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Miss Tarabotti figured he must be very tired indeed to feel such ill effects Older olves could go several days awake during the dayti some other ailment

Miss Tarabotti and Miss Hisselpenny watched with polite curiosity as the urbane andered about the room He checked behind Felicity’s insipid watercolors and underneath the infa about that chair and trying not to remember what had so recently occurred there Had she really been so forward? Disgraceful

When the silence became too unbearable, Miss Tarabotti said, "Do sit down, Professor You look positively dead on your feet You areabout the rooh but obeyed her order He settled into a small Chippendale side chair, which he moved into the darkest recess of the room: a little nook near the piano

"Should we order some tea?" Miss Hisselpenny asked, concern for both his peaked appearance and Alexia’s obviously feverish condition outweighing all sense of propriety

Miss Tarabotti was impressed by her friend’s resource "What an excellent notion"

Ivy went to the door to call for Floote, whoto be suentleman here," she faltered

Alexia was appalled at her own lack of manners "Ivy! You don’t ht you knew each other You caether"

Miss Hisselpenny turned to her friend "We encountered one another on the front stoop, but we never formally made each other’s acquaintance" She turned back to the butler "I aested the ever-resourceful Floote "Will there be anything else, miss?"

Alexia asked from the couch, "Do we have any liver?"

"Liver, miss? I shall inquire of the cook"

"If we do, simply have her chop it slance at Professor Lyall, who nodded gratefully

Both Ivy and Floote looked aghast, but there seeainsay Alexia’s request After all, in the absence of the Loontwills proper, this was Miss Tarabotti’s house to rule over

"And some jam and bread sandwiches," said Miss Tarabotti firmly She felt a bit more composed, now that Lord Maccon had vacated the preenerally of a peckish proclivity

"Very good, lided off

Alexia performed introductions "Professor Lyall, this is Miss Ivy Hisselpenny, my dearest friend Ivy, this is Professor Randolph Lyall, Lord Maccon’s second in command and protocol advisor, so far as I can tell"

Lyall stood and bowed Ivy curtsied from the doorway Formalities over with, both returned to their seats

"Professor, can you tell me what has occurred? Why did Lord Maccon depart in such haste?" Miss Tarabotti leaned forward and peered into the shadows It was hard to read the professor’s expression in the die

"Afraid not, Miss Tarabotti BUR business" He shut her down shaet it all sorted through in short order"

Alexia leaned back in the settee Idly she picked up one of theat one of the tassels "Then I wonder, sir, if I ht ask you somewhat about pack protocol?"

Miss Hisselpenny’s eyes went very wide, and she reached for her fan When Alexia got that look in her eye, itHad Alexia been reading her father’s books again? Ivy shuddered to even think such a thing She always knew no good would come of those reprehensible manuscripts

Professor Lyall, startled by this sudden switch in topic, looked uncomfortably at Miss Tarabotti

"Oh, is it secret?" asked Alexia One was never quite certain with the supernatural set She knew there existed such concepts as pack protocol and pack etiquette, but sos were learned via cultural acuht or talked of openly It was true that olves were rated into everyday society than vampires, but, still, one never knew unless one was actually a olf Their traditions were, after all, ht folk

Professor Lyall shrugged elegantly "Not necessarily I should caution, however, that pack rules are often quite blunt and not necessarily intended for a lady of Miss Hisselpenny’s delicacy"

Alexia grinned at hi him on the spot

The professor was not to be trifled with "My dear Miss Tarabotti, you are nothing if not resilient"

Ivy, blushing furiously, spread open her fan and began fluttering it to cool her hot face The fan was bright red Chinese silk with yellow lace at its edge, clearly selected to match the reprehensible shepherdess hat Alexia rolled her eyes Was Ivy’s dubious taste now extending to all her accessories?

The fan seee "Please," she insisted, "do not forbear needlessly on ly and patted her friend on the upper ar expectantly back to face Professor Lyall in his darkened corner "Shall I come to the point, Professor? Lord Maccon’sof late He hasincursions in an, as you no doubt observed, in the public street the other evening"

"Oh, dear Alexia!" breathed Miss Hisselpenny, truly shaken "You do not mean to tell me you were observed"

Miss Tarabotti dismissed her friend’s concern "Only by Professor Lyall here, so far as I am aware, and he is the soul of discretion"

Professor Lyall, though clearly pleased by her accolade, said, "Not to be rude Miss Tarabotti, but your aspect of pack protocol is?"