“I do not quite understand,” Callum said, “did you not intentionally reject Lady Louise in front of everyone?”
Felington sighed after taking a swig of his cherry. “Fine! I did it. But I did not have a choice.”
“You mean you did not have a choice to not embarrass an innocent lady?” Callum said, frowning.
Felington threw his hands up in frustration. “When you say it like that, it sounds as though I intentionally did it to hurt her. I really did not have a choice, Langton,” Felington insisted.
“What do you mean?” Callum asked.
“I know that the poor lady was enamored with me,” Felington said, smiling smugly, “ever since Lady Louise set her eyes on me, she had simply become obsessed with me. Alas, I could not help but follow my own heart in the end.”
“Is that so?” Callum asked, “did she confess her feelings to you.”
“Not quite,” Felington said, laughing, “she never said it but I could tell that she loved me. I mean, what woman would not be obsessed with me when I am the most eligible man of theton? You should have seen how she beamed every time I paid her a visit.”
Callum nodded but said nothing, his frustration growing.
“At first, I played along and tried to love her just as much as she loved me. However, I soon found that I just could not do it. My mind was not with her, and I could not make myself love a woman that I did not care about. That was when I met Lady Emily Filmore. Emily tugged at my heartstring in a way that Lady Louise did not and I knew then that I had to make her my wife,” Felington said.
“I understand you but do you not think that you could have done things a different way, at least to prevent Lady Louise from being humiliated?” Callum said.
Felington frowned. “Are you by any means suggesting that I marry a woman that I do not love?”
“No,” Callum quickly responded, “All I am saying is that instead of announcing the engagement in front of everyone and humiliating the poor lady, you could have first informed Lady Louise and her family that you no longer wished to marry her. That way, she would not have attended the ball at all and she would not have been embarrassed in front of everyone. That is the honorable thing to do.”
There was a moment of silence during which Felington pursed his lips, his eyes set hard. “You should be the last person speaking about the honorable thing to do, Langton,” Felington jested, “you left the ballroom to bed some singer.”
Callum chuckled. After knowing Felington all his life, he was used to having his friend draw a parallel between them in order to make himself look better. What the public, however, did not know about Felington was that he was nothing like his perceived character. Felington was just as much of an incorrigible rake as Callum was but he always made sure of appearing like a saint so thetonwould love him. Callum did not mind appearing like the black sheep of thetonto make his friend look good. Callum was not in the least concerned with what thetonthought of him.
“Why do you even care, anyway?” Felington asked when Callum did not reply, “it is not as though she is your sister or anything." Icare because you asked for my opinion.
“She might not be my sister but she is a lady and no one should have to be humiliated like that,” Callum said. “Imagine how that must have made her feel.”
“Now you sound like your grandfather.” Felington shrugged. “That is the way of theton.”And that is why I do not like the ton. “Careful, Langton. If anyone heard how you keep talking, thetonmight believe that you are in love with Lady Louise,” Felington said, laughing. “But the issue is that she is still obsessed with me.”
Callum gave a half-hearted chuckle. While he knew that his friend was simply jesting, he could not afford to make him suspicious enough to find out what had happened between him and Lady Louise.
“I just got an idea, Langton,” Felington suddenly said, his eyes widening with excitement.
Callum groaned loudly while shaking his head. He knew enough about Felington to know that he only had that expression on his face when he was about to suggest the most ridiculous things ever. “I do not know what this is about, but I am happy to tell you that I will not be involved,” Callum said. He already knew that every wild idea that Felington got always involved in getting Callum in trouble or asking favors of him.
“Oh, Langton,” Felington said, “do not be such a spoilsport. At least, hear what I have to say first.”
“I will listen but if it is ridiculous, I will not be doing it,” Callum warned his best friend.
“I am sure you would love it,” Felington insisted, “I want you to help me keep Lady Louise busy.”
“What?” Callum frowned. He knew Felington had a knack for suggesting ridiculous things but he did not think his friend would go so low.
“Listen to me before you retort, you love being in the company of beautiful women and I need her out of my way so that my engagement would not get spoiled by her jealousy,” Felington said, “it is a win-win for the both of us.”
“No,” Callum shook his head, “it is only a win for you.”
Felington sighed. “Can you not see that I might be in trouble here? After being humiliated yesterday, Lady Louise would definitely want to cause trouble for me and my new fiancée.”
“And you could have averted this if you had only done the right thing which was to tell her the truth from the start,” Callum said.
“There is no use focusing on the past,” Felington, “we should be looking at the future instead. I do not want Lady Louise ruining my house party. We all know that ‘hell hath no fury than a woman scorned’.Langton, I just need you to keep her occupied for the duration of the house party so she would not get in the way of my happiness.”
