CHAPTER 15
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CHARLOTTE:
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IT WAS NOT IN LUCIA’S nature to be histrionic. She had a horror of the unnecessary and gratuitous emotional excesses in which many girls indulged—that is, when we were not laughing at their silliness.
True distress in many respects was not easy to recognize in Lucia for she preferred to hide her sadness and woes, but if there was ever any hint or suspicion of distress about her person or particular circumstances, only a fool would have thought it a trifle. Lucia was not a girl who cried wolf.
A year ago, when Virginia May Amaryllis Hartley wed Rex Edgar Marchmont, 15th Earl Ruthven, Tessa had pointed out one of the groom’s friends to us. His name was Vincent Faneuil. He was in banking and also knew Matthias. That had been his chief recommendati
