“Thank you, my lady.” The housekeeper’s golden gaze gleamed. “I find them quite handy.”
“That will be all for now, Mrs. Peabody,” Charlie said pleasantly. “I shall ring if we require anything else.”
Inclining her head, the housekeeper departed.
Livy cleared her throat. “We can only evade our chaperones for a limited time. As such, we would like to know the purpose of this visit. Specifically, what the Society of Angels is all about.”
“A woman who speaks her mind. I admire that.” Charlie gave a brisk nod. “Why don’t we sit and discuss my proposition?”
They arranged themselves around the coffee table, Charlie taking the wing chair in front of the tea service. While gracefully pouring the brew intoSèvrescups, she said, “My organization is an exclusive one. I am looking to expand it, and I believe the three of you fit the bill.”
“Why would you think that?” Glory asked. “You barely know us.”
Smiling, Charlie doctored the cups with sugar and cream before distributing them, and Livy felt her eyebrows rise. How did Charlie know the exact drink preference of each of the Willflowers? She had added a splash of cream to Fi’s cup and two lumps of sugar to Glory’s. When Livy sampled her own cup, the concoction was precisely how she liked it: deliciously creamy, with a sprinkle of sugar.
“I have gone to the liberty of doing some research.” Charlie sipped her tea. “I know that the three of you have been friends for years. You attended Mrs. Southbridge’s School for Young Ladies together, where you were first dubbed the ‘Willflowers’ by Lady Sally Sackville after an incident involving her and Miss Rachel Tomlinson.”
Livy blinked. The incident had happened years ago, and she didn’t think the gossip had travelled that far. How did Charlie know all this?
“Sally Sackville was picking on Rachel just because Rachel’s papa is in trade,” Glory said, her hands balling in her lap. “She and her friends made a cruel game of reducing Rachel to tears. When we asked Sally to stop, she told us to mind our own business.”
“And the headmistress refused to step in because Sally’s papa possesses one of the most ancient titles in the land.” Fiona’s lips curled in contempt. “It was not the first time Sally used her position to torment others, either. Livy started Southbridge’s the year before Glory and I did, and during that time Sally tried to bullyher. All because Livy stood up for a maid who was blamed for something that Sally did.”
“Which is why you arranged for Lady Sally to be, ahem, deluged with rubbish?” Charlie asked in neutral tones.
“To be fair, we did not deluge her with anything,” Livy said. “She and her cronies had a habit of leaving malicious notes in Rachel’s storage cupboard at school. We simply stuffed Rachel’s cupboard full of refuse, and when Sally opened the cupboard…”
Livy lifted her shoulders. No one hadforcedSally to open Rachel’s cupboard, after all.
“Sally stopped harassing Rachel after that,” Fiona said. “After all, what is worse: reeking of trade…or reeking of garbage?”
“Indeed.” Charlie looked contemplative. “If I may ask, what prompted the three of you to act on Rachel’s behalf?”
“Isn’t it obvious? What Sally was doing waswrong,” Livy said with a frown. “She picked on Rachel because she knew Rachel could not fight back.”
“And Rachel is a sweet, shy girl whose so-called ‘fault’ was coming from a middle-class background.” Fi’s beautiful face was grim. “If that is a crime, then I, too, am guilty. The only reason Sally and her band of simpering simpletons did not target me is because my papa is wealthier than Rachel’s.”
As Fi’s papa was richer than Croesus and a powerful industrialist, few dared to cross him.
“While Livy’s papa and mine have titles, both our mamas came from the working class.” Glory held her slim shoulders proudly back. “In point of fact, before Mama married Papa, I helped her to collect fossils to sell at our fossils shop.”
Having witnessed Glory’s athletic feats, from fence climbing to horse riding, Livy could imagine the other girl scaling cliffs and committing other derring-do.
“And did you not fear repercussions for your actions?” Charlie inquired.
Fiona’s look was that of an angel. “They would have to prove we did it.”
Clearly fighting a smile, Charlie asked, “What about Sally? Surely she had to know.”
“She retaliated by labeling us the ‘Willflowers.’” Glory shrugged. “She meant the moniker to be derisive, but we could not have come up with a better name for ourselves.”
“Besides, we had to see justice done,” Livy said. “It was the principle of the thing.”
“How splendid.” Charlie beamed at them as if they were her star pupils. “You Willflowers are everything I had hoped you would be and more.”
“You seem to know a lot about us.” Livy narrowed her gaze. “And yet we know little about you or your charity.”
Fiona, the Society expert, had managed to dig up a few facts about Charlie from Debrett’s, scandal rags, and general gossip. Charlie had been born and raised abroad by her father, a gentleman scholar. Little was known about her until her marriage to the Marquess of Fayne. Even then, the Faynes had lived a private life abroad; after Fayne’s death, his title had gone to a distant relative, and Charlie had apparently travelled extensively before settling in London.
