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Chapter Four
The next day, the party from Gillingham Manor was due to dine at Kirby Hall. Leah was anxious and out of sorts all day. She lost her temper at her lady’s maid, not once, but twice. Now that Selina had arrived, she needed to outshine her.
It had poured steadily, all day. She blamed her mood on the weather, which caused Kirby Hall to become drafty.
She arrived downstairs to dine, dressed in her yellow watered-silk gown. Yellow brought out the darkness of her hair and her eyes, and the soft cream tones in her skin. Around her neck, she had a delicate pearl necklace.
“Oh, darling,” her mother said, “you look like a picture.”
Father walked over to her. “I quite agree with your mother,” he said, squeezing her hand. Leah beamed.
The door opened, and the butler peered inside the drawing room. “The Duke of Gillingham, the Dowager Duchess of Gillingham, Lord Munro, and Lord Sandbourne, My Lord,” Mr. Wickes announced, standing aside so that the party could pass him.
“Welcome, welcome!” her father said as they entered. They all gathered together.
“Where’s the Lady Selina?” Lord Sandbourne asked. Leah felt her mood plummet.
“I hope she’s feeling well,” the Dowager Duchess murmured, her hand going to her lips.
Her mother frowned. “I haven’t heard anything. Perhaps I should send Wickes to go and see…”
Leah felt exasperated. Selina was late, and everyone still talked of her. The Duke walked over to her, smiling.
“Hello, My Lady,” he said, bowing.
“Your Grace,” Leah said as she curtsied. This was how it was supposed to go. He was supposed to give her preference, and smile at her, just in this way.
“Are you well today?” he asked.
“Very well,” she assured him with a smile. “Are you well?”
Then, Selina walked in. Leah’s stomach curdled as she beheld her cousin, who looked exactly like a porcelain doll. Selina was dressed in a pale-pink muslin dress, her hair fixed in a way that accentuated her heart-shaped face. She wore a delicate gold chain around her neck with one tear-drop pearl hanging from it.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” she murmured, actually having the nerve to laugh as she curtsied to the whole room! “It’s the funniest story, actually.”
Leah glanced around to find that everyone was beaming at her.
“Well, go on, My Lady,” Lord Sandbourne said. “What caused you to keep us waiting for your presence?”
“My maid had to fix my dress,” she said, turning to show them a long rip in the muslin, which had been neatly fixed so that it was nearly invisible. “You see, I tore it, trying to catch one of my letters, which had blown out through the window.”
“Lady Selina! Whatever possessed you to have a window open today?” The Dowager Duchess asked, scandalized. “You might have caught a cold.”
Leah was boiling inside. Here Selina was, the center of attention. And, for what? Ripping her dress while trying to save a piece of paper from blowing out through a window?
“I do love the scent of a good rain shower,” Selina replied. “I love writing with the fresh air coming into my room. And then the wind snatched my letter away! I couldn’t have my mother’s letter read by just anyone! Who knows what hands it would fall into!”
“And what secrets they would learn,” the Duke mused, his eyebrow quirked.
“Indeed, Your Grace,” Selina agreed, shaking her head. “No one should ever learn the secrets that my mother and I know of the latest Parisian fashions. It would be a scandal. All of London, in an uproar. We’d be exiled, and my poor mother would never forgive me.”
As everyone laughed, Leah gritted her teeth and raised her chin. Couldn’t they see through this? It was just Selina’s way of taking the attention for herself. Leah couldn’t recall a single Christmas where Selina hadn’t pulled some grand escapade and been the center of attention—except for the handful that she hadn’t been present.
“Your maid does a good job at repairs,” the Dowager Duchess said approvingly. “I wouldn’t have spotted it myself if you hadn’t pointed it out.”
“Heaven knows, Faith certainly earns her pay with me around,” Selina replied.
Leah could only watch in horror. She scanned everyone’s faces. They were all beaming at Selina in open adoration—including His Grace. Lord Munro was the only one, looking at Leah. He smiled at her, sadly. She didn’t want his pity, however well-intended. She looked away from him and down at her hands.
