Oddly, the days following the General’s ominous words were uneasily calm in the Oliver household. When she dared, Henrietta glimpsed at her father, but he deliberately avoided speaking with her. A fact which both unnerved and pleased her.

She reasoned that in just a few more days, she would receive the word she had been expecting. Her scheme was to steal away in the night and board a coach to London before anyone knew she was gone. If Henrietta had not been so distracted, she might have noticed that her mother was also anxious.

“Mama, have the mails come through?” Henrietta flittered into the front room, her skirts fluttering behind her. She stopped abruptly when she saw her father also inside the salon; Seth hovering nearby as always.

“Yes,” the General answered for Tabitha. “In fact, the mails have come, Henrietta.”

He tossed a stack of papers upon the floor with the flick of his wrist, his face twisted in fury.

“What harebrained thing have you done?” he demanded. “What is the meaning of this?”

Henrietta’s face paled—her father had found the letters intended for her eyes. As they stared at one another, she saw her dream slipping away.

“Speak, girl! What have you done!”

“I…I…I wrote the medical universities,” she sputtered. “And asked them to grant me admission.”

To her horror, Seth began to guffaw, and Henrietta’s face flushed with humiliation. She wished he was not there, but she also knew the butler was the very least of her concerns.

“You did what?” Aaron snarled, striding toward her. Henrietta flinched, worried he might strike her.

“Dear Lord, Henny,” Tabitha whispered. “Why would you do something so…so…”

She was stuck for words; Aaron spared no insult.

“Foolhardy? Imbecilic?” he stated. “Ridiculous? Childish?”

“I am none of those things, Father!” Henrietta howled. “I am intelligent enough to be a physician! I have read all about anatomy and—”

“NONSENSE!” Aaron roared. “You are a woman. Your place is at home, not running amok in London.”

“But Father,” Henrietta breathed. “You must understand—this is what I long to do!”

“It will never happen!” Aaron snapped. He turned to Seth. “Who could possibly have put this in her head!” The question was clearly rhetorical, but Seth didn’t seem to notice.

“No doubt that surgeon she has befriended in town, sir” he offered.

“I was not inviting suggestions,” Aaron shot back, peeved that Seth would interrupt his fury.

Henrietta’s mouth parted in shock. He knows I have seen Dr. Ranstandt? Has he followed me?

“Although, now that you have mentioned it—which surgeon might that be?” Aaron posed his question directly at Seth and not his daughter.

Henrietta could not have her father confronting the only man who had taken her pursuit of education even slightly seriously. And so, she maintained her protectiveness for the kind doctor. “There is no surgeon!”

“Is this true, Henrietta?”

“You have been seeing a man unchaperoned?” Tabitha choked. “I…I cannot imagine it!”

“Because it is not so!” Henrietta turned to face the butler. “You lie! Before you tarnish a good name, where is your proof?”

Seth calmly spoke, “Miss, it is not required that I show you proof of what you already know. I have given my honorable word to the General of what I have seen. I don’t understand how you can be so ungrateful.”

Henrietta looked at him and then to her father who was still focused on his butler.

“You will not speak to my daughter in such a fashion,” Aaron growled. Henrietta exhaled in relief. It was difficult to gauge who her father held in higher esteem at times and who would be censured.

Aaron pointed to the door. “How easily it seems you forget your place. Now, off with you before I see you flogged for insubordination, Seth Booth, and do not expect a recommendation!”

“But, sir, I was—”

“Henrietta’s heart fluttered, a whirlwind of emotions coursing through her body. She doubted very much that her father was finished with his lecture, but she was grateful he had stepped forward to defend her. Or did he merely do it to show his authority?

Aaron clenched his fists and spoke to the ceiling. “She is beyond control, yearning to do men’s work. Will my daughter wear pants next?”

Seth cast Aaron one final imploring look. But the General had already returned his attention to Henrietta, his eyes flashing with anger

“I have not forsaken you, girl,” he growled. “Sit down.”

Henrietta watch Seth leave the room; she was tempted to do the same.

“Sit!” the General snapped.

“Now let us not overreact, Aaron,” Tabitha began to say but he gave her a warning look which silenced her at once.

“Father, I—”

“I will not hear one word out of you, Henrietta. This has gone on long enough. Your mother indulges your whimsy, but I will not stand for it. You have a finer chance of going to the moon than you do becoming a physician, do you understand me? If there is a man you have been consorting with, I will have his head, I swear it!”

“There is no one!” Henrietta cried out, tears springing to her eyes. It seemed Dr. Ranstandt was her only friend; she would do anything to protect him.

Even if I must lie to my father.

“You remain standing? I will not tell you again to sit down.”

