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“I heard your voice,” Cecily snapped at her daughter.
Georgiana sighed and glared contemptuously as the pious looking woman who had entered the room behind Cecily. The snide glare the woman gave her was full of venom, and left Georgiana in little doubt that she had been stirring up trouble.
“Have you heard what Mrs Atterton has seen this very afternoon, G
eorge?” Cecily demanded.
“Of course not,” George snapped.
“Today, Mrs Atterton has had the shock of her life. Do you know what she saw? Do you? Do you?” Cecily pointed a trembling hand at her daughter. “She saw–”
Cecily broke off and began to fan herself as she flopped dramatically into the chair beside her. She held her hand aloft as though she expected her someone to take it and pat it sympathetically, then waved her handkerchief in front of her face to cool her heated cheeks. Suddenly, she popped upright in her chair and levelled an accusatory glare on Georgiana that could have felled an oak tree.
Unimpressed by the dramatic outburst, Georgiana lifted one querulous brow at Cecily.
“What major scandal have I caused now?” she asked in bored tones.
“Georgiana,” her father warned.
Georgiana glared at him, unsurprised that she would receive no support from him–she never had. He always buckled beneath Cecily’s domineering and overly dramatic displays.
“I can tell you what I saw,” Mrs Atterton declared pompously when Cecily began to fan herself again. “I saw that harlot kissing a man in broad daylight. That’s what I saw.”
Georgiana suddenly found herself the object of three people’s scornful condemnation and tried not to squirm under the force of their derision. She wouldn’t admit to any of them that it was Will because that would only add to their disgust with her. It would also ruin his forthcoming marriage and she couldn’t do that no matter how much she loved him. After all, she had been the one to instigate the kiss.
“I have no idea what she is talking about,” Georgiana lied coldly. “She is lying. It wasn’t me.”
“Oh, don’t you dare lie, you hussy,” Mrs Atterton snapped.
“I am not lying,” Georgiana cried. “How dare you come into this house and accuse me of things like that you old crone?”
“Georgiana!” Her father cried, but both women ignored him.
“So why are you looking like you have been dragged through a hedge in the middle of the afternoon? Why, your hair is all wet. We all know what you look like you have been doing,” Mrs Atterton declared with a sneer.
“How dare you?” Georgiana cried.
“Georgiana,” George snapped.
Incensed, Georgiana was having none of it, and rounded on her father. “What? So it is alright for that liar to enter my home and accuse me of all sorts of things she thinks she saw just because she is a trouble-making gossip?”
“I demand that you stay respectful to our guest,” George said sternly.
“Oh, but it is alright for her be disrespectful to me, and cast aspersions on my character without one shred of proof?” Georgiana demanded. “Why don’t you demand respect from her? This is our home!”
“Georgiana!” Cecily wailed. “Oh, the wayward child,” she cried, her hand pressed the back of her hand to her forehead in dramatic disbelief.
“Go to your room,” George demanded.
“I am not five anymore,” Georgiana snapped. “You cannot just scold me for being honest and send me to my room because she gets offended by trying to ruin me.”
Georgiana watched her father suddenly slump into his chair. He stared at her as her point struck home. For once he was at a loss to know what to say. She suspected it was because she was right. Still, he refused to defend her, and merely sat there while Cecily wailed and moaned about how beleaguered she was to have an undisciplined child.
“Are you not going to defend me?” Georgiana whispered.
From the disgust in her father’s eyes she knew that he wasn’t. Something inside of her broke free, and she looked upon him with something akin to sadness. In that moment she lost something–and she suspected it was respect for her sire.
“Well, I am glad that the opinions of others matters more than mine,” she said calmly.
