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"My house," replied Sophronia proan pleasantly enough For the first few hours, Sophronia and Diht wear it Pillover rolled his eyes and tried to behave in as dignified a irlish prattle and open-air transport Monique ignored theht she spotted a carriage following theht have si the same byways

The pleasantness was marred only by Bumbersnoot Sophronia had tucked her mechanical pet, after soiven him a small lump of coal for a travel snack and strict instructions not to stain the interior with se it, or to catch it on fire He did, as it turned out, all of these things, but that is not what disturbed the drive

Sophronia was not aware that anything was a debate with Dimity over the relative merits of pearls versus diamonds for a ball to find that Monique’s blue eyes were fixed in horror upon the luggage pile Sophronia’s eyes followed the older girl’s gaze, co rather e

Sophronia put the hatbox next to her on the bench and put a hand firht have been trying to tell her soerows, they caught sight of an approaching airdinghy

"Oh, goodness, look," whispered Sophronia "Flywayasp

Pillover closed his book with a snap "What is it now?" Upon following their pointed fingers, he added, "Here we go again," in tones of the deeply put-upon

However, the flyway time, apparently content to watch from several yards away to deter Sophronia suspected the pony and cart of throwing theiven the general quality of the merchandise within Unless, of course, they had deterain the prototype

Roger, slu at the road before them, finally noticed they had company He pulled the pony up

"Don’t do that," said Sophronia

"Miss?"

"If they are going to leave us alone for now, then there is no point in delaying our travel They will co I think we estured at the carriage behind theave her a look that said he thought she had changed a good deal while she ay at school, and not for the better

Sophronia turned back to Dimity and Pillover "What kind of defenses do we have this time?"

Dimity canvassed her options "Handkerchiefs, fans, two parasols, assorted hatboxes, hats, gloves, and jewelry--although I’d rather not use that"

"Much better equipped than before"

Dirinned "And better able to ned Then he reached inside the pocket of his greatcoat and produce the Depraved Lens of Crispy Magnification "Still got this"

Dilanced at Sophronia expectantly "So what’s the plan?"

Sophronia looked through her binoculars at the airdinghy "Three of thee following us is also flywayned tone of voice "You told thein in the punch, and steal all the spoons Stylish shenanigans like that"

"Charleproops," protested Diusted look on his sister

Monique had wrapped herself in a velvet shawl and was staring at the surrounding countryside, ignoring them, the Pistons, and the flywaymen It seemed she was secure in her own scheme, confident in Sophronia’s ability to handle the situation, or si out loud "Roger really has to keep his attention on the road Too bad we haven’t any good projectiles"

"They’ve not actually done anything against us yet Ree first unless absolutely necessary," protested Di us last time," said Sophronia "Not to mention the two tiured they were following her with no intention of engaging An open confrontation had yielded up nothing substantial the first time around, after all Sophronia, however, had no intention of letting either the without interference

The flyway Sophronia and dimity ample opportunity to discuss defensive hy adecided that the cart was indeed worth their attention, now that they had spent the better part of the afternoon alongside it, the flywayhy, lashed it to a tree, and leapt out to stand before them

CONDUCTING ONESELF PROPERLY AT A BALL