“Adelaide didn’t break anyone’s nose.”
“True, but she was responsible, according to Walter, for pressed duck going airborne during a dinner party, which I don’t imagine many ladies—or any ladies—have ever managed to accomplish. Since you were still capable, even with pressed duck raining down on members of the upper crust, to get Adelaide reestablished within the Four Hundred, it stands to reason that you’re more than capable of doing the same with Luella.”
“Pressed duck that unexpectedly takes flight isn’t the same as inflicting bodily harm on a man.”
“Perhaps not, but I have to imagine if that flying duck smacked someone in the face, it inflicted a bit of damage as well.”
It was rather telling when a distinct urge to throttle the man hit from out of nowhere, an urge she firmly shoved aside. “It’s not the same scenario at all. Adelaide didn’t purposely make the duck fly, whereas Luella deliberately punched Stanley in the nose. However, since we’re clearly not going to agree with this, nor agree over the fact I know I’m unqualified to assist your sister, allow me to lend you some useful advice. Your best option to help your sister acquire an air of polish would be to enroll her in a ladies’ finishing school because teaching young ladies how to become refined is what they do.”
Owen shook his head. “I already sent her off to the Wellington Academy for Young Ladies, but unfortunately, Wellington didn’t agree with Luella.”
“Because...?” Camilla forced herself to ask.
“She was asked to leave three days after she arrived.”
“She got expelled?”
“The headmistress never used that particular word.”
“But...?” Camilla pressed when Owen didn’t elaborate further.
“I’m not sure there’s anything else to say since clearly Luella and finishing school didn’t suit.”
Camilla pressed a finger to her temple where an ache was beginning to form. “She didn’t break someone else’s nose, did she?”
“Of course not. As I mentioned, she doesn’t go around assaulting people because she’s not a violent person. She merely suffers from a rather tumultuous temper at times, something I’m sure you understand.”
Camilla lifted her chin. “I have never assaulted anyone.”
“Not even in your imagination?”
Unfortunately, that question had her coming up short because she’d just considered throttling the man, which could certainly be considered a form of assault.
Deciding there was no gracious way to address that particular inclination, Camilla settled for changing the subject instead. “If Luella didn’t break someone’s nose at Wellington Academy, why was she asked to leave?”
“I prefer to look at it as an amicable parting of the ways.”
She arched a brow Owen’s way.
“That’s a very effective use of that brow, Miss Pierpont,” he began after he swallowed a piece of cheese from the plate Mr. Timken had just handed him. “But since it’s evident you’re not going to move the conversation forward until I give you a few additional details, I’ll simply say this—Luella was asked to leave because she rose magnificently to the defense of another student, earning the displeasure of the headmistress in the process.”
“Exactly what manner of rising did she do?”
He hesitated for a second before he blew out a breath. “She may have challenged another student to a duel.”
Camilla’s mouth went a little slack, but before she could summon up a single response to a statement she certainly hadn’t been expecting, Owen sat forward.
“From what Luella said about ‘the incident’ as she refers to it, Miss Jane Something-or-Other was all but terrorizing poor Miss Bertha Hamilton, apparently so much so that Bertha was unable to eat—a circumstance Jane declared to the entire student body was a blessing in disguise because Bertha was apparently, at least in Jane’s opinion, overly plump. My sister then decided that MissJane needed to experience some terror of her own, so she challenged her to a duel.”
“Of course she did,” Camilla muttered.
“To give Luella credit,” Owen continued, as if Camilla hadn’t taken to muttering, an odd circumstance for her to begin with, “she didn’t suggest they use pistols for the duel, but rapiers, because Luella is an expert markswoman and she’s quite capable of shooting a pistol out of an opponent’s hand. She’s less proficient with rapiers, although she does have some impressive skill with them, which is why she offered to duel with her left hand instead of her right, and before you ask, yes, she’s right-handed.”
“Should I assume you taught her how to use rapiers?”
“My grandmother did.”
“What an interesting, ah, grandmother you must have” was all Camilla could think to say to that.
