Julia Quinn - How to Marry a Marquis

The second book in the Agents for the Crown series, 1999

Surrey, England August 1815

Four plus six plus eight plus seven plus one plus one plus one, mark down eight, carry the two…

Elizabeth Hotchkiss added up the column of numbers for the fourth time, came up with the same answer she'd come up with three times before, and groaned.

When she looked up, three somber faces were staring at her-the three faces of her younger siblings.

"What is it, Lizzie?" nine-year-old Jane asked.

Elizabeth smiled weakly as she tried to figure out how she was going to put away enough money to buy fuel to heat their little cottage that winter. “We, ah… we haven't much in the way of funds, I'm afraid."

Susan, who at fourteen was closest in age to Elizabeth, frowned. "Are you absolutely certain? We must have something. When Papa was alive we always-"

Elizabeth silenced her with an urgent stare. There were a lot of things they'd had when Papa was alive, but he'd left them nothing aside from a small bank account. No income, no property. Nothing but memories. And those- at least the ones Elizabeth carried with her-weren't the sort that warmed one's heart.

"Things are different now," she said firmly, hoping to put an end to the subject. "You can't compare the two."

Jane grinned. “We can use the money Lucas has been stuffing away in his toy soldier box."

Lucas, the only boy in the Hotchkiss clan, yelped. "What were you doing in my things?" He turned to Elizabeth with an expression that might have been termed "glowering" had it not been gracing the face of an eight-year-old. "Is there no privacy in this household?"

"Apparently not," Elizabeth said absently, staring down at the numbers before her. She made a few marks with her pencil as she tried to devise new methods of economy.

"Sisters," Lucas granted, looking excessively put out. "I am plagued with them."

Susan peered at Elizabeth's ledger. "Can't we shuffle some of the money about? Do something to stretch it a bit further?"

"There's nothing to stretch. Thank goodness the rent on the cottage is paid, or we'd be out on our ears."

"Is it really as bad as that?" Susan whispered.

Elizabeth nodded. "We've enough to last the rest of the month, and then a bit more when I receive my wages from Lady Danbury, but then…" Her words trailed off, and she looked away, not wanting Jane and Lucas to see the tears pricking her eyes. She'd been caring for these three for five years, ever since she'd been eighteen. They depended on her for food, shelter, and, most importantly, stability.

Jane nudged Lucas, and then, when he didn't respond, jabbed him in the soft spot between his shoulder and collarbone.

"What?" he snapped. "That hurt."

" 'What' is impolite," Elizabeth said automatically. " 'Pardon' is preferable."

Lucas's little mouth fell open in outrage. "It wasn't polite of her to poke me like that. And I'm certainly not going to beg her pardon."

Jane rolled her eyes and sighed. "You must remember that he is only eight."

Lucas smirked back. "You're only nine."

"I shall always be older than you."

"Yes, but I shall soon be bigger, and then you'll be sorry."

Elizabeth's lips curved into a bittersweet smile as she watched them bicker. She'd heard the same argument a million times before, but she'd also spied Jane tiptoeing into Lucas's room after dark to give him a goodnight kiss on the forehead.

Theirs might not be a typical family-it was just the four of them, after all, and they'd been orphans for years-but the Hotchkiss clan was special. Elizabeth had managed to keep the family together five years ago when her father had died, and she was damned if she'd let a shortage of funds tear them apart now.

Jane crossed her arms. "You should give Lizzie your money, Lucas. It isn't right to hoard it away."

He nodded solemnly and left the room, his little blond head bowed. Elizabeth glanced back up at Susan and Jane. They were also blond, with the bright blue eyes of their mother. And Elizabeth looked just like the rest of them-a little blond army, they were, with no money for food.

She sighed again and leveled a serious stare at her sisters. "I'm going to have to marry. There is nothing else for it."

"Oh, no, Lizzie!" Jane shrieked, jumping out of her chair and practically clambering across the table to her sister's lap. "Not that! Anything but that!"

Elizabeth looked at Susan with a confused expression, silently asking her if she knew why Jane was so upset. Susan just shook her head and shrugged.

"It's not that bad," Elizabeth said, stroking Jane's hair. "If I marry, then I shall probably have a baby of my own, and then you get to be an auntie. Won't that be nice?"

"But the only person who's asked you is Squire Nevins, and he's horrid! Just horrid."

Elizabeth smiled unconvincingly. "I'm sure we can find someone besides Squire Nevins. Someone less… ah… horrid."

"I won't live with him," Jane said with a mutinous cross of her arms. "I won't. I'd rather go to an orphanage. Or one of those horrid workhouses."

Elizabeth didn't blame her. Squire Nevins was old, fat, and mean. And he always stared at Elizabeth in a way that made her break out in a cold sweat. Truth be told, she didn't much like the way he stared at Susan, either. Or Jane, for that matter.

No, she couldn't marry Squire Nevins.

Lucas returned to the kitchen carrying a small metal box. He held it out to Elizabeth. "I've saved one pound, forty," he said. "I was going to use it for-" He swallowed. “Never mind. I want you to have it. For the family."

Elizabeth took the box silently and looked in. Lucas's one pound, forty, was there, almost all in pennies and ha'pennies. "Lucas, honey," she said gently. "This is your savings. It has taken you years to collect all of these coins."

His lower lip quivered, but somehow he managed to expand his little chest until he stood like one of his toy soldiers. "I'm the man of the house now. I have to provide for you."

Elizabeth nodded solemnly and moved his money into the box where she kept household funds. "Very well. We shall use this for food. Perhaps you can come shopping with me next week, and you may pick out something you like."

“My kitchen garden should begin to produce vegetables soon," Susan said helpfully. "Enough to feed us, and maybe a bit extra we could sell or barter in the village."

Jane started to squirm on Elizabeth's lap. "Please tell me you didn't plant more turnips. I hate turnips."

"We all hate turnips," Susan replied. "But they're so easy to grow."

"Not so easy to eat," Lucas grumbled.

Elizabeth exhaled and closed her eyes. How had they come to this? Theirs was an old, honorable family-little Lucas was even a baronet! And yet they were reduced to growing turnips-which they all detested-in a kitchen garden.

She was failing. She had thought she could raise her brother and sisters. When her father had died, it had been the most impossible time in her life, and all that had kept her going was the thought that she had to protect her siblings, keep them happy and warm. Together.