SHE WASN’T SURE WHAT she would find the next morning when she went downstairs to breakfast, but only Hyacinth and George were seated at the table in the bright solarium.
“Where’s everyone else?” Amelia asked as she sat down with them.
“Sleeping off last night,” Hyacinth said as she spread jam on a piece of toast with terrifying precision. “Why are you awake?”
“I thought more people would be around and that I should be up for that,” Amelia admitted.
“You mean so they can’t talk behind your back too much?”
“Hyacinth!” George scolded.
The younger girl made a face at her sister. “What? It’s true.”
“That people are talking behind my back, or that I’m trying to prevent that?” Amelia asked.
“Yes,” Hyacinth said. “Also, if you’re looking for my uncle, he and Dad went out walking earlier. Y
