Chapter Eight
Elizabeth hated being helpless almost more than she hated being accused of something she didn’t actually do. She felt this was all somehow her fault, but for the life of her she couldn’t figure out what she could have done differently.
“I wasn’t even wearing anything revealing,” she commented to her brother, who was moping beside her. Well, perhaps he would have called it thinking, but to her it looked like he was moping.
He turned to her. “It wasn’t your fault, Elizabeth. I’ve told you that.”
“But it was. It is! Papa was right when he told me I was going to have to work very hard to keep men at arm’s length. I just… I never worked hard enough at that. It’s a failing of mine.”
He took her hand and shook his head, but he didn’t say anything. He actually wasn’t given the c
