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fought.”
    Trevor frowned. “A duel?”
    Hester nodded. “Apparently Angelstone wounded his opponent, but did not kill him. They say the Fallen
    Angel left the dueling field and went straight to the lady’s house. The story has it he went upstairs to her
    bedchamber and awakened her personally just to tell her that their affair was over.”
    Prudence shivered. She could well imagine that Angelstone would have been made coldly furious by
    Lady Charlesworthy’s tactics. “You’re quite right, Hester. Lady Charlesworthy does not count as an
    innocent victim. It was very unkind of her to try to make Angelstone jealous.”
    “Unkind?” Hester gave Prudence an amused glance. “I expect the poor lady was desperate for some
    indications of warmth from Angel-stone. They say he is made of ice.”
    “Nonsense. Back to the matter of a name. We’re looking for genu-ine, innocent victims here,” Prudence
    said. “Can you think of even one young woman who was ruined by Angelstone?”
    Hester raised a brow. “Actually, no. I can’t. Now that I think of it, from what I hear, Angelstone tends
    to pass over the fledglings in favor of the more worldly sort of female.”
    Trevor was irate. “The man’s got a reputation, I tell you. Everyone knows it.”
    “Not for ruining innocent young women, apparently,” Prudence said. “So you will in future kindly refrain
    from interfering in my social affairs, do you comprehend me, Trevor?”
    “Now, see here,” Trevor shot back, “I’m your brother. Got a re-sponsibility toward you.”
    “I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
    “Don’t be so certain of that. Truth is, you don’t know that much about men, Prue. You ain’t a good
    judge of ‘em. Keep in mind what happened three years ago.”
    Hester clapped loudly for attention. “Enough, my dears. If you wish to wrangle, you may do so
    someplace other than my drawing room. We have other business to attend to.”
    “What other business?” Prudence asked, more than willing to change the topic.
    Hester chuckled. “Why, the little matter of deciding which invita-tions we shall be accepting this week.
    Prudence, my dear, you are very much in demand. We shall have a busy time of it, I fear.” Hester
    reached for a silver tray littered with cards. “Now, then, let’s go through this little lot. Can you believe
    that all of these arrived just today? I don’t think we can possibly manage to squeeze in every-thing.”
    “You make the selections,” Prudence said. “I don’t really care which parties we attend. They all seem
    the same, somehow. The rooms are too crowded and too hot and there is so much noise it is difficult to
    converse.”
    “One must make sacrifices when one is moving in Society.” Hester picked up a card. “Ah, yes, we shall
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    most definitely put in an appear-ance at the Thornbridges’ ball. The new Lady Thornbridge is causing
    talk.”
    Trevor swallowed his cake, looking interested. “How’s that?”
    Hester gave him a knowing smile. “She’s quite a bit younger than her lord. And very beautiful. Word has
    it Thornbridge is mad with jealousy these days. Should be interesting to see if there will be a scene or two
    at their ball.”
    “It sounds rather unpleasant to me,” Prudence observed. “Who wants to see a jealous husband make a
    fool of himself over a young wife?”
    “Most of theton , my dear,” Prudence assured her cheerfully.
    The door of the drawing room opened again at that juncture. Hes-ter’s butler, chosen for his imposing
    air, appeared in the opening.
    “A Mrs. Leacock to see you, madam.”
    “How lovely,” Hester said. “Show her in, Crandall.”
    A birdlike woman with silvery white hair, dressed in an expensive mourning gown of black crepe, was
    ushered into the drawing room.
    “How kind of you to call,Lydia ,” Hester said. “Do sit down. You know my dear friends Trevor