Sophia leaned closer to the door. They were reading Mrs. Radcliffe’sThe Romance of the Forest, despite the late hour, and in flagrant disobedience of the Society’s rules. She burst through the door with the sternest frown she could muster. “You were meant to wait for me before starting the book! Thoseare the rules.”
Three pairs of guilty eyes—blue, hazel, and brown—shot toward her.
“All members must agree on a book, all chosen titles are to be read aloud, and no reading shall take place unless all four members of the Society are present.” Sophia ticked the points off on her fingers. “Shameon all of you.”
“We’ve only just dipped into the first chapter a little bit.” Cecilia was sitting on the bed, the book balanced on her knees. Georgiana was by her side, and Emma at her feet.
Sophia raised a brow. “You’re only into the first chapter, and the heroine is already bathed in tears, and resigned to the stillness of sorrow?”
“Yes! Isn’t that wonderful?” Cecilia rubbed her hands together. “I think it’s going to be avery good one.”
“Have any of the virgins swooned yet?” Sophia asked. “Unless the virgins swoon in the first chapter, it won’t be as good asthe last book.”
“Well, no, but I believe there’s a ruined abbey.” Emma sounded doubtful. “Surely a ruined abbey is a good sign? There’s usually a ghost or two or a headless corpse when there’s aruined abbey.”
Sophia shrugged. “Swooning virgins are better. There were loads of swooning virgins inA Sicilian Romance.”
Georgiana gave a derisive snort. “Swooning virgins.What nonsense.”
Sophia and Emma nodded in agreement. All four of them were mad for Gothic romances, but with the exception of Cecilia, who had a heart wider than the Thames, they adored and disdained the heroines in equal measure. Adeline St. Pierre-de Montalt, heroine ofThe Romance of the Forest,wasn’t likely to be an exception, no matter how engrossing her story. Soon enough they’d find themselves reacting to her with a mixture of breathless anticipation, amusement, and mockery.
Swooning virgins were all very well in romantic novels, but a lady fragile enough to fall into a swoon in London would soon find her pocket picked, her person assaulted, and her limbs crushed under carriage wheels and horses’ hooves. Sophia in particular found it difficult to sympathize with a heroine who was continually either fainting, or bursting into floods of tears.
As for cruel villains andbloody daggers…
Sophia thought of Henry Gerrard, dying in the dirt in St. Clement Dane’s churchyard, and a wave of sorrow washed over her. Blood and murder were only diverting until they became real.
“We did try and wait for you to come, Sophia, but you know Cecilia can’t resist a romance.” Emma cast a reproachful look at Cecilia.
Cecilia bit her lip and turned her big brown eyes on Sophia. “We should have waited. I’msorry, Sophia.”
No one—not man, woman, god, or mortal—could resist the plea in those soft eyes. “It’s all right. Nevermind, dearest.”
“We’ll start again, shall we?” Georgiana bounded off the bed and rushed across the room to seize Sophia in a hug.
Sophia let Georgiana tug her toward the bed and flopped down, joining her three friends in an untidy pile of limbs. Emma twisted a lock of Sophia’s dark hair around a long, elegant finger. “Oh, your hair is wet.Is it raining?”
Sophia rested her head on Emma’s calf with a contented sigh. “Not anymore. It was earlier.”
“What in the world is that smell?” Georgiana pressed the back of her hand to her nose. “It smells like Gussie when his fur is wet.”
Gussie was Lady Clifford’s pinch-faced pug. He was dreadfully ugly, and had an unfortunate chronic nasal condition that made him snort. To add insult to these injuries, he’d been saddled with the name Gussie in his puppyhood, before anyone realized he was, in fact a boy dog. By then, the name had already stuck. Despite these drawbacks, he was much beloved at the Clifford School, especially by Emma, who was fonder of animals than shewas of people.
“It’s not so bad as all that.” Sophia lifted her tunic to her nose for an experimental sniff, then winced. “Bad enough, though.”
“You look as if you’ve been hiding in a gutter.” Cecilia rose from the bed and crossed to the basin, then paused and turned back to Sophia with a doubtful look. “Youhaven’t been, have you?”
It was a fair question, given Sophia had hidden in gutters before. “No, not tonight, but I did spend some time on LordEverly’s roof.”
The room went quiet for a moment as Cecilia, Emma, and Georgiana exchanged looks.
“Is there any word of Jeremy?” Cecilia asked, an anxious frown on her brow.
Sophia bit her lip. Lady Clifford discouraged them from sharing information about their assignments with each other. The less her friends knew about Jeremy’s predicament, the safer it was for all of them, yet Sophia knew they were as concerned about Jeremy as she was.
“No change there, I’m afraid.”
Sophia didn’t offer anything more than that, and her friends fell silent again until Georgiana approached Sophia with a damp towel in her hand. “Here. Take this, and giveme your tunic.”
