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She nodded. “She does that to most people.”
“Elizabeth!”
“Maw.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “I can’t believe she brought her cat.”
“ELIZABETH!”
“I think you had better go in and see to her,” Caroline whispered.
Elizabeth sighed, walking toward the sitting room with the slowest steps possible. Lady Danbury would surely have an opinion on the humiliating events of the previous evening, and Elizabeth would surely have to sit still while she gave it. Her only consolation was that she was dragging Caroline along with her.
“I’ll wait here,” Caroline whispered.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Elizabeth shot back. “I listened to your lecture. Now you have to listen to hers.”
Caroline’s mouth dropped open in consternation.
“You’re coming with me,” Elizabeth ground out, clamping her hand around Caroline’s arm, “and that is final.”
“But—”
“Good day, Lady Danbury,” Elizabeth said, smiling though clenched teeth as she poked her head into the sitting room. “This is certainly a surprise.”
“Where have you been?” Lady Danbury demanded, shifting her weight in Elizabeth’s favorite threadbare chair. “I have been waiting for hours.”
Elizabeth raised a brow. “I’ve only been gone for fifteen minutes, Lady Danbury.”
“Hmmph. You grow cheekier every day, Elizabeth Hotchkiss.”
“Yes,?
? Elizabeth said with a hint of a smile, “I do, don’t I?”
“Hmmph. Where’s my cat?”
“Maaaaaaawwwwwww!”
Elizabeth turned around to see a flash of ecru fur streak down the hall, followed by two squealing children. “I believe he’s currently occupied, Lady Danbury.”
“Hmmph. Bother the cat. I’ll deal with him later. I need to speak with you, Elizabeth.”
Elizabeth yanked Caroline into the room. “Have you met Mrs. Ravenscroft, Lady Danbury?”
“That Blake fellow’s wife, eh?”
Caroline nodded.
“Nice enough fellow, I suppose,” Lady D allowed. “Friends with my nephew. Came to visit as a child.”
“Yes,” Caroline replied. “He’s terrified of you.”
“Hmmph. Smart man. You should be, too.”
“Oh, absolutely.”
Lady Danbury’s eyes narrowed. “Are you funning me?”
