Thistlewood Manor: Calamity at the Ball by Fiona Grace

Author:Fiona Grace [Grace, Fiona]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fiona Grace
Published: 2023-02-07T00:00:00+00:00

***

Eliza found Lucinda a few minutes later surrounded by a gaggle of girls near the east wall. There was something about the way they had circled around her that almost made it seem as though she was holding court.

To a certain extent, this pleased Eliza. The fact that she was different had always made her a bit of a pariah. Perhaps the fact that people were beginning to embrace Lucinda was a sign that they were also beginning to embrace difference.

On the other hand, it was a bit of an annoyance. It was going to be much harder to speak with Lucinda when she was surrounded like this. Eliza couldn’t help but wonder if it was a sign that, perhaps, Lucinda had finally just succumbed to societal pressure and conformed to expectations. After all, that seemed far more likely than the country’s elite finally opening their minds up to change.

And if Lucinda had changed—if she was no longer the young woman Eliza knew—who could say what else she might do?

Eliza needed to speak with her, and she needed to speak with her now. She wasn’t about to let an army of socialites stop her.

“Lucinda,” Eliza said warmly, doing her best to summon a non-confrontational smile as she approached the group.

“Miss Montagu,” Lucinda replied—and with that simple act of not calling her by her first name, Elize knew she was in trouble.

“Lovely to see you again,” Eliza said.

“Yes.”

Hell’s bells, this is going to be harder than I thought.

“I was just talking to Mercy about Kate Chopin’s latest work,” Eliza said, taking a different tact. “Have you read it? I believe you were the one who introduced me to her writing.”

“I haven’t had much time for reading— what with preparing for the season and all.”

“Yes, of course,” Eliza replied. “How silly of me.”

She couldn’t help feeling a bit annoyed. She could forgive Lucinda for changing, but this was downright rude. They had been friendly for years, and Eliza couldn’t think of anything she’d done that would warrant such treatment.

“Could we speak for a moment please?” Eliza asked. “In private?”

“I’m quite busy,” Lucinda replied.

“Yes, I see. It’s just, I was hoping I could speak with you about Lord Wright…”

Eliza was hoping this would be enough to get Lucinda to step away for a moment, but to her surprise, it wasn’t. Having no other choice, she decided to go a bit further.

“I heard you two had a bit of a confrontation.”

“I heard you two had more than a bit of a confrontation,” Lucinda countered.

“Yes, but I didn’t kill him.”

“Neither did I!” Lucinda asserted. “And any assertion to the contrary, assuming that’s what you’re suggesting, is utterly absurd.”

“It’s not—“

“—Not that it’s any of your business,” Lucinda continued, “but these ladies were with me when the murder occurred. They can attest to my whereabouts.”

A murmur of “mm-hmms” and “we saw her” arose from the group.

“I just hope you have someone who can do the same for you,” Lucinda said pointedly. “Because if what I’m hearing is true, you’re going to need all of the alibi witnesses you can get.

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