The other followed suit with, “I shall not sleep.”
He led Lady Cordelia to open seats and motioned for a footman to bring whatever dreadful offerings were to be had.
As he did not wish to revisit the subject of Chester and Lord Darling residing in her house, he said, “I see you have now met the more dramatic fellows who haunt these halls.”
“Dramatic?” Lady Cordelia said. “In what way?”
“Oh, you know, they surround a lady and pretend they will die if she takes no notice of them. Shall not sleep, indeed.”
“I thought the gentlemen all seemed very pleasant,” Lady Cordelia said.
It was a general sort of statement, but her tone had been rather sharp. He had only been attempting a conversation.
“Certainly, you are not offended that I characterize them so,” Percival said. “You did not take it to mean any particular comment on yourself?”
“I did not take it to mean anything at all, other than you do not like them.”
He got the particular feeling that shehadtaken offense, though he could not think why.
Attempting to smooth things over, he said, “I only say, a lady has to be careful of what she takes to be true. She may well be hearing a song that has been sung to many a lady before her and is only for amusement.”
“I am warned,” Lady Cordelia said curtly.
“Excellent,” he said. Though, he was beginning to think that Lady Cordelia could be rather prickly. And unpredictable. One minute she was casually talking about two unknown men living in her house very cheerfully, the next she was irritated by a pointing out of a very obvious fact.
He stared at the sour lemonade that had just been delivered to him. He must stick to his purpose. He must find a beginning to ousting his aunt and her friends from the literary society.
“My aunt is a very interesting woman,” he said. “She is always daring to try new things when others might shy away. And then, she does have the good sense to drop a thing that has not proved as interesting as she’d hoped. So many people feel they must stick with a thing, just for sticking with it. There really is only good sense in dropping a thing when it does not suit.”
He waited for Lady Cordelia to answer, but she did not. Rather, she was staring at her slice of dry cake as if to crumble it with her eyes.
Finally she said, “One wonders what this mysterious thing is.”
What did that mean? Did she know his meaning or did she not?
As she did not comment further, he came to the conclusion that trying to hint round the idea was getting him nowhere at all. He’d best just be direct.
“Lady Cordelia,” he said, “not every club or society is meant for every person. For example, I should not fair very well at Boodle’s—the country set that are so enthusiastic about a hunt or a race simply do not capture my interest. Now, I did recall that my aunt and her friends were all reading the same book. About a dale and some terrible doings there, I believe. Have you not considered founding a club to gather all like-minded ladies together to discuss it? A book club, of sorts?”
“Rather than attending your own society meetings,” she said.
Finally, she had perceived his point. “Precisely,” he said. “After all, people do have different abilities and proclivities. There is no shame in it.”
Lady Cordelia stabbed her cake with her fork, then she laid that utensil down. “Lord Harveston,” she said, “you have done everything possible this evening to make me feel small. If this is an example of an intellectual’s habits and manners, then I am sure I do not know why you are so impressed with yourself. This cake is insufferable, andyouare insufferable.”
She rose and said, “I will find my aunt and Lady Rawley, they are far better company.”
Lady Cordelia turned on her heel and stalked off.
What had just happened?
He was insufferable? Because he’d attempted to give her some friendly hints?
Though he did not feel he was in the wrong, his face grew rather hot. The lady’s abrupt exit had not gone unnoticed. There were various people staring in his direction, not the least of which were the sharp eyes of Lady Hightower.
*
Though Cordelia hadclaimed she would go to find her aunt and Lady Rawley, she had felt entirely incapable of it and sought out the ladies’ retiring rooms.
