If her plan went accordingly, Rosemary hoped to have a lovely visit with her American cousin and then return to the birthday party before all of the guests gathered for the presentation of the cake, a seven-tiered monstrosity that seemed to grow taller and more extravagant with every passing year. For Lady Garfield’s sixtieth birthday, a flock ofbirdshad erupted from the middle of the cake.
It went without saying that Rosemary would be leaving Sir Reginald at home, lest he somehow find himself stuffed into a bowl of frosting.
For a wallflower who ordinarily spent social gatherings playing puppets with the children, it was a daring scheme. But ever since her last encounter with Sterling in the library, she was feeling a bit daring. Up until it came time to actuallyactupon her subterfuge, that is.
“Would you like me to go in with you?” she asked her grandmother nervously as Lady Ellinwood and her acquaintances (whose combined ages teetered north of three hundred) picked up their glasses of lemonade and stood in preparation for their esteemed retreat into the parlor.
The party was a wild crush, with nearly half thetonpacked into the manicured lawns of Crown Top Manor. A quartet of violinists kept a lively tune, and a few couples danced on a raised wooden platform while the majority of guests meandered about, walking briskly from one shady spot to another in an attempt to escape the unseasonably warm sun. Children splashed and played in the fountains, their delighted shrieks quickly muffled by watchful governesses so as not to irritate the adults. A haughty and tightly closed circle of debutantes observed an equally exclusive collection of titled lords from separate linen tents, and above it all, on a dais in the middle of her stone terrace that overlooked the sprawling festivities, Lady Garfield held court, regal in a gown of deep burgundy while maids, sweaty and pink-faced, vigorously waved enormous silk fans in an effort to keep her cool and comfortable in the sweltering heat.
“There is no need to accompany us, Rosemary. You should be out there,” Lady Ellinwood pointed a bony gloved finger at the shrewd-eyed debutantes, “making connections and catching the attention of your future husband. Not joining the dowagers inside for tea.”
Rosemary had better odds of being accepted by a pride of lions than she did being welcomed into the midst ofthatsavage herd. Better chance of survival, as well. But she merely nodded, as if in agreement, and then waited, nerves tingling, until her grandmother had disappeared inside to put her plan into motion.
For a few minutes, she stood in nervous indecision, wavering between obedience and daring. The only other time she’d defied her grandmother in such a manner was when she had followed Mr. Kincaid to the boarding house where her cousins were staying. But her grandmother hadn’t yet forbidden her from associating with Evie and Joanna, and besides, shedidsay she was going on a walk. Which wasn’t a lie. Not like this.
“Excuse me,” a high-pitched, feminine voice snapped.
Before Rosemary had time to react, she was jostled to the side as Lady Navessa Betram came through, her loyal followers–Rosemary assumed they considered themselves her friends, but Lady Navessa wasn’t the sort to have friends, not really–trailing importantly in the wake of her enormous pink and green striped bustle.
That would have been the end of it. A meaningless interaction, swiftly forgotten. But as she was pushed out of the way, Rosemary’s arm inadvertently struck a tray of lemonade being carried by a footman. As she watched in wide-eyed dismay, the exceedingly full pitcher sailed up into the air in a rather impressive arc given its size…but if Rosemary had learned anything from devouring Isaac Newton’sPhilosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica, it was that all things that went up must come down. Which the lemonade did. All over Lady Navessa.
The sound of her shriek was almost loud enough to shatter glass. It caused everyone to stop and stare, even their hostess. At Lady Navessa who was red-faced and furious, at the poor servant who was trembling head to foot, and at Rosemary who was fervently wishing for a hole to open in the earth that she could hop into.
Unfortunately, no such hole was forthcoming.
But Lady Navessa’s rage was.
“You incompetent imbecile,” she hissed, rounding on the footman. “How dare you ruin my gown? Do you know how long it took to make it? Or how much it will cost to repair it? You should, as it will be coming out of your pocket! You careless, lazy–”
“It was me.” Unable to stand by while the wrong person took the blame, Rosemary swallowed with difficulty before she stepped forward to take the brunt of Lady Navessa’s wrath. “I–I accidentally hit his arm.”
“I should have known this wasyourfault,” Lady Navessa spat, her top lip curling in an unflattering sneer that her followers mirrored as all but a handful of guests gradually drifted away and the violinists struck up a new tune. “Little Rosy Poly. As bumbling as ever, I see. Shouldn’t you be in a corner somewhere reading to that rat of yours?”
