Epilogue
On a sunny day in Islington, a bright, white-painted auditorium smelled like the soap and perfume of the eighty ladies seated there, chatting quietly and peering at the stage for the first peek at their patronesses: the infamous radicals known in the papers as the Society of Sirens.
The women hailed from fine houses and farmhouses, from the Highlands down to Cornwall. There were whores and nuns, young mothers and old women, educated ladies and raw girls better versed in Cockney than the King’s English. What they all had in common was their desire for independence, hunger for education, and belief in their own ambition.
“I’m so excited,” Anna Howe whispered to Lady Elinor, who went by Willow now.
“It’s a dream come true,” Elinor said. “And I could not be more proud.”
They cheered when Seraphina Arden, Cornelia Ludgate, and Lady Tha?s Eden took the stage. And in the back of the room, Adam, Rafe, and Alastair—the men who loved them—cheered just as loud.
“Welcome,” Seraphina said, “to the Institute for the Equality of Women. I hope this is a place that will change your lives.”
“The journey ahead may be difficult,” Cornelia said. “You may face scorn and judgment. You will have to fight for your rightful place in the world, and true equality for our sex may take the work of generations.”
“But we’ll battle for our daughters,” Tha?s said, thinking of the baby only she and Alastair knew would come the following summer. “And it will be worth the sweat and tears.”