Page 54 of A Season for Scandal

“You know, Miss Bloom,” Mrs Lavigne said, picking up her teacup, “I discovered the most wonderful reducing diet in France.”

“Oh, really?” I said, as I tucked into my bacon.

“Yes, it involves drinking vinegar, which is unpleasant of course, but one cannot argue with the results. I believe Lord Byron used the method himself.” She poured a cup of coffee from the pot.

“I’m sure you’re right,” I replied when it seemed some response was necessary. “His poetry was quite melancholic, wasn’t it? The poor man must have been dreadfully hungry.”

Helene choked on a giggle at this, and her mother sent her a sharp look.

“Yes, well, better to be hungry than a glutton,” Mrs Lavigne said snippily. “We ladies must suffer for the sake of beauty, mustn’t we?”

“Must we?” I echoed.

“One doesn’t want to be…” Mrs Lavigne trailed off as though tactfully reaching for the right words, while her nose crinkled in distaste. “Overlylarge.”

“Nonsense,” Oliver snapped, and all attention swung to him.

“I’m sorry?” Mrs Lavigne looked flustered.

“I said,nonsense.” Oliver carved into a piece of ham with unnecessary violence. “It seems to me that women have quite enough suffering to do without adding drinking vinegar into the mix.”

“Ah, but Miss Bloom understands my meaning, I’msure,” Mrs Lavigne rushed in, shooting me a sly glance. “It is such a struggle for some of us to remain thin, but it is important, too. The desire to be pleasing in our appearance is in our nature! We women want to bepetite. Delicate and dainty, what is beautiful, what is most appealing…”

“I understand your meaning perfectly, Mrs Lavigne,” I said as evenly as I could manage.

“Miss Bloom is perfectly appealing as she is,” Oliver said shortly.

There was an awkward pause then, and once again I felt something warm unfurl inside me. Helene’s eyes darted between Oliver and myself, something like surprise in them. If I had to guess, I would say she hadn’t imagined he would defend me.

“It is curious, isn’t it?” Mrs Finch said softly. “That society seems determined to make women smaller and smaller. It is almost as though the world is frightened of us, of what we may be if we were … unrestrained.”

“Goodness!” Mr Lavigne chuckled. “This is as good as having that Fawcett woman to breakfast, isn’t it?”

“What a charming compliment,” Mrs Finch said, her smile showing her teeth.

After another awkward pause, Oliver cleared his throat. “I hoped today that the Lavignes and Helene might join me on a journey into York,” he said, abruptly changing the subject and introducing the plan we had agreed upon the day before.

Mr and Mrs Lavigne exchanged a look of confusion.

“You know we are at your disposal, sir,” Mr Lavigne said cautiously. “Is there any particular reason for the journey?”

“I feel we are overdue a visit to my lawyers there,” Oliver said. “They handle my day-to-day business and are consulting with the legal team in London to deal with the matter of Helene’s inheritance and any other claims on the estate. They require further information in order to draw up the appropriate papers.”

“Of course, of course.” Mr Lavigne nodded. “These lawyers do seem to enjoy tying things in knots.”

“Well, I will be delighted to see York,” Mrs Lavigne said happily. “Perhaps Helene and I can attend to some shopping. No doubt there will be many social occasions on the horizon for which we must look the part. It would hardly do for us to show Mr Lockhart up!”

Oliver stretched his mouth into something that I suppose he thought approximated a smile, but it was clear that he was condemning Mrs Finch and her plan to Hades.

“Mrs Finch and Miss Bloom, I hope that you will be able to entertain yourselves in our absence,” Oliver replied dryly.

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll find something to do,” Mrs Finch purred. “Don’t you worry about us.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“We must search both rooms systematically,” Mrs Finch said a couple of hours later when we stood inside the doorway to the Lavignes’ bedroom. “What are the rules?”

“Quick, efficient, undetectable,” I replied, repeating the words that had been drummed into me throughout my training, though this was my first opportunity to put them into practice.