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thing.” He flung himself down on the sofa, mud from his shoes scattering across the rug Annie had just cleaned. “Do you believe it? Your father just wrote that I am to go back to Eton. I know this is Mother’s doing! Why can’t the pair of them just leave me alone?”
    Georgiana sighed. She loved her stepbrother. Just one smile from him—rare as those were these days—could make her heart race like a runaway train. But sometimes, she had to admit to herself, he was very annoying.
    “Well, for what it’s worth, I think they’re both right,” she said. Michael sat forward with an angry exclamation. Georgiana raised her voice to drown him out. “What on earth are you doing here but moping around and making yourself miserable? You must get something to do, and you’re too young for the army—”
    “Only by one year!” Michael protested.
    “It doesn’t matter. You must go to Oxford or Cambridge, there’s no help for it. You’re not going to inherit, you know,” she added bluntly. “And you don’t have a title, so I can’t imagine any heiress marrying you.”
    Michael scowled. “I’ve told you a thousand times, I’m marrying Priya.”
    “Ssh!” Horrified, Georgiana got up and closed the door. “You mustn’t say that so loud. Anyone could hear!”
    “Why shouldn’t I say it aloud? I don’t care who knows it. I love her and I’m not ashamed of that. I’m proud.”
    Georgiana took a deep breath, struggling to contain her pain and annoyance. It was not simply that it hurt to be reminded that her own love was not requited. If the servants got wind of the fact that Michael and the nursemaid were secretly engaged, Priya’s life would become very difficult.
    “Really, Michael, you are terribly childish sometimes,” she began. Michael interrupted her.
    “That’s rich, coming from you. You do nothing but flutter around after Mrs. Cliffe, with your head full of dinner menus and dramas about laundry lists.”
    Georgiana blushed angrily. “For your information, I’m trying to learn how to manage this house.”
    “Well, that’s a waste of time,” Michael sneered.
    “How can you say that? So many people’s lives are tied to this place.”
    “Mine isn’t.” Michael jumped to his feet. “You act as if Somerton is all there is, as if you’ll be able to fritter your whole life away giving orders to Cook and entertaining the vicar to tea. But things aren’t like that anymore. We’ve got automobiles and airships and telephones. There are a thousand things that a man with some energy can do. I’m going to get out of here, and earn my own living. Priya and I will live a real life, away from this…museum.”
    He stormed out of the door, leaving another set of muddy footprints going out.
    “Oh, the silly—!” Georgiana broke off and rang the bell. Her face was hot, and she felt tears of annoyance prick at her eyes. If Michael ever bothered to think about anyone but himself, he would have considered that Somerton wasn’t just a museum. For everyone who worked here, it was their whole life. That wasn’t a responsibility that could be lightly thrown away. Michael might talk about the modern world, but Somerton was her world, here and now, and she was determined to make it a good one.

“Drunk again,” Cook said when Annie gave her Lady Georgiana’s message. She was up to her elbows in bread dough; flour dusted everything around her. “I feel sorry for Lady Georgiana. You can see she’s trying her best, but she’s only a girl.”
    “There was a man from London at the door the other day,” Martha said, looking up from peeling the potatoes. “Cooper got rid of him. He didn’t say, but I’m sure it was about Sir William’s debts. He mentioned horses.”
    Cook shook her head as she began kneading again. Lord Westlake’s nephew had always been trouble.
    “It’s a bad business altogether. I wish he wasn’t the heir.”
    “Well, Lady Ada’s marriage should sort things out,” Annie said,