There would be seven of them. For now.
Lady Theodosia, serving as official hostess, presided at the head of the table. Lark sat to her right, Beatrice beside her, with Lady Persephone Rensleight tucked close at Beatrice’s elbow.
Across from them, Lady Calliope had arranged herself with effortless grace between Rebecca Harcourt, niece to the Earl of Densleigh, and Miss Mary Finch, whose merchant father had recently come into both fortune and favor.
Not intimate friends, precisely, but familiar enough.
All of them were presented with a generous spread of sandwiches, pastries, small cakes, and puddings.
Beatrice had no appetite for any of it.
She was nervous.
But it was a focused sort of nervousness, the kind that sharpened rather than muddled.
Lady Theodosia had extracted promises from each of their guests that even if they did not agree… they would not betray what was said here. They had been told only that the matter was serious. The rest—that was up to Beatrice to explain.
At the head of the table, Lady Theodosia set aside her teacup.
She was as lovely as ever, her brown hair drawn neatly back, willowy figure held with quiet precision, and green eyes sharp and watchful despite her otherwise gentle manner.
“Ladies,” she said.
The soft murmur of the room stilled at once.
“I thank you for attending on such short notice. I am aware the invitation may have seemed… unusual.”
A faint, polite ripple of acknowledgment.
““Let me begin by saying that no one was invited here by accident. Every lady present is known to possess sense. Discretion.” A slight pause. “And is capable of understanding when a matter requires both.”
Her gaze moved briefly from one face to the next.
“I shall not presume to speak on the matter myself,” she continued. “My good friend, Lady Beatrice Beckman, has given it far more thought than I.”
And then, with the smallest shift of her hand?—
“Lady Beatrice.”
Beatrice glanced once more at the notes in her lap, then set them aside.
Better to speak plainly.
Drawing in a breath, she lifted her gaze.
“Thank you, my lady,” she said. “I would like to thank all of you for coming as well. Especially with so little notice.”
A few faint smiles. A shift or two in chairs.
But Lady Theodosia had already gone over the niceties. It was time to get to the heart of this meeting.
“As many of you will have heard, Miss Whitcombe was recently compromised.”
A few of them winced. They all nodded.
“I will not speak of the particulars,” she went on. “Only that she was found in a situation not of her choosing… and that the consequences now rest entirely upon her.”
A pause.
