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Uns

By Lady Olivia Bevelstoke, Unlad if you possess the correct complexion for such hues) Smile and keep your opinions to yourself (hatever success you are able) Do what your parents tell you to do Accept the consequences when you don’t Find a husband on’t bother to tell you what to do

It was not uncoraphic oddities in her ht herself not listening when she ought

And, perhaps, why she s she really should have kept to herself Although in all fairness, it had been two years since she’d called Sir Robert Kent an overgrown stoat, and frankly, that had been far

But digressions aside, Miranda now got to do s, for which Olivia would like to have formed a list, except that no one (not even Miranda, and Olivia still had not forgiven her for this) would tell her what it was thatto wear pastel colors, not having to be acco small infants at reasonable intervals

Olivia was quite certain there was more to the last bit That was the one that sent herfrom the room every time she asked

But back to Miranda She had produced a s niece Caroline, for whom she’d happily throw herself under hooves, equine or otherwise-and was now on her way to producing another, which ular afternoon chitchat And as Olivia liked chitchat-and fashion and gossip-she found herself spending more and more time with Anne, Mary, and Philo, and never htly ht now

"Who are they, anyway?" Olivia asked

"They?" Anne echoed

"They The people who say hbor killed his fiancée"

Anne paused She looked at Mary "Do you recall?"

Mary shook her head "I don’t, actually Sarah Forsythe, perhaps?"

"No," Philoreat certitude "It wasn’t Sarah She only got back froo Libby Lockwood?"

"Not Libby," Anne said "I would have remembered if it were Libby"

"That’s my point," Olivia interjected "You don’t knoho said it None of us does"

"Well, I didn’t make it up," Anne said, a touch defensively

"I didn’t say you did I would never think that of you" It was true Anne repeateduttered in her presence, but she never hts "Don’t you think it’s the sort of ruht want to verify?"

This was met with three blank stares

Olivia tried a different tactic "If only for your own personal safety If such a thing were true-"

"Then you think it is?" Anne asked, in a rather pinning-you-down sort of voice

"No" Good heavens "I don’t But if it were, then surely he would not be someone e would wish to associate"

This wasbeat of silence, finally broken by Philomena: "My mother has already tolda bit as if she were slogging through mud, "we should ascertain its accuracy Because if it’s not true-"

"He’s very handsome," Mary cut in Followed by, "Well, he is"