Matilda had spoken it quietly, yet Hester stared at her as though she had shattered something expensive. Around the room, conversations continued, but not convincingly; a few guests had heard, others had sensed the change in the air.
Mrs. Canning stood beside Matilda with the opened parcel still between them. Robert remained near the side table, his expression unreadable except for the faintest lift of one brow.
Hester crossed the room slowly. "You will wear them in York."
Matilda looked down at the ivory satin slippers. They were delicate, elegant, and narrow enough to make her injured heel ache at the sight of them. Then she looked back at Hester.
"No, I won't." This time, the contraction came naturally, and the refusal sounded stronger for it.
Hester lowered her voice: "Do not make a spectacle of yourself."
"I am not."
"Then stop behaving like a child."
Matilda felt every old instinct rise at once: apologize, yield, prevent discomfort. She had obeyed those instincts for years. Now she stood still. "My heel is still healing."
"Then you will endure one evening."
Matilda heard the sentence clearly. So did Robert. He did not intervene; that mattered more than she expected. He watched her, not Hester, as though the answer belonged entirely to Matilda.
She looked at the shoes one last time. "No."
Hester's face hardened. "You are forgetting your position."
"I know my position very well."
"Do you?" Hester's gaze moved briefly toward Robert. "Since His Grace arrived, you seem to have developed surprising ideas about your importance."
Matilda felt the cruelty of the remark; it landed exactly where Hester intended. Robert could have destroyed it with one sentence. He did not; he knew better now than to turn every insult into his own opportunity for rescue.
Matilda drew a breath. "My importance has nothing to do with His Grace."
Hester gave a short laugh. "Of course not."
"And neither does my foot."
That silenced her.
Matilda turned to Mrs. Canning. "May I keep the black shoes I wore this afternoon?"
Mrs. Canning's eyes warmed. "They are yours."