IV. LIGHTS & COPY

CHAPTER 4. LIGHTS AND COPY

asks, as we enter the Oprah house.

"Lady Bridgerton!" Lady Danbury call out. "Do join us."

Mama drags both of us to her and the Queen.

"Your Majesty, good evening." Mama greets her. "You must remember my daughter, Daphne and Diana."

"Yes." The Queen replies, bored. "She made quite an impression... however fleeting it may have been."

She then walks off, leaving us with Lady Danbury.

"I would like to welcome you bothto my box this evening." She tells us, and Mama tries to say something, but gets cut off. "I insist."

We all make our way to Lady Danbury's box. Daphne and I sit at the front, while Mama and Lady Danbury sit at the back, and unknown to us, they both were having a rather important conversation, that we couldn't hear.

"The duke is quite fond of gooseberry pie." Lady Danbury tells Lady Bridgerton.

"The very dish my cook is renowned for." Lady Bridgerton replies, with a smile.

"And you also might want to invite a Mister Louis Barnes." Lady Danbury tells her. "He has taken a rather keen interest in reading, since Miss Diana's last visit."

we're talking about?" Anthony asks. "For all we know, Whistledown may be some interloper living in Bloomsbury, of all places."

"What should be so terrible about Bloomsbury?" Benedict asks.

"That people there actually work for a living?" I ask Anthony, sarcastically.

We were all sitting and having dinner, with Mama sitting at the head to the table, on her left, was the Duke, next to whom, was Daphne. On her right, was Mister Barnes, and I was sitting next to him.

"She does seem to be someone with access." Daphne adds.

"Who knows if Whistledown is even a she?" Colin asks.

"Fair point." Benedict adds.

"There is that chauvinist comment I was waiting for." I tell them.

"Because she is simply too good to be anyone but a man?" Eloise backs me up, and Benedict mocks her words.

"Well, I think it rather obvious that the writer is Lady Danbury." Francesca tells us, and I laugh.

"Oh, no." I tell her. "Lady Danbury enjoys sharing her insults with society directly. She would never bother herself writing them all down."

"Could it be Lady Featherington?" Hyacinth asks.

"No!" We all answer at the same time.

"You have yet to read what Whistledown writes of the Featheringtons, little sister." I tell her.

"You must forgive this rather unruly debate, Your Grace, Mister Barnes." Mama tells the Duke.

"Nonsense." The Duke waves it off. "I find it entertaining."

"It is nice to see all of you at one table, even the children." Mister Barnes tells her.

"Well, I realize it may be unfashionable, but we like each other." Mama replies.

"Most of the time." I add, with a smile.

"You both should join us more often, Your Grace, Mister Barnes." She tells them. Perhaps when we travel to our country seat. You would be most welcome."

"Gregory!" Hyacinth tells. "Would you stop tossing peas at me?

"Those peas were already there." Gregory replies. "You cannot tell me what to do. I am older."

"And I'm taller."

I let out a little laugh at their banter.

"Children..." Mama scolds, as Daphne and the Duke get into a heated conversation.

"So, I noticed you like to read, Miss Bridgerton." Mister Barnes says.

"What gave it away, Mister Barnes." I ask, with a smile, which he returns.

"I just finished reading Delphine, by Germaine De Staël." He tells me.

"Well, it might just be a wild coincidence, but that is the very same book I took from Lady Danbury's library." I reply.

"Hm, must be fate telling us, that we have things in common." He tells me, with a cheeky smile.

"Or, it might just be, that Lady Danbury had more than one copy, and was feeling rather bored." I reply, with a smirk.

"If that were not enough, I am also aware of the things a certain writer has recently written of you." Daphne says, a little loudly then intended, and all eyes turn to her and the Duke. "Presumptuous? Clearly. Arrogant? Most definitely. You are a rake... through and through. Tell me I'm wrong."