Begrudgingly, she moved toward the settee, her head lowered. She tried desperately to read the pages scattered along the floor.

Did one of the universities accept my proposal?

“Henrietta, look at me.”

She raised her head trying not to return his furious stare with a baleful one of her own.

“I haven’t a clue how to reason with you. You have your nose stuck in books far too much for someone so lovely, someone with so much potential.”

“It is true,” her mother agreed. “You could be the wife of a nobleman or—”

“Tabitha!” the General snapped. “Quiet yourself!”

“I have no interest in being anything but a physician,” Henrietta protested, she wondered why she even bothered to speak up. Her father did not care what she wanted. She was but a silly woman, incapable of being independent and university educated.

“You will be married,” Aaron intoned. When Henrietta opened her mouth, her father held up his hand to silence her. “It is already arranged.”

She gazed at her mother in shock. She felt the chill of betrayal.

“Mama?”

When Tabitha looked away, Henrietta realized that her mother had already been privy to her father’s intentions.

“Do not speak to your mother when it is I who decides your future! I am the master of this house, despite your desire to ignore that. You will be wed in a month’s time, and I won’t hear anything else on the matter.”

“To whom?” Henrietta saw her dream crumbling before her eyes. Convincing her father that she was destined to become university educated was a Herculean task; swaying a husband in her favor would certainly be impossible. No man would permit his wife to do such a thing.

“Ewan, Marquess of Peterborough. He is a fine match for you, Henrietta.”

“Oh Father…” She had to blink the tears away. Was she more frustrated or furious? She refused to let her father see weakness in her; she had striven for so long to be seen as strong and independent.

“You must accept that this is best for you,” Aaron told her. “I will not allow—”

A door slammed, the sound reverberated around them, and conversation halted.

“It was merely Seth causing a scene.” Tabitha sighed. Aaron grunted and looked at Henrietta.

“I will not allow any more petulance or argument from you, Henrietta. Do I make myself clear?”

Defeated, she nodded and stared at the rug.

“I wish to hear you speak the words aloud.”

She didn’t even look up. “You will not receive any trouble from me, Father.”

Aaron heard her proclamation lacked conviction. Tabitha interjected before he could utter the next word.

“You see, Aaron? She is a good girl. She will marry the Marquess, and all will be well.”

“We shall see,” Aaron spun off, leaving his wife and daughter behind. Devastated, Henrietta stared at her mother.

“You knew about this, Mama?”

“It is for the best, darling. Marrying a nobleman—it is the best you could aspire toward.”

Henrietta did not see it as such, and she finally released tears. Her destiny lay on the arm of a man who would treat her as indifferently as her father. The best future was educating herself, becoming a physician and studying the sciences which she adored so dearly.

“You must not cry, Henny,” Tabitha told her urgently. “The situation could be far worse.”

Tabitha’s eyes darkened, possibly thinking of her own experience in marriage.

“Mama…”

“I will have Molly fetch us some tea.”

How easy it is for her to simply ignore all that is happening around us. How can she flit about when the world is falling apart?

Her mother hurried from the room. Henrietta stooped to collect the mass of letters her father had thrown on the floor. If one of the universities had agreed to let her in, she could still go.

I will leave tonight, without saying a word to anyone. I will find my way to London and work as a chambermaid if need be to pay my way.

She read each letter; it was truly over. She had been rejected by every university to which she had applied. No matter her intelligence or standing — no one wanted to be the first to admit a woman

I am destined to be nothing more than a wife. I will go from my overbearing father to a stranger husband.

Henrietta cast the correspondence aside. I will not resign to being another forgotten woman—even if I must run from here to be someone.

“Henny, Molly has sent your tea to your chambers,” Tabitha announced from the doorway. “Perhaps you should rest.”

Henrietta rose to her feet, smoothed her skirts, and avoided her mother’s gaze.

“That is a fine idea. I am exhausted.”

She moved toward the stairs and found Molly laying the silver tray on the side table.

“You may leave, Molly.”

“Yes, Miss Oliver.”

Henrietta needed time to organize confused thoughts and sank to the bed. Molly hurried to walk out and close the door. Henrietta heard a gentle clicking of the key in the lock, and her heart leapt into her throat.

“Molly?” She ran to the door and rattled the knob. “What in God’s name are you doing?”

“Forgive me, Miss.” Molly muttered. “You are required to be locked in for your own good.”

“What? Are you sincere?”

“I am sorry, Miss.”

“Wait!” Henrietta heard Molly’s footsteps retreating. “Molly! Molly! You cannot leave me here!”

With the maid gone, Henrietta was left with sobs and a growing resentment toward her father.