Edmund’s brow furrowed with concern, and thankfully, he led me away from Mr. Croft’s side. “What happened?”
“I don’t know.” My nose tickled, so I rubbed it. My eyes stung. It seemed that he hadn’t witnessed my behavior after all. But Mr. Croft obviously had.
Edmund did not seem content with my answer. His gaze was gentle enough to draw a tear out of the corner of my eye. He walked me farther away from Mr. Croft and other eavesdropping people until I felt that I could speak again. “I-I got angry. And then I threw a glass of punch onto Charlotte’s gown.”
Edmund’s mouth twitched into a smile. “You did…what?”
I wanted to slap him.
He laughed, casting his eyes toward Mama and Charlotte with no small measure of delight. “Surely she deserved it.”
“That isn’t the point. I shouldn’t have done it in public.”
He gave a firm nod, his lips still twitching. “I can agree with that.”
I covered half my face with my gloved fingers. “And Mr. Croft saw me.”
“Are you interested in Mr. Croft?”
“No. Well…yes. I was. But now I’m certain I have ruined everything.”
“Perhaps not yet. I just made plans to go riding with him on Wednesday morning. I might speak with him then.”
I shook my head fast. “No. I wouldn’t ask you to defend me. I acted like a child.” I took a deep breath as we made our way toward Mama and Charlotte. “It truly doesn’t matter any longer. Charlotte and I will make amends very soon, and there shall be no lingering animosity between us. I refuse to allow a gentleman to ruin our friendship. We will apologize to one another, and we will be the very best of friends again.”
Edmund seemed to put the pieces of the puzzle together in his mind. “Did Charlotte know you liked Mr. Croft before she made her ridiculous attempts at flirting with him?”
“She pretended to be oblivious, but…I think she might have known.”
Edmund’s brow furrowed. “Those aren’t the actions of a friend, Alice.”
My stomach sank.
He turned to face me one more time before we reached Mama. “Come riding with Mr. Croft and me on the Steine on Wednesday morning. Perhaps by then he will have forgotten this entire spectacle.”
I highly doubted such a thing could be forgotten in a matter of two days. What I wanted to do was hide away at home and never have to see Mr. Jonathan Croft and his excessively handsome smile ever again.
I didn’t have time to reply to Edmund’s invitation before we reached Mama and Charlotte. The blue silk of Charlotte’s gown was soaked through on the bust, stained orange on the edges from the spices in the punch. I could hardly meet her gaze.
Edmund joined us in the carriage on the way back to our townhouse. Not surprisingly, he wasn’t eager to stay at the ball. He had only attended to help me find connections. I had been hoping to find him a match as well, but I had become a selfish child that evening, and now everyone was suffering for it.
When we walked inside, Charlotte went straight to her bedchamber to change out of her dress. I kept my distance behind her on the stairs as I made my way to my own room. In the carriage, Charlotte hadn’t shown any signs of anger, her features completely smooth during the entire carriage ride.
Perhaps she had already forgiven me.
After changing into my nightdress, with my hair in a braid down my shoulder, I took a candle and started for Charlotte’s door across the hall. Candlelight flickered in the crack beneath the door. She was still awake.
“Charlotte?” I knocked lightly.
A few seconds passed before the knob turned and the door swung open. Charlotte’s hair was braided too, a golden twist cascading down the same shoulder as mine. With a calm wave of her hand, she beckoned me inside.
My heart pounded as I crossed the threshold. The silence was deafening. Surely it was my responsibility to apologize first, but the words were caught somewhere in my throat. I wanted Charlotte to apologize for lying to Mr. Croft, for interrupting us, and for not being happy for me. I couldn’t forget the dismissive tone in her voice when she had asked me not to dance with him, but to pretend to be ill.
Well, she had gotten what she wanted.
I hadn’t danced with him.
Perhaps she had meant to provoke me at the refreshment table. She had picked up the glass of punch first, after all.
