Elinor drew a deep breath. A strong infusion of tea and confidence had suddenly become more essential than ever...because it was time to find out exactly how daring ‘Mrs. De Lacey’ could be.
Chapter 15
Lucinda’s unopened reticule tugged at Elinor from the corner of her vision, but the arrival of food was enough to brighten Sir Jessamyn’s mood immediately. He raised himself from his wary crouch on Elinor’s shoulder to stretch his neck hopefully towards the tea tray, and when Elinor took the plate of meat onto her lap, he only let her feed him politely for a moment before scampering down her arm to take over the job himself.
Penelope’s nostrils flared with disgust as she watched him tear into his meal. “I cannot believe you allow him to eat in front of you.”
Elinor, accustomed to her cousin’s views, only rolled her eyes inwardly and prepared to change the subject.
Before she could say a word, though, Benedict Hawkins asked, “How did you feed your own dragon, Miss Hathergill?”
“Well, I didn’t feed him myself, obviously!” She shuddered. “The servants took care of that. Or Elin—well, anyway, I would never dream of letting him eat while he sat on my lap, of all places. That would be like—well, like letting a dog roam around your very own sitting room!”
“Ah…” He blinked. “You don’t like dogs either?”
“Penelope has always been afraid of dogs.” Millie beamed with self-importance as she passed on the news. “Ever since we were little, we always had to put our dogs away when she—”
“I am not afraid of dogs!” Penelope glared at her friend, even as Lucinda nudged Millie reprovingly. “I don’tlikethem, that’s all. Horrid, slavering creatures. My father would never allow any in our house!”
“Oh.” Benedict visibly adjusted to the news. “Perhaps, if you met the right sort of dog—my niece’s pug, for instance, who—”
“I wouldneverallow a dog to run free in my own house,” said Penelope. “Honestly, they all do very well outside in kennels, and Idothink they prefer it, really. If their owners weren’t so fussy and unreasonable, they’d all be kept outside, where they belong! It is better to treat animals as animals, don’t you think?”
Mr. Hawkins hesitated. Hurt crept into Penelope’s expression. “Oh, I suppose you’re about to say something horrid to me, like everyone else does. My cousin—that is,somepeople have been completely unreasonable and cruel to me in the past, but I’d thought that you were kinder than that. Especially when I’ve just suffered such a terrible loss…” Tears clogged her voice. She turned her face away. “She stole him away from me, you know.”
“Your...dragon.” Reluctance was etched across Benedict’s face. “Your father did say that your cousin had taken him, but—”
“She stole him,” Penelope said, “out of my very arms! When I had chosen him myself, and named him and loved him, and he was my father’s most expensive gift to me,ever…!”
Sir Jessamyn swallowed the last of the meat on the plate and let out a belch of satisfaction. Penelope’s nose crinkled in distaste. She scooted another inch away from him.
Lucinda seized the opportunity to lean forward and catch Benedict’s eye. “It really was quite shocking,” she said. “If you had known Miss Tregarth and seen what a perfect pretense of self-righteousness she wore—if you’d heard all of her fine words about his treatment, as ifshewere a veritable saint herself!—well, you would be shocked at the hypocrisy of her theft.”
If anyone should know about hypocrisy, it would be Lucinda...but suddenly, Elinor was rather looking forward to exposing her thefts after all.
“She probably needed the money,” Millie pronounced with satisfaction. “Myparents say she had absolutely nothing to live on. She must have taken him to sell him. He’s probably living in a traveling circus right now, being used for unholy rituals.”
Elinor blinked. Her gaze met Benedict’s. For a moment, despite everything, she felt their mutual connection return in full force as both of them reacted to Millie’s words.
His lips twitched; she cleared her throat. “Exactly what sort of unholy rituals do you imagine they would want him for in a public circus, Miss Staverton?”
“Well!” Millie’s eyes sparkled with delight at the invitation to unburden herself. “My father’s undergardener says thatheheard from his cousin’s friend—”
“Only a week before my début!” Penelope wailed. Tears flooded her cheeks; she snatched a handkerchief from her reticule and buried her face in it, muffling her next words. “She wanted to ruin me, that’s all. She did it to hurt me and punish me for being kind to her when no one else ever was, and I willneverforgive her for it.”
“Luckily,” said Elinor briskly, “you are not going to be ruined after all. In fact, I think you will do very well without a dragon.”
“But every young lady in high society—”
“Precisely.” Elinor set down her tea cup with a clatter. “Do you wish to be one of a thousand young ladies, Penelope, all doing exactly the same thing?”
“Well…”
Elinor sighed. “Would you attend a ball wearing the same gown as every other débutante?”
“Of course not!” Penelope lowered her handkerchief.
“Then why should you want to imitate all the rest? You will set your own fashion by daring to do without a dragon!”
