Drew narrowed her eyes. “Where else have you lived?”
“Gloucestershire.”
“Oh, lovely. Near the sea, perhaps?”
“Near the pigs.”
“So youpreferDorset to Gloucestershire?”
“We prefer anywhere to Gloucestershire.”
“Why is that?”
“Because,” said Imogene, “Gloucestershire is where we lived under the fat, sweaty thumb of Reverend Sagg, isn’t it? And the Temple of Order in Eden.”
“Ah...” Drew said. If there was a reasonable reply to this, Drew could not think of it.
And now the silence was a suffocating, choking sort of noose.
“I beg your pardon?” Drew managed.
“Our last home was on the grounds of the Temple of Order in Eden. It is a church. Or rather... a community? It is a community and a church.”
Drew stared at Imogene. The girl had finally achieved her goal. Drew was not only shocked, she was shocked into speechlessness.
Behind her, she heard Lachlan drop his paperwork and come closer.
“Do you know it?” asked Imogene. “The Temple of Order in Eden? Or T.O.E., if you prefer it.”
Drew shook her head.
Lachlan, now standing behind her said, “You’re joking, Imogene. Timothea, sit up and tell me she’s joking.”
Lady Tribble did not move except to squeeze her eyes more tightly shut.
Drew carefully asked, “How long did you reside at—there?”
“For five years,” said Imogene. She worked very hard to sound bored, but her voice had taken on a hardness. The girl wasn’t bored, Drew realized, she was furious. “From the year after Father died until summer.”
“Imogene,” whispered Ivy, sounding distressed.
“Five years?” demanded Lachlan, his voice a rasp.
Imogene took her time selecting another grape and rolled it into her mouth. She said nothing.
“And this... church did not suit you?” ventured Drew.
And now Imogene laughed, a humorless, bitter sound. “No, T.O.E. and I did not suit. Did we, Mama?”
With no warning, Lady Tribble reanimated. She sat up so abruptly the lute rolled to the floor, twanging off several bad notes.
“I am not feeling well at present,” Lady Tribble said. “I should like to retire to my rooms. You’ll tell me if I miss anything important, won’t you, girls?”
“Timothea, no,” implored Lachlan. “Let us—”
The baroness rose and he trailed off. With a faint smile to no one in particular, she collected her instrument and wound her way to the door. The long tail of her green shroud followed her out like a snake.
The girls watched, reactionless, as she exited.