Rosemary lifted her chin. An assault on her own character, she could manage. But a besmirchment upon Sir Reginald was something that needed to be defended. “He is a red squirrel, not a rat. If you cannot understand the difference between a member of the Sciuridae family, as first classified by the Russian entomologist Gotthelf Fischer von Waldheim, and the clearly distinct Murid family of rats and mice and other ground dwelling rodents, then maybeyoushould be the one to open a book.” Gaining confidence from her extensive knowledge of taxonomy, which included the study of various biological organisms grouped together by similar characteristics, she continued on…a bit further than she probably should have. “Moreover, the lemonade was not my fault. Had you not bumped into me, I wouldn’t have bumped into the footman, and he wouldn’t have spilled it.”
Lady Navessa’s eyes, the same color as flat silver coins, narrowed to thin slits. “You’d do well to recall your place, Rosy Poly, and not be so stupid as to confuse my tolerance for acceptance. Everyone knows you are only here because of your grandmother and whatever waning influence she continues to yield. On your own, you are nothing. You are no one.” Her mouth stretched in a sugary sweet, sympathetic smile. “I hope, for your own sake, you understand that. Even a rat realizes that if it goes where it doesn’t belong, it shall not be long for this world. Mind your step, Rosy Poly. I’d hate for you to be crushed under someone’s heel.”
With that, she snapped her fingers and her loyal handmaidens fell into line. They sailed off into the house and Rosemary, withering beneath the weight of half a dozen smirking stares, had no choicebutto leave.
She didn’t cry as she made her way to Grosvenor Square. But she did wonder, as she often had over the years, what she’d ever done to deserve Lady Navessa’s hate. Because it wasn’t just Navessa. It was all of them. The popular, the pretty, the ones who put themselves above everyone else. The ones that got to decide who was a diamond to be admired and envied…and who was a rat to be sent scurrying into the shadows.
Rosemary knew that she was different. She’d always known. But why should that make her a target for such maliciousness? Her fascination with science and biology wasn’t hurting anyone. Sir Reginald wasn’t hurting anyone. And still she was mocked and given cruel nicknames and made to feel like an outsider at every opportunity.
Navessa and her ilk were like the children that yanked the wings off insects. Not for any particular reason, other than they could. And it made them feel superior to cause smaller things pain.
Rosemary, on the other hand, went out of her way to catch spiders in glasses and carry them outside. And gently transfer ladybugs to nearby bushes when they landed on her skirt. And hold grasshoppers in the palm of her hand not to yank off their legs, but to admire the sheer beauty of their shiny green armor.
While it may have earned her ridicule and a seat by herself in the corner, she’d rather be like that than like Navessa. Rather stand up for the weak and the vulnerable than threaten to stomp on them. Rather spend her time with Sir Reginald than be surrounded by a hundred so-called friends who stood by her side not out of true allegiance, but due to fear of becoming the next target of all that vitriol and venom.
She found Lord Hawkridge’s house without incident, and after giving her name to a somber-faced butler with long gray sideburns, was issued into an elegantly appointed parlor to wait.
After a terse fifteen minutes, where she debated whether to give up her plan and hurry back to Crown Top Manor before her grandmother noted her absence, the door flew open and Evie, breathless and beaming and carrying an armful of packages wrapped in brown paper and dainty silk ribbon, hurried in.
Rosemary’s cousin was short and slender, with shining black tresses set stylishly beneath a felt sailor hat and sparkling blue eyes that were as prone to sharp wit as warmth. She had more fashion sense in her pinky finger than Rosemary did in her entire body, and had graciously used some of that knowledge during the house party to help soften Rosemary’s dull, dowdy appearance.
“Had I known you were coming to call I would have made sure to be here to greet you!” she exclaimed, carelessly tossing the various parcels she was holding onto a nearby chair. “Thankfully, I was just on my way back from Blondell Mercantile. Have you been there? It’s the largest store I’ve ever seen! What a marvel. They’ve everything from perfume to cooking pots. I am trying to find the perfect pair of shoes for–what on earth are you wearing?”
“What?” Rosemary said defensively, glancing down. The dress had been waiting when she arrived in London, along with the rest of an entirely new wardrobe her grandmother’s modiste had created for her while they were in the country. For today’s outing, an apricot gown with lime green piping had been laid out for her to wear. She hadn’t thought twice before putting it on. She never did. But if her cousin’s expression was any indication, perhaps she should have.
