Page 10 (1/2)

The infant-inconvenience, normally a fan of tea in any for a succession of possible employers who treated prospective staff in accordance with all standards of coripped Biffy’s arm, partly from necessity and partly fro sun beat their return ho that had been so her of late "Lord Akelda down at her, curious as to where she was going with the conversation

"It never occurred to ht it up, but this is rather peculiar a preference in a vampire I was under the is and citrus"

Biffy s

Lady Maccon persisted "Need I re Biffy?"

"As if I could forget?" Biffy checked the lay of his collar in a nervous gesture "Ah, well, it’s no particular secret of the commonwealth He spent several decades, as I understand it, building up a tolerance"

"Good graciousto do, I suppose"

"That sounds s than the Lord Akeldama you and I know"

"Of course, my lady Truth?"

Alexia nodded

"He likes to use lehtness and shine He’s terribly vain" Biffy’s s

"Oh, I know" Alexia looked once more to her companion and then, with Lord Akeldaht, pretended exhaustion and slowed their walk even further

"Biffy, my dear, I am worried about you"

"My lady?"

"I had a recent delivery of new fashion plates frolanced at the hairstyles My husband tells e And your cravat has been tied very si events"

"Iadjacent You can hardly er compatible--I am a olf; he is a vampire"

"So?"

"So we cannot dance the same dance we used to" Biffy was so shen he tried to be circumspect

Alexia shook her head at him "Biffy, and I e the ot very little sleep that day, partly due to the physical repercussions of too much tea and partly due to an unexpected visit from Ivy Tunstell early in the afternoon Floote woke her with a gentle touch, a sincere apology, and the deeply troubling information that Miss Loontwill had taken it upon herself to entertain Mrs Tunstell in the front parlor They were awaiting Lady Maccon’s pleasure Alexia half fell, half rolled out of bed, leaving her poor husband, equally disturbed by her now-chronic restlessness, to sleep

It being daylight, Biffy was still abed, so she had to ask Floote to assist in buttoning her dress The butler paled in horror at the very idea and went to corral one of Lord Akelda to undertake the distasteful task Although, it seeinning to learn that Boots was ever willing to undertake anything she asked of hith of will, across the short gangplank between balconies

Downstairs, Felicity was lookingon the assu permanent residence in her sister’s house She wore a dress of modern cut with a shirtwaist-style top in turquoise satin tri turquoise rosettes on a white rave; la cravat, and black trim peeked forth between the flounces of the sleeves and at the center of the rosettes The dress was new, expensive, and very stylish

Mrs Ivy Tunstell, by contrast, wore a visiting gown froe and its design a little too bold Unfortunate Ivy, having owns rather than order new ones

For once, however, she did not see Felicity’s conversation, which could be nothing but barb-tipped under the circumstances of an overbustled dress, with complacent demeanor and atypical presence ofinsulted, or she had sohts

Lady Maccon took a deep breath and entered the parlor

"Oh, sister, you do keep such peculiar hours in this household of yours," co her first

Ivy hopped to her feet and tripped over to blow kisses at Alexia’s face It was a repulsively Continental habit that she had adopted since her e, or possibly her sometime employment in Madame Lefoux’s hat shop where the French propensity for faed beyond the pale

"My dearest Ivy, how do you do? What an unexpected visit"

"Oh, Alexia, how perfectly splendid of you to be in residence I was so afraid"--Ivy lowered her voice draht be in your confinely advanced I a, am I? No, you would be abed Even you would not receive callers at such a tiood for ladies in your condition, is tea"

Lady Maccon took a moment to allow the wash of Ivy’s chatter to cascade over her much in the manner that dandelion seeds fly on the winds of inconsequentiality "Pray, do not trouble yourself on h, I will ad into "

"Oh, pray, do not concern yourself Felicity was quite proficient a substitute"

Lady Maccon raised her eyebrows

Ivy nodded in a conspiratorial way to indicate she was being entirely sincere Her copious dark ringlets bobbed about Her irlish preferences in hairstyles It was probably just as well she had made a less-than-favorable match, for the wives of actors were rather expected to be eccentric in the matter of appearance

At this juncture Felicity rose "If you will excuseto attend"

Lady Maccon looked after her sister in shock as she left with neither a remark as to Alexia’s corpulence nor to Ivy’s substandard attire "I wonder if she will change her dress again"

Ivy swished back over to the settee and collapsed onto it drae? Why should she? That was a perfectly splendid day gown"

"Ivy, did you not notice so peculiar about Felicity’s demeanor?"

"Should I have?"

"She fully nice, wasn’t she?"