Page 42 of A Lady's Guide to Scandal

His eyes roved avariciously over Cecily’s form and Cecily took an involuntary step back. Kitty stepped forward.

‘I’m afraid my sister’s dance card is full,’ she said firmly. Lord Arden’s eyebrows rose haughtily.

‘And yet she is not dancing now,’ he said softly, upper lip beginning to sneer.

‘Why, every lady needs a rest, my lord,’ Kitty said, baring her teeth in a smile. ‘I’m sure you understand.’

Lord Arden was not to be deterred. ‘There are many dances this evening,’ he cajoled. ‘I am sure, Miss Cecily, that you will be well rested enough for one of them.’

‘Her dance card is full,’ Kitty insisted. Weaker characters might consider the attentions of this loathsome man to be a necessary tax, but Kitty did not. ‘And I would suggest, my lord, that you consider it permanently full.’

There was an audible gasp and Kitty looked over to see an eavesdropping Lady Kingsbury clap her hand over her mouth in theatrical shock. Lord Arden turned purple with mortification.

‘Never,’ he said, voice shaking with anger, ‘never have I been so insulted in my life.’

He stalked away. Lady Kingsbury was still staring at them. Kitty looked at her, expecting to find sympathy in the lady’s face – after all, they all knew very well what Arden was – but Lady Kingsbury merely shook her head with a little smile, before quite obviously turning her back upon them. The cut direct.

‘Do you think he was very cross?’ Cecily whispered.

‘I do not think he will bother you again,’ Kitty said, not much caring if he was or not. ‘Come, let’s find some champagne.’

Yet even as she spoke, the fissures of gossip from this confrontation were spidering their way through the ball like cracks in a flagstone. Even as they picked their way through the masses in search of the supper room, a slight chill began to emanate from the crowd. She noticed that there were more eyes looking in her direction than was usual – judgemental eyes, too. She smiled at Mrs Sinclair as they passed each other, but the lady avoided her gaze. Strange – what could she have done to offend her? By the third time this had happened, Kitty began to realise something had gone very wrong.

‘What is this I hear about you being terribly rude?’ Mr Stanfield’s voice spoke quietly in her ear. Kitty turned quickly.

‘What do you mean?’ she asked, her heart beating a little fast.

Mr Stanfield chuckled. ‘Rumour is you gave Arden the most egregious and vulgar set down. Well done, I say.’

He seemed to find the whole thing amusing, but Kitty could not bring herself to laugh with him.

‘Do people really care?’ she asked. ‘I did not think he was much liked.’

‘Oh, you know them,’ he said with a careless wave of the hand. ‘Best not to pay attention. Anyway, I came to say farewell – I must escort my mother home.’

He left her, and Kitty stared around the ballroom. You know them, he had said. But Kitty did not. She had not expected this reaction in the slightest. After all, she had heard most of the women here complain of Lord Arden’s wandering hands at least once. And yet it seemed that the unwritten rule was that one could only condemn him behind his back and never to his face. And while the likes of Lady Jersey could be considered rude without it having consequences for her reputation, it was becoming very clear that Kitty could not.

Lady Kingsbury – a hateful woman, Kitty now saw – was spreading the gossip like a fast-acting poison. Never had a tide changed so quickly and when Kitty and Cecily had been given the shoulder by two further ladies they had quite considered as friends, Kitty began quietly to panic. Surely this could not ruin them?

‘I think we had best find Aunt Dorothy and Lady Radcliffe,’ she told Cecily, who nodded, lips pressed together. Safe in the protective circle of Lady Radcliffe’s approval, Kitty felt sure this would all cease to matter. Except that they could not find either of these two ladies, anywhere. As they searched the card room, then the ballroom, Kitty could feel the figurative temperature of the crowd dropping even further. She searched instead for a friendly face – any friendly face – where they could find refuge, the empty space around them feeling like a quarantine. She tried to make eye contact with Mr Pemberton as she passed, but he eluded her, affecting to appear deeply in conversation with Miss Fleming.

‘Ought we to leave, Kitty?’ Cecily whispered. Her dreamy and distracted nature usually protected her from noticing such slights, but even she was now looking anxious.

‘No,’ Kitty insisted. ‘No, we cannot retreat.’

Yet what other options did they have? Do as they do, her mother would have said – and the ton were about to dance. But with Mr Stanfield gone, Kitty could not be sure that any one of her other suitors would now come to her rescue. Who else, amongst all these sheep, would not care about her sudden fall from grace?

Across the dance floor, her eyes fell on Radcliffe. Well … it was not exactly a friendly face. She led Cecy forward, ignoring all the figures that were shrinking away from them.

‘Lord Radcliffe, Captain Hinsley, good evening,’ she said, in businesslike tones.

‘Miss Talbot,’ Captain Hinsley greeted her with a bow and a smile as if they were old friends.

‘Watch yourself, Hinsley, she might be armed,’ Radcliffe warned.

‘Are neither of you dancing?’ Kitty asked pointedly, ignoring this remark. ‘I think they are making up the set now.’

It was a blatant move, totally lacking in subtlety – and both men’s eyebrows shot up.