touch upset you turned down her offer of a trip to Paris to secure new fashions.â
Now they were beginning to get somewhere.
âIs that why she sent you, to convince me to take a trip across the ocean to visit the House of Worth?â
Agatha took another sip of tea, swallowed, and shook her head. âNo, especially after I told her I balked at the same idea, even though my mother believes I would look divine in gowns created by Charles Worth. Lucky for me, my position at the New-York Tribune gives me a ready excuse to avoid taking a leisurely jaunt across the sea.â
âPerhaps I should look into securing a career. Maybe then my mother would cease her relentless worrying and discontinue sending my friends to check up on me.â She caught Agathaâs eye. âIâm fine, by the way, even though Iâm sure Mother told you differently.â
âThat remains to be seen.â Agatha set her teacup aside. âBut returning to the idea of a career, how is your writing?â
âMediocre at best.â
âThen Iâm afraid you probably wouldnât make it as a journalist.â She tapped her finger on her chin. âAre you any good at snooping?â
âSnooping?â
âYou know, ferreting out information. Arabella Wilder has taken to helping Theodore with his private investigation business, and Iâm sure theyâd be more than happy to bring you on if youâre any good at that sort of thing.â
âI used to be proficient at running down my brothers when they tried to avoid me, but that was years ago.â Felicia wrinkledher nose. âBesides, Arabella and Theodore, even though theyâve been married for a few months now, still seem overly enthralled with each other. While thatâs a lovely state for them to be in . . . considering Iâve recently suffered a direct blow to the heart, I hardly think it would be wise for me to be in constant contact with a couple so in love.â
âAha, so you really arenât fine.â
It truly was unfortunate Agatha was such an intelligent sort, but since Felicia had no intention of discussing her recent heartache, especially since she was in a lovely frame of mind at the moment, she settled for waving Agathaâs comment away with one deliberate flick of her wrist. âYes, well, getting back to a career choice for me, Iâm afraid I have no real skills, and isnât that a sad state of affairs for a lady of twenty-four to recognize?â
âYouâre very good at helping the needy. Perhaps you should continue on with that.â
It wasnât as if she hadnât thought about continuing on with her charitable efforts, even though she knew full well it was hardly likely sheâd ever help out as much in Reverend Fraserâs church. That would be somewhat awkward, especially since it appeared far too many people had discovered her feelings about the gentleman. It would only be a matter of time until he found out about them, or worse yet, his wife.
The new Mrs. Fraser was truly a compassionate soul, but her compassion might not extend quite so far as to embrace a lady whoâd longed to be with her husband.
The pesky little problem of what to do with her life now that reality had smacked her in the face had plagued her endlessly throughout the night. Sheâd taken to having a rather long chat with God, not that Heâd sent her any clear solution to her problems as of yet, but in the midst of that chat, sheâd come to a few uncomfortable truths.
Sheâd changed her identity in order to secure the affections of a gentleman.
Sheâd thrown herself into charitable endeavors to please that gentleman, and . . . although sheâd gone to more church services than she could count, sheâd barely listened to any of the sermons.
Sheâd been completely ridiculous.
She needed to make amends, and in order to do that, she needed to
John B. Garvey, Mary Lou Widmer