The Earl was silent for a long while, and then said, “The only cloud on this happy occasion is the choice of bride. I have had a long conversation with Lord Buckney, and it is clear that he considers the engagement to be at an end. Apparently, my good uncle should have paid down a sum for the girl’s education, which was not delivered. As a consequence, it seems, Lady Jemima can sew and sing, but her hand is poor and she has not been sent away to be finished. In fact, she is a green girl, but one with such fixed ideas about her station and her future that it has completely gone to her head. I find her arrogant, but more obsessed with La Belle Assemble and Le Beau Monde than with being a suitable wife to a Duke.”
