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mostly for her books on Irish history.
    Yet Sir Grant
was
handsome enough to catch even Caroline’s distracted eye. He would make a fine match, and then everyone would cease gossiping
     about her after all the offers she had turned away.
    But Grant did not make her blood sing when he touched her hand in the dance or when he smiled at her. It seemed only mysterious,
     dark, elusive Irishmen could do
that
. Maybe her soul was so blackened that Conlan was what she deserved.
    “The two of you would look well together,” Caroline said, gently drawing the brush through Anna’s hair.
    Anna laughed. “You only want me out of the way so
you
can marry next! Will you find a handsome beau like Sir Grant?”
    “Not at all,” Caroline said. “I already have a plan.”
    “What sort of plan?”
    “I shall marry Lord Hartley. Then I won’t have to bother with debutante balls at Dublin Castle at all.”
    “Hartley!” Anna cried. “Caro, he is quite ancient. He’s already been married twice and has three children, plus very little
     hair.”
    “I admit he is not as handsome as Sir Grant, but he is a scholar and has a marvelous library. He’s also a member of the Hibernian
     Society and could allow me access to
their
library,” Caroline said matter-of-factly. She was theonly girl Anna knew who would marry someone for their library. “And he is hardly ancient, only forty-five. Hardly older than
     Mama.”
    “And you are only just sixteen. You shouldn’t rush into such things, Caro.”
    Caroline laughed as she neatly plaited the now smooth strands of golden hair. “You are scarcely one to lecture me on
caution
, Anna! You never did tell me where you were tonight.”
    “I was not with Grant Dunmore.”
    “Then who were you with?”
    “I went to a party with Jane,” Anna said cautiously. And that was true, as far as it went. Caroline certainly didn’t need
     to know about Adair or the Olympian Club.
    Anna had the sudden urge to confide in someone about all her confused emotions. Caroline was too young and her mother was
     out of the question. If only Eliza were here and not living in Switzerland with her husband, Will. Her older sister certainly
     understood ungovernable passion.
    But Eliza was not there, and Anna just had to ignore those feelings until they vanished.
    “Mama won’t like that,” Caroline said. “She quite disapproves of Lady Cannondale.”
    “That’s why I didn’t tell her. And you won’t, either, will you, Caro?”
    Caroline tied off the end of the braid, her eyes narrowed in a most ominous manner. “I might not—if you help me with something.”
    “Help you with what? I don’t have any pin money left for you to spend at the bookshop.”
    “I suppose you lost it all at whist. But I don’t need money.”
    Anna was deeply wary now. “What
do
you need?”
    “Mama is interviewing drawing tutors for me tomorrow. You are so persuasive with her; surely you could get her to let me stop
     all these infernal lessons. Dancing, music, deportment—it’s all such a vast waste of time.”
    “Because you mean to skip debutante balls and marry Lord Hartley?”
    “Because it gets in the way of my studies. Persuade her to not hire a drawing teacher, and I won’t tell her you were sneaking
     out with Lady Cannondale.”
    “I’m sure she would not listen to me.”
    “And I’m sure she would!” Caroline knelt down beside Anna’s stool, staring up at her with beseeching eyes. “Please, Anna darling,
     talk to her for me.”
    “Just talk to her?” Anna said doubtfully. “That’s all you want?”
    “That is all. Except maybe you could also loan me that gown sometime.…”



Chapter Four
    I t was the crowded hour at St. Stephen’s Green. The wide, graveled lanes and walkways, lined with neatly clipped box hedges,
     were filled with people on horseback and foot and in fine carriages. Everyone went there every afternoon after Parliament
     adjourned and before the evening’s theatres and assemblies