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It didn’t matter If you were a bull and you happened to find yourself in a china shop, there was nothing to do but head for the exit and try not to knock over any of the displays on your way out Aed since then

"I will," Amanda said

It wasn’t precisely a lie She was sure that Free would send another package one day, that Amanda would be forced to return

And Miss Johnson and Mrs Marshall would likely get a good day’s worth of gossip abusing her manners afterward, so it was a fair trade for all the broken china Sheit off

But there was one s Miss Johnson smiled as if she hadsun, and her lips were perfectly pink as she said her good-byes

Things would be bad enough as they were But it was just Amanda’s bad luck that she had a taste for porcelain dolls

SEVERAL WEEKS AGO, EDWARD had visited his brother Tonight, he returned to James’s office once more The room was almost precisely as it had been when last he’d come Papers were strewn across the desk; volu the walls The day’s newspapers had been stuffed in the rubbish bin

This tih, he found James already in their father’s place at the desk His brother opened the glassed door to the outside with a suspicious frown and gestured for Edward to sit across from him "Why are you here, Ned?" he asked skeptically

"I still prefer Edward," Edward ed mildly "But never mind that I haven’t coy"

If anything, that made James more suspicious His nose wrinkled in obvious distrust But what he said instead was, "Nonsense Water under the bridge and all that, surely"

"No" Edward put on his best false earnestness "It’s not nonsense I assumed that you’d not want to see or hear froo But I feel I have ave you a chance to tell me why you did what you did That was unfair Unbrotherly, even I assumed the worst of you, but I can see now that I was mistaken"

His brother was still suspicious; Edward could tell from the set of his jaw, the flare of his nostrils But James was too rooted in the rules of polite conversation to accuse Edward of lying, and thatahiht" James blinked "Yes" His words came reluctantly "Of course I never wanted you…harood, you understand? It was only for your good You sent that urgent letter stating that there was an aret away And Father had sent you there for punishht? You hadn’t come around yet That was all that was on my mind I promise, I never, absolutely never, intended you to perish"

The hell of it was, Edward suspected Ja that looked suspiciously like the truth He had no doubt studiously told himself that he didn’t intend for his brother to die He’d justified it all to hi to bow to their father, had essentially made himself an outcast He was just like an impostor

No doubt he’d justified his lie to the consul a hundred times over the years The fact that Edward could have died, and James stood to inherit the viscountcy as a result… No doubt, he’d told his did not matter to him

It was a lie, of course Butthemselves they were far better than they were