Lila matched her by stepping forward. “I only want to make the best match for the viscount, as I’m sure you do, too. You admire him, don’t you?”
“Yes, but—”
“I’m only asking for your opinion on who you think might suit him, as you know him better than anyone.”
“No,”Miss Woodchurch said emphatically. She stepped back again. “You really must stop saying that. You have mistaken me, Lady Aleksander. I don’t know him at all, really.”
Again, Lila matched her by stepping forward. “Please call me Lila. And what do your friends call you?”
Miss Woodchurch stared at her.
“Harriet, isn’t it?”
“Hattie.”
“Hattie! What a lovely name. All right, Hattie, let’s start with Miss Porter, the renowned beauty.”
Miss Woodchurch squared her shoulders. “I don’t know,Lila,” she said firmly.
Lila liked this girl. “Did you enjoy her performance?”
Hattie blinked.
“Oh dear.”
“I didn’t say anything!”
“But you’re thinking it.”
Hattie sighed. She glanced over Lila’s shoulder to the door, then whispered, “Didanyoneenjoy her performance? I daresay her own mother was dismayed.”
“It waswretched,” Lila agreed. “Who has allowed that poor dear to believe her singing voice is to be admired? I thought my ears would bleed. I assume his lordship thought it untenable, too.”
“I didn’t say that,” Hattie said again.
“You didn’t have to. I saw the two of you at the back of the room.”
Hattie pressed her lips together and glared at Lila.
“What of Miss Cupperson?”
Hattie folded her arms across her middle. “I know what you’re doing.”
“Of course you do, because you’re a clever young woman. What of Miss Cupperson?”
“Dahlia Cupperson is practical and dependable and has many admirable qualities. Frankly, I wish I were even half as practical and dependable—”
“But she’s not very attractive, is she,” Lila said, wincing a little.
Hattie’s eyes rounded.
“I know, you didn’t say that. I said it. I realized it myself Saturday evening when I saw her with the viscount. They did not make a handsome couple.”
Hattie’s mouth gaped open with shock.
“Darling, Imustthink of these things. For the rest of the world, it is the compatibility of souls that matter. But for this lot...” She shrugged. “And the red dress did not suit her. Which brings us to Miss Raney.”
Hattie blushed almost instantly. “She likes to read, and so does his lordship.”
