlie asked.
Ellie stiffened her posture and tipped her chin upward. “And I applaud your bravery in going about with spectacles that clearly do not work as well as they ought.”
They dissolved in a heap of laughter. She had chosen “return fire” and had managed it brilliantly. On and on, they practiced. Newton took up the offering of compliments, leaving the admittedly absurd insults to Charlie and Artemis. Ellie proved herself adept at it all.
“The real test, of course, will be if I can maintain this when next I encounter my parents or my sister.” Though Ellie didn’t seem to have lost her confidence, there was some uncertainty there. “Something about hearingtheirdisapproval, in particular, simply takes the wind out of my sails.”
Artemis laughed. “You have been in this house too long, Ellie. You are beginning to speak in naval terms.”
“If Rose has her say, I will also begin decrying the bland and boring fashion of this ‘dreary island.’”
Newton didn’t know who Rose was, but he liked that Ellie had gained yet another friend.
