Page 107 of The Duke’s Hidden Duchess

“Without first telling me what you intend to provide?”

“I am making an effort.”

“I should mark the date.”

“Selina.”

She smiled and turned the third sheet towards him.

“Money, obviously. Enough to lease the house and meet the first year’s expenses without requiring the women themselves to support the scheme. Your name, where mine will not open a door. Petherick, if he is willing to advise us. And introductions to employers whose households can be trusted.”

“That is all?”

“For the beginning.”

“You have not asked my permission.”

“No.”

“Good.”

Her expression altered slightly.

“I am inviting your assistance.”

“I understand the distinction.”

“I know.”

He looked down once more.

A few months earlier, presented with the same proposal, he would have summoned Petherick, doubled the capital, found the building himself and appointed three men to administer it before Selina had reached the end of her first page.

The impulse still existed. He let it pass.

“You have allowed too little for coal,” he said instead.

Selina stared at him. “Coal?”

“Yes.”

“You have before you an entire plan for an institution which does not yet exist, and your principal objection is coal.”

“At present.”

She pulled the account towards herself.

“How much?”

They argued about coal for several minutes.

It was an oddly satisfying argument.

They moved from fuel to the number of resident rooms, from rooms to the salary of the matron, and from the matron to whether employers should pay a small registration fee. Selina opposed it until Nathaniel pointed out that a fee might discourage men who regarded an endless supply of governesses as disposable. She conceded the possibility but wrote consider beside the line rather than changing the figure.

He noticed.

“You have not agreed.”