He’s right. I didn’t say anything.Her stomach threatened to eject the measly cucumber sandwich she’d managed to wolf down in lieu of supper a few hours ago.I talked to the others before he was hired. I forgot to tell Eli to warn him.
Shewas the idiot who couldn’t do anything right. Not Mr. Corbyn. Her.
“I…” Della looked around, but Mrs. Muller must have turned tail as soon as she’d seen her coming. The wretched sneak! And after Della had given her another chance out of the goodness of her heart. “Find her. Escort her out of here.”
“You want me to leave my table?” Corbyn jerked his scarred chin toward the three ladies who sat riveted to their exchange, each with a full hand of cards already in play.
“Yes. Wait, no.” Della could feel something like hysteria bubbling up in her chest. “I–I don’t know.”
The man was giving her the most insufferable look. She knew theone. It said:Who put this woman in charge?andYou don’t know what you’re doingandWhat a jokeall at once.
“Stop staring at me and go look for her,” she whispered. “You take the rooms toward the back and I’ll take the entrance. Just don’t make a scene.” There had been enough scandal for one night. Turning to the ladies, she said, “I’m so sorry, we need to halt play for a few minutes, but Mr. Corbyn will be happy to complete the hand once he returns.”
There were protests at this, but Della didn’t have time to deal with them. She turned her back on the table and hurried toward the entrance. Sure enough, Mrs. Muller was there, doing up the clasp on her cloak and about to escape. She squeaked in surprise when she saw Della.
“You lied to me,” Della said. “Youpromisedyou wouldn’t bet anymore, and I trusted you.”
“It was only one little wager!” Mrs. Muller protested. “I didn’t bet a thing all night, but then I thought I only needed one lucky hand and I might repay my debt and put all of this behind us. I know I can make it back.” She was crying now. A group of ladies beside them had stopped to stare, their cloaks forgotten. “You have to give me a chance, Miss Danby. I can’t tell my husband about this. My luck is bound to turn around soon. Just let me make back what I owe.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Miss Danby?” It was Geórgios calling her again from just beyond the front door.
What now?
“Just a moment,” Della hollered back. Couldn’t she have one minute to catch her breath? She lowered her tone again to finish addressing Mrs. Muller. “I’m sorry, but I have to insist you stop attending our club.”
“You can’t do this to me!” The older woman turned to the groupof ladies watching her. “Do you see how they treat their members? So much for loyalty!”
“We’ll refund your subscription fees and deduct the amount from what you owe us,” Della said firmly. “Now please go.”
“Miss Danby!” Geórgios’s voice had grown more urgent.
Della walked a sobbing Mrs. Muller outside to see what the problem was. Geórgios stood barring the way while a gray-haired woman tried vainly to squeeze herself around him. It was Jane’s mother-in-law.
“Mrs. Williams, what brings you here?” Della asked, praying it was nothing bad. But one look at the woman’s face confirmed her fears.
“Where is my daughter?” she cried. “I know you’re hiding her in there somewhere. I demand to speak with her.”
Good Lord. How can this night possibly keep getting worse?Della was nearly at the point of following Mrs. Muller’s example and bursting into tears. Instead, she forced herself to draw a deep breath.I can still fix this.
“Hannah was here earlier, but she told me she had permission from Jane and Eli. Was that…er, not the case?”
“Icertainly didn’t know anything about it. I would never give her permission to set foot in a…agamblingden!” She said the words with such horror that they might have been an insult instead of a perfectly factual description.
Hannah must have been lying. Jane wouldn’t have given her permission to come without her mother-in-law’s blessing.Why must everyone try to trick me this evening?
“I’m sorry about the mix-up, but I believe Hannah left some time ago.” At least, her manner of stomping away from Della after their row had a sense of finality to it.
“I know she’s hiding here somewhere, and I’m not leaving without her.”
“Fine.” Della was far too tired to endure another emotionaloutburst. Two was more than enough. “If youpromisenot to disturb our guests, you can come inside and look through the rooms. If Hannah is still in here, you’re welcome to take her home with you.”
This seemed to appease Mrs. Williams. She was silent, if stone-faced, as Della led her inside.
The club was still busy enough that the task of finding one girl wasn’t simple, but things were starting to wind down. It took about ten minutes to confirm that Hannah was not in the three main gaming rooms, nor in the powder room. After a brief quarrel over whether it was necessary to search the kitchens (Della finally relented, and they did), they had made a full tour of the establishment and were back in the largest hall, where Mrs. Duff was complaining that Mr. Corbynstillhadn’t resumed her game of vingt-et-un and Mr. Parekh was trying his best to smooth things over by persuading her to join his table instead.
“You see, Mrs. Williams? Your daughter isn’t here.”
