lady, you’d stay out of society until the matter is settled. Why your mother hasn’t kept a tighter rein on either of you, I’ll never know. She ought to have learned her proper place and taught it to you, as well.”
Julia drew in a breath to respond, but Sophia’s elbow in her ribs quite deflated the effort. “Please do not involve yourself,” she muttered.
“What was that all about?” Julia asked, once Lady Wexford had taken herself off down the path.
“Not here.” Sophia cast a worried glance about her. “Mama squawked so loudly there was never a hope of keeping things quiet. Suffice it to say Lady Wexford’s connected with the reason Mama believes I’m compromised.”
Together they pushed their way toward the perimeter of the park and the road home. Several smartly dressed ladies turned their heads in their wake. “Oh, and now they’re looking,” Sophia whispered. “They’ve heard, I know they have.”
“Sophia, what connection does Lady Wexford have to the incident at the Posselthwaite ball?”
“She’s his sister.”
Julia halted in the middle of the path, causing the tide of the fashionable to break and flow around them. “Sister? The Earl of
Highgate
compromised you? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
Despite his sister’s acquaintance with her mother, sheknew only of Highgate’s reputation, a reputation that painted him a recluse, rather than a rake.
“Hush,” Sophia hissed, but her cheeks burned red. “Do you want them to gossip even more?”
“You know they’re going to gossip, no matter what.” Julia took her sister’s arm and stepped toward the exit. “Lady Wexford certainly didn’t help you out just now.”
“It’s silly. Nothing untoward went on, and it all might have blown over if Mama hadn’t made such a fuss.” Sophia twisted her hands in her skirts. “And in front of William, too.” Ah, and perhaps therein lay Sophia’s reticence to recount the story.
“Yes, it is ridiculous,” Julia agreed. Her sister’s affections for Ludlowe topped even the absurdity of the so-called scandal, but Julia wasn’t about to point that out. She’d suggested the walk to take Sophia’s mind off Ludlowe’s behavior. “I’d go so far as to wager Mama put on a spectacle to manipulate the situation.”
Sophia cast her a dark look. “She might have kept quiet. I do not understand her. All she cares for is one’s influence on society. She thinks nothing of love, and yet she should remember from her own past. She had to give that up.”
“She was jilted. Her earl could hardly have returned her sentiments if he threw her over.” Besides, Julia wasn’t completely convinced Mama didn’t love her earl for his title over all else, but she knew that bringing up the subject would lead to a fruitless argument. Sophia held fast to her assurance that their mother had suffered from the same sort of unrequited
tendre
as she held for Ludlowe.
“Why can these things not work out?” Sophia’s voice wobbled. Whatever beneficial effects their walk might have had on her outlook, they were about to be undone.
“I believe they can,” Julia affirmed in hopes of staving off another upset.
“You do?”
“I do. Leave matters of the heart aside, and choose your husband from those you admire and respect.”
Beneath the overhang of her bonnet, Sophia cast her eyes skyward. “The next thing you’ll tell me is I ought to seek a civilized and sensible match.”
“Just so.”
“And do you truly believe such an arrangement will make you happy?”
Sophia had a point. Such an arrangement hadn’t made Mama happy, but then neither had Sophia’s infatuation with Ludlowe made
her
happy. Somewhere, amid all this turmoil of feelings and sentiment, there had to lie a middle ground. Julia suspected she’d discover it—in the corner of the ballroom with the other spinsters.
CHAPTER FIVE
W ATERY SUNLIGHT pierced the haze but contributed no warmth. Sophia pulled her pelisse tight
Julia drew in a breath to respond, but Sophia’s elbow in her ribs quite deflated the effort. “Please do not involve yourself,” she muttered.
“What was that all about?” Julia asked, once Lady Wexford had taken herself off down the path.
“Not here.” Sophia cast a worried glance about her. “Mama squawked so loudly there was never a hope of keeping things quiet. Suffice it to say Lady Wexford’s connected with the reason Mama believes I’m compromised.”
Together they pushed their way toward the perimeter of the park and the road home. Several smartly dressed ladies turned their heads in their wake. “Oh, and now they’re looking,” Sophia whispered. “They’ve heard, I know they have.”
“Sophia, what connection does Lady Wexford have to the incident at the Posselthwaite ball?”
“She’s his sister.”
Julia halted in the middle of the path, causing the tide of the fashionable to break and flow around them. “Sister? The Earl of
Highgate
compromised you? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”
Despite his sister’s acquaintance with her mother, sheknew only of Highgate’s reputation, a reputation that painted him a recluse, rather than a rake.
“Hush,” Sophia hissed, but her cheeks burned red. “Do you want them to gossip even more?”
“You know they’re going to gossip, no matter what.” Julia took her sister’s arm and stepped toward the exit. “Lady Wexford certainly didn’t help you out just now.”
“It’s silly. Nothing untoward went on, and it all might have blown over if Mama hadn’t made such a fuss.” Sophia twisted her hands in her skirts. “And in front of William, too.” Ah, and perhaps therein lay Sophia’s reticence to recount the story.
“Yes, it is ridiculous,” Julia agreed. Her sister’s affections for Ludlowe topped even the absurdity of the so-called scandal, but Julia wasn’t about to point that out. She’d suggested the walk to take Sophia’s mind off Ludlowe’s behavior. “I’d go so far as to wager Mama put on a spectacle to manipulate the situation.”
Sophia cast her a dark look. “She might have kept quiet. I do not understand her. All she cares for is one’s influence on society. She thinks nothing of love, and yet she should remember from her own past. She had to give that up.”
“She was jilted. Her earl could hardly have returned her sentiments if he threw her over.” Besides, Julia wasn’t completely convinced Mama didn’t love her earl for his title over all else, but she knew that bringing up the subject would lead to a fruitless argument. Sophia held fast to her assurance that their mother had suffered from the same sort of unrequited
tendre
as she held for Ludlowe.
“Why can these things not work out?” Sophia’s voice wobbled. Whatever beneficial effects their walk might have had on her outlook, they were about to be undone.
“I believe they can,” Julia affirmed in hopes of staving off another upset.
“You do?”
“I do. Leave matters of the heart aside, and choose your husband from those you admire and respect.”
Beneath the overhang of her bonnet, Sophia cast her eyes skyward. “The next thing you’ll tell me is I ought to seek a civilized and sensible match.”
“Just so.”
“And do you truly believe such an arrangement will make you happy?”
Sophia had a point. Such an arrangement hadn’t made Mama happy, but then neither had Sophia’s infatuation with Ludlowe made
her
happy. Somewhere, amid all this turmoil of feelings and sentiment, there had to lie a middle ground. Julia suspected she’d discover it—in the corner of the ballroom with the other spinsters.
CHAPTER FIVE
W ATERY SUNLIGHT pierced the haze but contributed no warmth. Sophia pulled her pelisse tight
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