“Speaking of Miss Lockhart—yes, yes. I have to invite her. She is Lady Harrowden’s companion, and now she has to accompany Miss Woodsley, I suppose. However, I have news. When I mentioned Miss Lockhart to Charles, he said he quite thought she had been betrothed to one of the Members of Parliament he supports. Can you imagine Miss Lockhart having been connected to such a good family?”

Lucius set his teacup on the saucer, wrestling with an irrational surge of jealousy. He could not stand to think of Miss Lockhart in the arms of another man. He wondered who the fellow was and what kind of figure he cut. Betrothed! Lucius’s mind spun. It had been called off at any rate.

Maria looked at him expectantly, and he was in no temper to play into her sense of the dramatic. “Shocking, to be sure,” he said in his most bored voice.

Maria’s eyes sparkled, caught by the thrill of relaying gossip. “But that is not all. The engagement was broken off because Miss Lockhart’s father gambled away their entire fortune”—she leaned forward and finished in a delighted whisper—“and then drank himself into an early grave.”

Lucius remained quiet, meeting his sister’s gaze with a disinterested look, and keeping his own thoughts hidden. Maria was all too glad to fill in the rest. “Charles said the Lockharts were very particular with whom they associated at one point, which is why he offered for her. But that façade fell at once when Lockhart’s losses became impossible to ignore. They were shunned from Society overnight.”

Lucius rubbed his chin in contemplation. “Poor thing,” he said, despite himself. He could not imagine what Miss Lockhart had gone through. She had kept her dignity in spite of the hardship all these years. It was a strength of character he rarely saw in Society.

“Poor thing?” Maria said in disbelief, causing Lucius to snap his head up. “Poor thing? Her family deserved it. They were living a lie, and Society is not so forgiving.”

“How well do I know that,” Lucius said, glancing at George and Philippa, who both had their eyes trained on him. It often seemed that Maria had no heart, and he had certainly been accused of much the same. But it might not be too late for his younger siblings. “Perhaps Miss Lockhart’s father deserved it, but she did not.”

Maria’s gaze narrowed. “I certainly hope you are not developing a tendre for Miss Lockhart. She is wholly ineligible. And she pales next to Miss Woodsley in beauty, vivacity, and income.”

“But not in character.” Lucius could not help but say it. Good Lord, it was not like him to betray himself in such a way, but he could not keep still when Maria compared the two women and thought that Miss Lockhart came up short.

“What do you know of Miss Woodsley’s character?” Maria said. “She is charming. I plan to bring Philippa to meet her before the ball since they are close in age.”