"I am sure he will be most impressed," her mother replied. "And, Helen, when do you plan to dress for the visit?"

The countess's youngest daughter was sitting in the window seat, her head bent low over some embroidery. She looked up when her name was mentioned, a vacant expression in her eyes.

"What?" she asked.

The countess tutted impatiently. "Really, child," she said, "I suppose you have not heard a word of what we have been saying. How can you be in a room with other people and not know what is going on? I asked you when you plan to dress for our visitor."

"We are expecting visitors?" Helen asked in some alarm.

"Oh, Helen," Melissa said with a giggle, "you know we are expecting Mr. Mainwaring this afternoon. We have talked of little else for several days. And you know you are as interested as we are in discovering if he is young and handsome."

"Mr. Mainwaring?" said Helen, frowning slightly. "Is he the owner of Graystone who has recently arrived?"

"I declare, Helen," Emily said coldly, rising from her chair and crossing the room to her sister, "you live entirely in a world of your own. I think you have been indulged far too long. A child who daydreams can seem to be a sweet creature, but when you are approaching twenty years of age, it is time you learned to accept your social responsibilities."

"I am sorry, Emmy," Helen said, "but no one told me about Mr. Mainwaring. I do not wish to meet him, though. He has come from London, has he not? I would expect him to be very different from us and difficult to talk to."

Emily tutted and then put her hands on her hips as she looked down at her sister's embroidery. "Really, Helen!" she exclaimed. "Look at this, Mama. Helen is not following the pattern at all. She is supposed to be stitching dainty anemones, and instead she has embroidered a huge dandelion. A dandelion! How ridiculous you are. You will have to unpick the work, you know."