“Mama?” nine-year-old Anna Godwin called out in a tone barely above a whisper as she walked the halls of her family estate.

It was late evening and she had just concluded her lessons for the day. She was excited to see her mother and tell her what she’d learned but her father and governess had warned her on numerous occasions that running and calling out at the top of her voice were unbecoming of a lady.

“Mama?” she called once again. She looked in the drawing room and the green room where she often found her mother, but she was not there.

She walked the empty hallway that led to her father’s study, taking cautious steps as she went so she could go unnoticed. The last thing she wanted was to disturb her father. She knew how he got when she posed...