George furrowed his brows. "I understand if this whole business has been distasteful to you. But, truly, must you leave? Do you have somewhere else to go?"

He could not have asked a question more capable of reminding her of the bleakness of her situation. Selena allowed her gaze to drop. She was so weary. "If I am given my salary for the amount I have worked, I will have enough to return to my mother’s home. I can only hope Lady Harrowden will not withhold that."

"If she does, she is nothing better than a harridan." George laughed suddenly at his own cleverness. "Lady Harridan. Why did I never think of that before? It is so fitting.” His face grew serious when he glanced at Selena and saw she did not smile. "If it’s money you need, Lucius will provide it for you. I know he will. You need only send him word."

Selena put out her hand and tried to summon a smile as he took her hand in his and bowed over it. I will not ask Sir Lucius for a farthing. “I hope it shall not come to that,” she replied.

They had arrived at where Lady Harrowden and Rebecca stood by the door. Showing an innate grace that Selena wondered if Sir Lucius was aware existed in his younger brother, George kept up a conversation of idle chatter with Lady Harrowden so Selena could be still and rest her weary mind. Rebecca was surprisingly subdued throughout the entire thing. She didn’t even try to flirt with Sir Lucius’s brother. Selena darted a glance at Rebecca and wondered. Perhaps she was finally considering what it was to have a damaged reputation.

Lord Harrowden appeared more than ten minutes after he had promised, and Lady Harrowden turned to him in rigid indignation.

"At last you have come, Richard. You have certainly kept us waiting upon your pleasure. Our coach is outside. Pray—let us not delay any longer." She acknowledged George with a dip of her head and led the party outside with her stiff gait.

As soon as the doors to the coach were closed and the carriage rumbled off, Lady Harrowden could not refrain from speech any longer. "Whoever had the temerity to invite that gentleman to this party? Surely Maria Holbeck could not have known of the association or she would never have allowed it. I must have a word with her.”

Without waiting for an answer, she continued, "Selena, if this is the kind of entertainment I might expect with you as my companion, I assure you your position here will be short-lived. Your mother was very sparse on the details in her letter. Of course I knew your father had disgraced himself, gambling away the family fortune and drinking himself to death.” She punctuated the words angrily, and each one was a blow. “I suppose I should have surmised that your position in Society could not survive such a thing. But to be humiliated in such a way—and my good name by association—I cannot countenance such a thing. I am not accustomed to having the Harrowden name tainted in any way by scandal."