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A butler cairls were ready to begin

Penelope braced herself, sed in such a way as to clog her inner ear canals (it didn't work), and then the torture began And went onand onand on Penelope wasn't certain as e that Colin was sitting right behind her The back of her neck prickled with awareness, and she found herself fidgeting likerelentlessly on the dark blue velvet of her skirts

When the Sirls were bea at the polite applause, and the fourth-- the cellist--looked as if she wanted to crawl under a rock

Penelope sighed At least she, in all of her unsuccessful seasons, hadn't ever been forced to parade her deficiencies before all the ton like these girls had She'd always been allowed to melt into the shadows, to hover quietly at the periirls take their turns on the dance floor

Oh, herto place her in the path of so--nothing!--like what the Sh, in all honesty, three out of the four seemed blissfully unaware of their musical ineptitude

Penelope just s to burst their collective bubble

And if Lady Danbury's theory was correct, Lady Whistledoasn't going to write a word about the musicale

The applause petered out rather quickly, and soon everyone was hbors and eyeing the sparsely laid refreshment table at the back of the roomwLemonade," Penelope murmured to herself Perfect She was dreadfully hot--really, what had she been thinking, wearing velvet on such a war to make her feel better Not to mention that Colin was trapped in conversation with Lady Danbury, so it was the ideal time to make her escape

But as soon as Penelope had her glass in hand, she heard Colin's achingly fa her name

She turned around, and before she had any idea what she was doing, she said, "I'm sorry"wYou are?"wYes," she assured hihtly at the co by the second"wColin--"

He held out his arm "Take a turn with me around the room, will you?"wI don't think--"