“Oh, thatisan interesting topic,” Rachel said before Lord Gibbs could utter a word. “They’ve recently made great strides in the treatment of cataracts. It’s worth discussing, though not for the faint of heart. You see, they start by pulling back the eyelid?—”
Lord Gibbs’s teacup rattled in his hurry to set it down. His eyes were wide, his color high. He stood, and Rachel gave a serene smile of victory and sipped her tea.
“I have never heard such disgusting talk from such a beautiful young lady,” he blustered.
“Apologies, my lord,” Rachel said.
“You had better hope that there’s a gentleman out there who can guide you and rectify your moral deficiencies.”
“If only I’d meet a gentleman equal to the task,” she bemoaned. “Then my life would truly begin.”
Lily nearly snorted into her teacup. One would be hard-pressed to find someone with more life in them than Rachel Warrington.
Lord Gibbs turned to Lily. “If this is the company you keep, I fear I’ll have to rethink our attachment.”
Uncharacteristic anger flared within Lily’s chest. She set her cup down on the saucer with a sharp clink. “Whatattachment? For I daresay you’re far more interested in my dowry than you are me. Perhaps you’ll have better luck with one of the other ladies on your rotation.”
Beatrice and Rachel turned to stare at Lily as the spluttering Lord Gibbs turned and stomped out the door.
“I thought you didn’t wish to be mean,” Beatrice finally said, a smile plucking at the corners of her mouth.
“That wasn’t mean,” Rachel said. “That was truthful.”
“Just so. Biscuit?” Beatrice offered, holding the plate aloft.
Lily took one with shaking fingers. Though she didn’t regret it, she wasn’t used to snapping at anybody. She found she disliked the experience. “Thank goodness he was disgusted instead of intrigued by the surgical methods. I don’t think I could bear hearing anything more about cataracts.”
“I discovered his distaste for such topics early in the Season when he called uponme.” Rachel frowned. “I confess I’m a bit offended—I thought he would have remembered. I certainly endeavored to make our first conversation unforgettable.”
“It’s probably difficult to keep ladies straight when you’re visiting dozens of them.”
“I suppose so.”
Over the next couple of hours, Rachel and Beatrice easily batted away Lily’s unwanted suitors. Thankfully, Rachel had other methods than her macabre scientific descriptions. Some of her techniques were very clever; Lily felt more like she was at the theater than sitting in her own parlor.
Yet as soon as one gentleman left, another arrived. At one point, there were three of them, and Lily began to think that Rachel would give up. Instead, the lady launched into an inane story about shopping for a pair of gloves.
“…and then the shopkeeper said that my choice waspeculiar!” Rachel finished, dissolving into endless, twittering giggles.
Her high-pitched giggling was so unexpected that Lily jerked on the sofa, nearly sloshing tea over the rim of her cup. Beatrice instantly began laughing along with Rachel, and Lily nearly started again at the sound of it.
“Hah-hah-hah,” Beatrice laughed, in her faux baritone. “Hah-hah-hah.”
After a few moments, it became clear to Lily that the two young ladies planned on laughing until the gentlemen grew uncomfortable and left. If they had described the plan to Lily beforehand, it would have made her very nervous. But with such nonsensical gaiety surrounding her, Lily soon couldn’t help laughing along with them.
It was a feat she would have thought impossible, considering her circumstances, but the two of them sounded ridiculous! Rachel’s falsetto giggle couldn’t drown out Beatrice’s deephah-hah-hah.Rachel sounded like a brainless idiot; Beatrice sounded like a coal miner bellied up to a bar.
Lily found that once she’d started laughing, it was impossible to stop. It was a strange catharsis, one she perhaps should have tried weeks ago. Rachel and Beatrice kept chortling alongside her, and it felt like they were all in on the farce together.
After several minutes of their bizarre laughter, the gentlemen in attendance stood, bowed awkwardly, and left. The moment they disappeared through the far archway, Rachel and Beatrice stopped.
Lily required several additional moments to compose herself fully, dabbing at the corners of her eyes with a monogrammed handkerchief.
“That was my favorite one yet,” she finally said, hiccuping back a wayward giggle.
“Please don’t use the code word ‘peculiar’ again. I don’t think I can manage it,” Beatrice said rather hoarsely. She quickly sipped her tea.
“You needn’t laugh likethatto accomplish the goal,” Rachel said. “Lily and I laughed normally and it was still quite effective.”
