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“And you hid your true motives from him when you…encouraged his offer,” said Cecelia.
“Are you suggesting that the two deceptions…cancel out?” Harriet asked her.
“Two wrongs don’t make a right,” intoned Sarah.
“But any number of rights can make a wrong,” put in Charlotte.
“What does that mean?”
Charlotte shook her head and shrugged. “It seemed witty, and then it…wasn’t.”
“No,” Harriet agreed.
“Well, you and Ferrington have both told the truth now,” said Sarah. “You have a clean slate.”
“So this is what a slate feels like when you have wiped every marking from it,” replied Harriet.
Their looks were sympathetic.
The comparison actually felt apt. Harriet’s mind was a blank. She also felt surrounded. Was it possible to be offered too much help? “I begin to see why some people have found us annoying.”
“What do you mean?” asked Sarah.
“We rather…leapt upon people to solve their mysteries. Whether they wished us to or not.”
“They required our help,” said Charlotte.
“You can be a bit like a bull seeing a red flag,” Harriet replied.
“What? No, I am not. I am simply determined.”
“So is the bull.”
“Oh, pish.”
“We won’t do anything you don’t like,” said Sarah, as always the bridge. “We will work together as we always have. Cecelia can take Ada’s place.”
“Which is?” The duchess looked amused.
“Organization.”
“But what does that mean in this situation?” Harriet wondered. “There is no work to be done.”
“We’ll find something,” said Charlotte.
That was what worried her.
“Nothing you don’t like,” repeated Sarah.
“Sometimes one doesn’t know what one doesn’t like until it happens,” Harriet said.
“That is quite true,” said Cecelia, looking struck by the statement.
“What’s wrong with you, Harriet?” Charlotte shook her head. “You used to be the most sensible of us all. If this is being in love, I am glad I never shall be.”
“Oh, Charlotte,” said Sarah.
“Yes,” said Harriet. “Oh, Charlotte indeed. I look forward to the day when I can remind you of those words.”
