The thought of riding with Madam Prewett was enough to instill both a bout of anxiety and excitement in Helga's young. It was not every day such an invitation was extended to a woman of her station! She would have to tell mother at once—it had been forever since she'd been fitted for a proper riding dress!

Helga gracefully concealed her excitement with a gracious smile and nodded her head. "It would be my pleasure. I could imagine no better way to welcome Spring," she replied, already beginning to compose a letter to Lucy in her head. She wondered whether her friend, married as she was (and moreover, married scandalously), could secure Mrs. Flint's permission for Helga to practice riding in the meantime.

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