“Oh, very well!” Lisette replied. “The baker’s wife from the village has moved in temporarily. The Ladies’ Committee is going to hire a new headmistress. In the meantime, I’m arranging everything myself. It will be just fine, I’m sure.”
Eleanor hated to be such a doubting Thomas. But it seemed to her that someone energetic and truly directed was needed to head up the orphanage. Whereas Lisette was energetic in bursts, generally only when she became obsessed with a project, as she was now. The treasure hunt was all she could speak of.
“Do you think that fifty pounds is enough?” Lisette was asking.
“Fifty pounds?” the duchess asked. “What for?”
“The first child to bring back all four items will win fifty pounds,” Lisette explained. “It’s enough to set her up in an apprenticeship.”
“That’s a very generous thought,” Villiers said.
Lisette beamed at him. “I would love to fund all of the orphans, but I don’t have enough pin money. Luckily, I rarely spend it, so I have enough for one orphan this time.”
The worst of it was that she meant it. Lisette would readily give all her money to the orphans. Eleanor found herself picking at her food and letting the discussion whirl around her. Villiers threw in fifty pounds for another prize. She was rather surprised when her mother offered a third prize, but put it down to the effect of laudanum together with the general air of virtue around the table.
“I spend all my pin money on gowns,” Anne said. “Though I hate to lower the altruistic tone by admitting it.”
“I must ask Aunt Marguerite if she would sponsor an orphan as well,” Lisette was saying.
“Lady Marguerite is an eccentric,” the duchess murmured. She was starting to look rather more befuddled than at the start of the evening.
“Mother,” Eleanor said, “I’m not sure that wine and laudanum are a good mix.”
“But I feel better. So—So much better. Really, so much better.”
“You’re three sheets to the wind,” Lisette commented.
“What did you say?” the duchess asked, peering at her.
“You’re totty,” Lisette said, louder. “Top-heavy. Sluiced over.”
“That’s enough,” Her Grace said, standing up with just a mild waver. “You always were a rude little girl, and you’ve only become worse. I can’t abide you.” And with that, she left.
Anne was grinning behind her napkin, but Villiers’s face was utterly expressionless. “I’m sorry, Lisette,” Eleanor said into the silence that greeted the slam of the door. “I think the laudanum and wine are influencing my mother’s temperament.”
“My mother always said that your mother was small-minded,” Lisette said cheerfully.
Eleanor wasn’t sure how to speak to that assessment, so she returned to her sole à la venitienne.
“Did you know that your children plan to participate in the treasure hunt, Leopold?” Lisette asked.
He looked up, rather startled. “Will they indeed?”
“Tobias at least.” She returned to her list.
“How exactly will the hunt work?” Villiers asked.
“Each clue leads you to a location, and tells you to bring back an object. We’ll give out all four clues at once; that way the children won’t end up just trooping around after each other.”
“Won’t Tobias have an advantage over the other children, since he has been living here for several days?” Eleanor asked.