Selena glanced around the room and was reassured that people were not paying her too much attention, despite how closely she and Sir Lucius stood. Perhaps this evening would go more smoothly than she had feared. Then she chanced to look again at Mrs. Holbeck, who still had her eyes trained on them, and revised her assessment. The woman could stare daggers.

She was still unwilling to end a conversation that brought her comfort in an evening otherwise fraught with tension.

“It was distressing to have a tradesman at the door,” Selena said. “He came to the front entrance because he’d knocked on the servant’s entrance and no one was there to receive him. The cook had walked off by then. The tradesman said he’d been ordered to deliver the bill by any means necessary, and apparently that meant knocking on the front door.”

Sir Lucius brushed his arm against hers in their closeness. “This is not a storm of your brewing. You are just a companion to the countess. You need not suffer for Harrowden’s folly.”

A sudden surge of tears welled up in Selena’s eyes, but she quickly blinked them away. “I believe you cannot fully understand. It is too reminiscent of what happened in my own family, and it opens up fresh wounds. Knowing what it is to have undergone such scandal, I could not wish it on anyone, even if Lady Harrowden is not always particularly kind to me."

“You deserve better, Selena.” Lucius’s voice was deep, and he said her name like a caress. “When the solicitor comes tomorrow, we will see what can be done for Lady Harrowden. And you—” He waited until she looked up at him. “Make sure you accord me a few minutes of your time as well.” Lucius took her hand in his and pressed it, and Selena again found herself glancing at his sister, whose face was rigid.

"I will," Selena replied breathlessly. He had used her Christian name, and she found herself without the fortitude to object.

Mrs. Holbeck had begun pairing people up for the dinner table according to some prearranged plan of hers. "Lucius, take Miss Woodsley into the room,” she ordered.

There were no other eligible gentlemen when it came time for Selena, and she followed the couples into the dining room and sat in the only chair available. It was to the left of Mr. Downing.

Selena’s heart sank. This was what she had feared. Apart from glancing at her once, Mr. Downing did not acknowledge her and turned to his partner on the right for the first course. Selena ate in silence, as it appeared the older man to her left was deaf. But when the courses changed, Mr. Downing served himself some poultry and turned to her.

"I did not expect that you would return here,” he said. "I thought you’d had enough after the ball the other night. It was quite a reunion of sorts. To own the truth, I never expected to see you again when you left London.”