Still, even as she thought that, she felt an ache in her chest. An ache for her mother. How different everything would be if her mother were living. And as so often in her life, the burden of carrying the family rested on her shoulders.
She pulled her shoulders back and walked out around the corner.
“There she is!” Charlotte called at once, and both her sisters got up to hug and kiss her cheeks.
“Yes, that means you have to stop talking about me behind my?—”
“You heard what we said?” Charlotte said. “Well, even if you did, it was all the truth.”
“I doubt that,” Evelyn said. “Especially the part about Nathaniel. And I agree with Aunt Eugenia. I do not wish to talk about him. Just for once, I wish to talk about something other than my precarious marital status.”
“It is hardly precarious,” Charlotte said. “What I said stands. You are married. None will gossip about you. You have a fortune of your own, and it’s about time that you stop fretting and instead start thinking about what it is you wish to do with your position.”
“Do with it?” she said and placed herself in one of the woven chairs.
“Well, yes. You are a duchess. You cannot let this opportunity escape you.”
“Opportunity?” she repeated, feeling as though she were a little dim.
“The opportunity to do good. Yes, it is true—as a duchess, you are still female, a woman, and the possibilities are limited—butyou have more options than you ever would have as a daughter of a nobleman. You could run a charity.”
“That is right,” Marianne said. “You could start your own circulating library with books that women actually want to read. You can start a school.”
Charlotte snickered. “Duchess Evelyn’s Finishing School for Impossible Ladies.”
“Stop it,” Marianne said. “I mean, she could do much good.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw her aunt looking at her. Evelyn realized her aunt agreed with her sisters. Perhaps not with Charlotte’s less-than-charitable proposition, but certainly with the notion that she should do something with her life.
“Truly, what else are you going to do?” Charlotte continued. “Sit in your drawing room, your hands folded while you read books by some lady author, and stuffing your mouth with marzipan?”
Evelyn had truly thought about this. For the time being, she had quite enjoyed sitting down, reading, and eating marzipan, amongst other things. But it was true. Ever since her mother’s death, she had represented the family on her father’s arm for many years, looking after her younger sisters, along with Eugenia. She had married to keep her family secure.
But she was free of all of that now. Well, she would always have responsibility for her sisters, but finances were no longer aburden upon her shoulders. And she was a duchess. That meant she could do as she pleased.
She wetted her lips. “I always wished that there was a place where young ladies could come together and talk about things that burden them. Things that they would like to see changed. There is no such space. Other than the café for ladies.”
“That is true,” Marianne said. “Sometimes I do wonder what other ladies are thinking, but it is so hard to have serious conversations when one’s surrounded by men all the time who look down upon a lady for having an opinion. I would like to discuss more serious topics. Interesting things that truly affect me and those around me.”
“Your father would not like it,” Eugenia said.
“My father has not liked much what I have done of late. He wanted me to be a duchess, and now I am. And my sisters are quite right. I ought to do something with the title. Perhaps I should invite some like-minded young ladies to come visit me at Sinclair. We can have tea and discuss what we would like to do. What society needs. I should not think that there is a need for yet another orphanage or yet another society for the war-injured. There are many. I want to do something for women. There are so many who have lost their husbands in this wretched war, and none are given priority. The gentlemen care more about producing more ammunition and ensuring that the perfect set of Waterloo teeth are made, instead of caring about the widows and their children.”
“A society for women,” Marianne said. “That sounds interesting.”
“I am sure there is much more,” Evelyn said, growing excited now about the idea. “This is just the first idea that sprang to my mind. I am sure there are many other bright young ladies who have many more ideas and know of many more causes we could gather behind. You are right—I am the Duchess of Sinclair.” She sat up in the chair. “I always wanted the house to live in and to be free, but now I think it could be a gathering place. Women could bring books they wish to discuss. They could bring their ideas. It could be a headquarters of a society.” She snapped her fingers and got up. “The Duchess of Sinclair’s Society for Refined Young Ladies,” she said. “No, that sounds like a finishing?—”
Her sisters snickered, and even her aunt laughed.
“The Duchess of Sinclair Society for the Advancement of Women,” Aunt Eugenia said then, and the three young ladies looked at her.
“That is a wonderful idea. I cannot wait,” Evelyn said, feeling for the first time in a long time truly inspired. She had worried about nothing other than her family and her marital status for so long. Having something that was her own, something that she could throw her passions into, excited her beyond measure.
“Goodness, I shall speak to Nathaniel about the use of the house.”
“Will he agree?” Marianne asked. “He is a duke, after all. They tend to look down on such things.”
Evelyn scoffed. “It is in his best interest to let me do as I please. He has made me richly unhappy as it is. He ought to want to do something to please me. All these months, he put me through misery with his insistence that I court one of those awful bores he found for me. He would order renovations in every room I was in just to push me out. Then, when I last thought that we were getting along, he made it clear how little I meant to him, and he told me to move to the dower house. Only to force me into marriage with him. No, no, no. He will not deny me. He will not,” she said.
