That didn’t take long at all. The staff at Vauxhall were used to handling a much larger crowd, and so discovering an idle one interested in making a little extra money was simple. Telling them who to report to was a little harder. There were several women in all black dominoes.
“We can return to my box,” Lilah offered. “After wandering around a bit.” She’d already determined that this woman was the most interesting person here. She smiled at the servant. “We’ll be in Lord Byrn’s box.”
“Oh my! You’re a guest of Lord Byrn.”
Lilah smiled, not wanting to lose their budding friendship by revealing that she was Elliott’s bastard sister. Fortunately, the lady rambled on heedless of Lilah’s silence.
“My brother is usually a host as well. He plays Lord Ares, but he couldn’t come this year. I wouldn’t have either except I needed to learn something scandalous about Lord Loughton.”
Lilah felt her mouth go dry. “You’re Lord Chamber—er, Lord Kittrel’s sister? Lady Clara?”
The woman shrugged. “I’m not supposed to tell you, am I? It’s a masquerade after all, but I suppose I’ve given it up anyway.”
So many thoughts, so many questions crowded into Lilah’s mind. She wanted to know about Aaron, how he was faring, what he was doing. She wanted to imagine him going about his day even though she knew she was simply torturing herself as she did it. But those questions were impertinent, and she had just as many questions about his odd sister, so she started with those.
“I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Lady Clara. And my condolences on the loss of your father.”
“Thank you,” she said, her tone wistful. “I miss him terribly. He was bookish like me, and we got along well. But it has been harder on my brother, of course. Quite a lot to do to take the reins of the earldom.”
“I imagine so,” she said, though she had no earthly idea what it entailed. “And how is he faring? Will we see him back in London soon?”
“Oh, he’ll be back soon enough to see me bound for the altar.” She sniffed in true horror at the one future that Lilah so longed for.
“Surely he can’t force you if you don’t want to marry.”
“Mama has convinced him that it’s past time for both of us to wed. He’s told me that Lord Loughton applied to Papa and seems like a very amiable fellow. Pah!” She rolled her eyes. “He makes it sound like I’d be marrying a dog.” She lifted her chin. “That is specifically why I returned to London now to learn the truth about the man. I shall scare him away, and he won’t bother me again.”
“How?”
“I have a most ingenious plan,” she said smugly and refused to explain.
LiIah didn’t press. She had the feeling that the lady enjoyed talking and would soon give details. It only took fifteen minutes of wandering through the maze for her to finally spill the secret. They had been talking about Lady Clara’s love of the occult when she finally whispered her plan.
“I am going to host a séance.”
“A what?”
“I’m going to contact the ghost of his dead ancestor and tell him that I’m the wrong person to marry.”
Lilah stared at her, her mind whited out in confusion. “I’m terribly sorry. What?”
“It’s all a ruse, you see,” Lady Clara said. “I’ve gone to several fake séances. I know all the tricks. They make the table shake with their knees. They speak in a scary voice. It’s terribly frightening to those who don’t know how it’s done. I had nightmares for a week after my first one.”
“I would imagine so. Whyever would you go back?”
“I love to be frightened. I went back as soon as I could. But after a time, I began to see how it was done.”
“So your plan is to…what?”
“Frighten him. I’ll invite him to the house for an evening’s séance, tell him something about himself that I’ve learned tonight. That’s very important to establish belief. And then I’ll have his great-grandmother or someone tell him I’m not the lady for him and he’ll go away.”
“That seems like a lot of effort to say no.”
The lady’s eyes sparkled. “But I’ve already told him no, and he keeps coming back. Besides, I think this will be fun.” Then her eyes widened. “Would you like to come?”
“What? Me?”
“Of course, you. I’ve figured out who you are, you see. You’re Lord Byrn’s by-blow sister, aren’t you?” She said it as if it were the greatest thing to be labeled a bastard. “You’re scandalous enough to come to something like this.”