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again.”
    “Too true.” Sarah leaned back, tapping her foot as she seemed to consider the subject. “I know they go to public houses. For ale and … companionship.”
    “How do you know that?”
    “Young Lord Palmer, the one now quite smitten with Elizabeth Talbot, lamented how her brother and his friends never invited him along to their favorite pub.”
    “Oh.” Constance imagined Lord Leed and the others wouldn’t want the boy tagging along on their adventures. “Did he say which public house?”
    Sarah shook her head. “Just its location.”
    Constance clasped her hands. “We’ll go there tonight.”
    “What?” Sarah cried, sitting up straight. “You can’t be serious.”
    “I need to know some things, Sarah. I will not be kept in the dark when my very future happiness might depend on gaining that knowledge.”
    “I admit I’m curious as well,” Sarah said. “I’ll call for you in my carriage around eight. Tell your mother you don’t feel up to the bashes tonight and I’ll do likewise. I’ll tell my mother I’m spending the night here with you.”
    “Should the sisters compare notes, Sarah? What then?”
    Sarah grinned, and Constance knew she’d chosen the perfect co-conspirator. “But I will spend the night here with you, Constance. Just after our little sojourn into the less-than-proper part of the city. I’ll have my driver park around back in the mews.”
    Constance felt a bubble of anticipation rise in her chest. She would learn something tonight, all right. Once armed with that knowledge, she would make William see they were meant to be together, and for more than the length of a dance or dalliance.
     

Chapter 5
    “This isn’t quite what I was expecting,” Sarah said, wrinkling her nose.
    “It is precisely what I was,” Constance said. She alighted the carriage, stepping out onto the slick cobblestones. “Come on, Sarah. The night is wasting.”
    “That’s an understatement,” Sarah grumbled. She stepped out, then turned to her driver. “You are to wait here, Johnson. I have no idea what we’ll encounter within, and need you to be ready to cart us away with much haste if necessary. If you think about ducking into the pub for a drink, I’ll have you drawn and quartered. Do you hear me?”
    Evidently, Johnson was used to Sarah’s escapades, for he hadn’t blinked an eye when she gave him the directions or looked askance when he saw the destination. Perhaps Sarah was up to more than even Constance knew.
    “Come, then,” Constance said, lifting the hem of her skirt as she made her way toward the narrow door of the pub. “Little wonder no one speaks its name. You can barely make out the lettering on the sign.”
    “I daresay the place survives on word-of-mouth referrals,” Sarah said.
    Constance laughed and then caught herself. “Stop that. This is a serious fact-finding expedition.”
    Sarah nodded solemnly and waved a hand. “Onward, then.”
    Constance clicked her tongue and the two girls entered the pub. The smell struck her first, ale and sweat and sawdust. The place was poorly lit, and full of boisterous talk and laughter. Most of the small, round tables were occupied with gentleman, both stout and skinny, and there were no women in view save for the serving girls. Constance and Sarah huddled together in the doorway, their cloaks wrapped tight.
    “Out of the way, birdie,” a rough voice said behind her.
    They were jostled as three men came through the door and into the pub. They were greeted with hearty shouts, and quickly blended into the dim interior.
    “I suppose we should find a table,” Constance said.
    Sarah shrugged, mute for the first time in Constance’s memory. She took her cousin’s hand and led her through the crowded dining room, though that name was too grand for the cramped space. She located a vacant table, scarred and sticky, but vacant nonetheless, and sat on a wooden chair. Sarah did likewise, finding her tongue at last.
    “Now what?”