His sister’s voice came from the doorway. “What is true?” Emma asked, walking further into the room.
Roswell turned his attention towards his sister. “Charles is tired of playing theton’s game.”
“But you must,” Emma insisted. “If you don’t, you will be ostracized by them.”
“There are worse things,” Charles pressed.
Emma came to sit down next to him. “Why this sudden change of heart?”
“Miss Henrietta was upended off her horse yesterday in Hyde Park, and it made the Society page,” Roswell explained.
Emma gasped. “She is ruined.”
Charles nodded. “That is precisely my point,” he said. “Why does one accident have to ruin a woman’s reputation?”
“That is the way it has always been,” Emma said. “Do you recall last Season when Lady Isabella slipped on the pavement outside of Almack’s?”
“I do,” Charles replied.
“The gossip that she endured was so terrible that she was forced to retire to the countryside early,” Emma shared. “I heard she has returned for this Season, but I have yet to see her.”
“How is it fair that she was treated so despicably for something so trivial?” Charles asked.
Emma gave a half shrug. “That is just the plight of women in Society,” she said. “Gentlemen are held to a much different standard.”
Charles sighed. “I just can’t help but feel I am in some way responsible for her mishap.”
“How so?” Emma inquired.
“I encouraged her to go on a ride through Hyde Park, even though she didn’t appear pleased by the prospect of accompanying her sister and Lord Brixton,” Charles said.
“You couldn’t have known that her horse would be spooked by a snake,” Roswell pointed out.
“True, but I could have tried to protect her from the onlookers.”
“I have no doubt that you did all you could,” Roswell said. “You were in an impossible situation.”
“Yet I have managed to escape unscathed, and Miss Henrietta might have to retire early to the countryside,” Charles remarked.
Roswell frowned. “I never said it was fair.”
“There must be something that I can do,” Charles pressed.
“I am not sure how,” Emma said. “Besides, Miss Henrietta is still young and has many Seasons ahead of her. I have no doubt that she will weather this storm and become stronger because of it.”
Charles grinned. “I have never taken you for such an optimist.”
Emma returned his smile. “I find myself to be in a delightful mood this morning.”
“Why is that?” Roswell asked.
“I beat Lord Preston in an archery competition yesterday, so I was able to wipe that smug smile off his face,” Emma shared.
“I have never known Lord Preston to be smug,” Charles said.
“To you, perhaps,” Emma responded, “but he is very cocky when it comes to archery.”
“As are you,” Roswell remarked.
