Chapter 20While we are on the topic, Miss Reiling's mother, the Countess ofPenwood, has also been acting very strange of late. According to servants' gossip (which we all know is always the most reliable sort), the countess threw quite the tantrum last night, hurling no fewer than seventeen shoes at her servants.
One footman sports a bruised eye, but other than that, all remain in good health.
LADYWHISTLEDOWN'S
SOCIETY PAPERS, 11 JUNE 1817
Within an hour, Sophie had her bag packed. She didn't know what else to do. She was gripped, painfully gripped, by nervous energy, and she could not sit still. Her feet kept moving and her hands were shaking, and every few minutes, she
found herself taking a big spontaneous gulp of air, as if the extra breath could somehow calm her inside.
She coul
