“What about that door?” Mrs. Williams asked, motioning to the wall behind Della.
“That just leads to our office. There’s nothing else there.”
“I want to see it.”
“Mrs. Williams, really.” Della was fighting to retain her composure. It felt as though everyone had been staring at her since her quarrel with Hannah. “I think I’ve been more than patient. This is our private property.”
“If you’re not hiding her, you have no reason to refuse me entrance.” Mrs. Williams thrust out her chin in challenge.
Peoplewerestaring. Della wasn’t just imagining it. What would they think if she refused, after all that they’d seen tonight? Better to prove that there was no one there before her guests started spreading rumors that they’d abducted a virtuous young girl from her mother to corrupt her with the wicked power of card play.
“Very well,” she relented. “But you’ll see that there’s no one—”
A great many things all happened in the span of the next three seconds.
One: Della turned the knob and opened the door, fully expecting it to show nothing more interesting than the disordered papers she hadn’t found time to tidy. Oh! Maybe her missing outline was there! She would give her desk a good search as soon as they closed up.
Two: Mrs. Williams screamed as though she were being murdered, which naturally made every remaining guest in the club rush to her side to see what was the matter.
Three: Della turned her head to find the source of this reaction, only to discover Hannah and Silas Corbyn inside the office. Alone. Together. Kissing passionately in full view of the forty- or fifty-odd women who were still in the club.
Not one soul had any comment on the music that evening.
Fourteen
“I don’t understand how this happened,” Della wailed, dabbing wretchedly at her eyes with her handkerchief. “I just d-don’t understand. She was scarcely out of my s-sight for ten minutes when her mother turned up! Why should she have th-thrown herself at Mr. Corbyn? She doesn’t even know the man!”
Della was on the divan in Jane’s sitting room, her friend pacing the floor in front of her. It had been too late to speak with her by the time she’d closed up Bishop’s last night amid the murmurs and speculation of their guests. Mrs. Williams had dragged her daughter out by the elbow, too livid to speak, leaving Della to sack a tight-lipped Mr. Corbyn and deal with the aftermath of the most devastating scandal their club had ever witnessed.
The only scandal, really. Even if there were plenty of people who didn’t like the idea of a ladies’ gaming hell, they’d always managed to avoid any real problems.
Until I ruined everything.
Jane would never have let Hannah fool her. Nor would she have given Mrs. Muller a second chance, nor gotten herself involved witha married man. Della was the one who created trouble, the one who seemed to ruin everything, no matter how hard she tried.
She’d hoped things would look better in the light of day, but the minute she presented herself to face Jane’s recriminations, Della had broken down in tears, unable to cope with the certainty that she’d destroyed everything they’d ever worked for.
“Why on earth did you let her in?” Jane asked. Though she looked nearly as upset as her mother-in-law had been last night, she kept her tone measured. It was probably hard to be cross with someone who couldn’t stop crying. “You knew I forbid her to go.”
“I’m s-sorry.” Della couldn’t stop hiccuping in between her words. “She said you’d ch-changed your mind and sent her to h-help me. I was so busy I didn’t really have t-time to think it through.”
“Della…” Jane trailed off, but her disappointment was written on her face. She probably wanted to tell Della what an idiot she was and was only holding herself back out of pity. Della couldn’t say she blamed her. Why hadn’t she thought to question Hannah’s story? She should have known Jane would never have relented.
Della gathered up her courage to ask, “What’s going to happen now?”
“That’s for Mrs. Williams and Hannah to sort out.” Jane shook her head sadly. “I doubt she’ll force her daughter to marry a disgraced serviceman. It’s more likely she’ll be sent away somewhere.”
For the rest of her life, or only until the ton forgets?Della wondered. Like as not, they were the same thing.
“And Bishop’s?”
Jane finally stopped her pacing. When she spoke, she sounded as if she were weighing each word. “We’ll stay open as usual and try to reassure our members that we’re still running an establishment of quality.”
Della winced at the wordstill.
Jane drew a long breath before she added, “You…might want to take a few nights off. Eli and I will ask his mother to watch Gloria in the evenings so we can handle things.”
“What? No!” Della couldn’t fight the panic that set her heart racing. “You need me. Jane, I know I made a hash of things, but I can fix this. Please don’t cut me out.”
