It was strange. Charley and I had been brought up to avoid straying into public view. It was unbecoming to be the subject of idle gossip amongst one’s social class, so much more so was it to find one’s name in print, splayed across yellow press no less, and bandied about by the general masses. We were not like the Astors or the Vanderbilts or the Rockefellers or the other society darlings. Speculation was one thing, that was beyond anyone’s control, but the St. Clairs and Elyots had always eschewed courting attention, jealously guarding their privacy. Charley was no stranger to keeping her business to herself, she had kept her comings and goings completely hidden for over a year, hadn’t she? So was this flickering in and out of the British eye carelessness or flirtation? After the inactivi
