“It is really quite remarkable,” Sarah said, “that the two of youare sisters.”“I marvel at it every day,” Iris said flatly.”

“Why is everyone complaining?” Daisy asked impatiently. “Thisis exciting! We get to perform. Do you know how long I have beenwaiting for this day?”“Unfortunately, yes,” Sarah said flatly.“About as long as I have been dreading it,” Iris muttered.”

“Listen to me,” Iris said again. “If we attempt this piece, we willbe massacred.”“By whom?” Daisy asked.Iris just looked at her, completely unable to articulate a reply.“By the music,” Sarah put in.“Oh, you’ve decided to join the discussion, then,” Honoria said.“Don’t be sarcastic,” Sarah snipped.“Where were the two of you when I was trying to picksomething out?”“They were moving the piano.”“Daisy!” all three of them yelled.“What did I say?” Daisy demanded.“Try not to be so literal,” Iris snapped.”

“Do you really think anyone saves our programs from one yearto the next?” Sarah asked.“My mother does,” Daisy said.“So does mine,” Sarah answered, “but it’s not as if she pullsthem out and compares them side by side.”“My mother does,” Daisy said again.“Dear God,” Iris moaned.”

“That sounded good,” Daisy said with surprise.“It sounded like a fish vomiting,” Sarah said into the piano.“A charming image,” Honoria remarked.“I don’t think fish do vomit,” Daisy remarked, “and if they did, Idon’t think it would sound like—”

“Marcus’s appearance theday before had been discussed, dissected, analyzed, and—by LadySarah Pleinsworth, Honoria’s cousin and one of her closest friends—rendered into poetry.“He came in the rain,” Sarah intoned. “The day had been plain.”Honoria nearly spit out her tea.“It was muddy, this lane—”Cecily Royle smiled slyly over her teacup. “Have youconsidered free verse?”“—our heroine, in pain—”“I was cold,” Honoria put in.Iris Smythe-Smith, another of Honoria’s cousins, looked up withher signature dry expression. “I am in pain,” she stated.“Specifically, my ears.”Honoria shot Iris a look that said clearly, Be polite. Iris justshrugged.“—her distress, she did feign—”“Not true!” Honoria protested.“You can’t interfere with genius,” Iris said sweetly.“—her schemes, not in vain—”“This poem is devolving rapidly,” Honoria stated.“I am beginning to enjoy it,” said Cecily.“—her existence, a bane . . .”Honoria let out a snort. “Oh, come now!”“I think she’s doing an admirable job,” Iris said, “given thelimitations of the rhyming structure.” She looked over at Sarah, whohad gone quite suddenly silent. Iris cocked her head to the side; sodid Honoria and Sarah.Sarah’s lips were parted, and her left hand was still outstretchedwith great drama, but she appeared to have run out of words.“Cane?” Cecily suggested. “Main?”“Insane?” offered Iris.“Any moment now,” Honoria said tartly, “if I’m trapped heremuch longer with you lot.”

“We are going to pick up our instruments and play Mozart,”Honoria announced. “And we are going to do it with smiles on ourfaces.”“I have no idea what any of you are talking about,” Daisy said.“I will play,” Sarah said, “but I make no promises about asmile.” She looked at the piano and blinked. “And I am not pickingup my instrument.”Iris actually giggled. Then her eyes lit up. “I could help you.”“Pick it up?”Iris’s grin grew positively devilish. “The window is not far . . .”“I knew I loved you,” Sarah said with a wide smile.”