Lady Whistledown Strikes Back by Julia Quinn Read Free Book Online Page B

Thompson.”
    Tillie had been about to make introductions, but
then she remembered that Mrs. Featherington and Penelope had been
present at Lady Neeley’s dinner party. In fact, Mrs. Featherington was
one of the unfortunate five to have been profiled by Lady Whistledown
in that morning’s column.
    “Do your parents know where you are?” Mrs. Featherington asked Tillie.
    “I beg your pardon?” Tillie asked, blinking with
surprise. She turned to Penelope, whom she had always thought was a
rather nice, if quiet, sort.
    But if Penelope knew what her mother was about, she
gave no indication, other than a pained expression that led Tillie to
believe that if a hole had suddenly opened up in the middle of the
ballroom floor, Penelope would have gladly jumped into it.
    “Do your parents know where you are?” Mrs. Featherington repeated, this time more pointedly.
    “We drove over together,” Tillie answered slowly, “so yes, I would assume they are aware—”
    “I shall return you to their sides,” Mrs. Featherington interrupted.
    And then Tillie understood. “I assure you,” she
said icily, “that Mr. Thompson is more than capable of returning me to
my parents.”
    “Mother,” Penelope said, actually grasping her mother’s sleeve.
    But Mrs. Featherington ignored her. “A girl such as you,” she told Tillie, “must take care with her reputation.”
    “If you refer to Lady Whistledown’s column,” Tillie
said, her voice uncharacteristically icy, “then I must remind you that
you were mentioned as well, Mrs. Featherington.”
    Penelope gasped.
    “Her words do not concern me,” Mrs. Featherington said. “I know that I did not take that bracelet.”
    “And I know that Mr. Thompson did not, either,” Tillie returned.
    “I never said he did,” Mrs. Featherington said, and
then she surprised Tillie by turning to Peter and saying, “I apologize
if I gave that indication. I would never call someone a thief without
proof.”
    Peter, who had been standing tensely still at
Tillie’s side, did nothing but nod at her apology. Tillie rather
suspected it was all he could do without losing his temper.
    “Mother,” Penelope said, her tone almost desperate now, “Prudence is over by the door, and she’s waving rather madly.”
    Tillie could see Penelope’s sister Prudence, and
she seemed quite happily engaged in conversation with one of her
friends. Tillie made a mental note to befriend Penelope Featherington,
who was well-known as a wallflower, on the next possible occasion.
    “Lady Mathilda,” Mrs. Featherington said, ignoring Penelope entirely, “I must—”
    “Mother!” Penelope yanked hard on her mother’s sleeve.
    “Penelope!” Mrs. Featherington turned to her daughter with obvious irritation.
    “I’m trying to—”
    “We must be going,” Tillie said, taking advantage of Mrs. Featherington’s momentary distraction.
    “I shall be sure to pass along your greetings to my mother.”
    And then, before Mrs. Featherington could
disentangle herself from Penelope, who had a viselike grip on her arm,
Tillie made her escape, practically dragging Peter along behind her.
    He hadn’t said a word during the interchange. Tillie wasn’t quite certain what that meant.
    “I’m terribly sorry,” she said once they were out of Mrs. Featherington’s earshot.
    “You did nothing,” he said, but his voice was tight.
    “No, but, well …” She stopped, unsure of how to
proceed. She didn’t particularly want to take the blame for Mrs.
Featherington, but nonetheless, it seemed that someone ought to be apologizing to Peter. “No one should be calling you a thief,” she finally said. “It’s unacceptable.”
    He smiled at her humorlessly. “She wasn’t calling me a thief,” he said. “She was calling me a fortune hunter.”
    “She never—”
    “Trust me,” he said, cutting her off with a tone
that made her feel like a foolish girl. How could she have missed such
an undercurrent? Was she really that