“I hate to leave you at such a delicate time,” Adelaide said, “but the fact is, darling, that one simply cannot get through one’s life these days without at least one major scandal erupting out of nowhere. If I think of the things that were said about your father, for example, when we were young! Someone told me, quite seriously, that Marcel was on the verge of leaving me and running off to France with a young opera singer. And when I finally got up the courage to mention it to your father, he had no idea who this woman was! All he could say was ‘France? France? Deuced uncomfortable country!’

“The part that really bothers me is leaving you while you are enceinte” Adelaide said. “Pregnancy is such a tiresome business. Still, the baby is a perfect excuse for you to stay in the house, dearest, and rest. For goodness sake, don’t give anyone fodder for gossip. I’m afraid you will just have to wait and become acquainted with Patrick Foakes after your husband returns.”

Charlotte listened silently as this flurry of advice descended on her. “But Mama, he said he would wait on me this afternoon at four o’clock. I can’t send him a note telling him nay. It would be so impolite.”

Adelaide had the perfect solution. “Simply tell Patrick to send away his carriage, darling. His footmen can take the horses around the park and no one will be the wiser. But you mustn’t spend any time with him in public. That would be fatal.”

Charlotte looked at her mama’s serious expression and promised to avoid Patrick at all costs.

“Now we will just pray that some poor foolish soul decides to elope with her footman,” her mama said bracingly. “Because this kind of story—especially when there is nothing to keep the fire burning—always disappears within a matter of weeks. Why, in a year or so you can dance twice with Patrick and no one will even notice.” Then she hesitated. “Darling, was Patrick the man in the garden?”

“Oh, Mama, of course not!” Charlotte was disgusted. No one believed her, not her mother or her husband. “It was Alex, as I told you.”

Adelaide was without measure relieved. She had manfully hidden her worry from Charlotte, believing that anxiety was bad for pregnancy. But it made her feel ill to see just how close this whole scandal came to the truth. That was the worst of it. She was glad to be leaving for America, because she was not the best of liars and she was always afraid that people could guess when she told half-truths.