I had expected an uncomfortable half hour with Aunt Elspeth, but I had not expected anything like the interview she gave me. Perhaps we did have more freedom, perhaps even wild ways in the north, but at least there I was treated with some sort of respect. We all had a place in society and acted accordingly, but by the time Aunt Elspeth was finished with me I knew there was no place except that which she assigned to me, and that was probably somewhere I did not want to be.
Taking me into the withdrawing room, she dismissed all the servants, but allowed Louisa to stay, which I considered grossly unfair. Her expression was one of the utmost distaste as she looked me up and down, from the top of my hatless head to the toes of my scuffed boots. “Your behaviour,” she began, with her voice as fr
