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flowed as naturally and gracefully as if it were an extension of Sophie herself. She tugged awkwardly at the front of the dress.
    “I really can’t understand how I can be positively blanketed in cloth and still feel naked.”
    “It’s the dress, miss.” Penny giggled. “That silk is light as butterfly wings, and all ball gowns are cut lower in front like that.”
    Mrs. Summers slapped Sophie’s hands away impatiently. “Stop that, you look lovely. I wouldn’t let you out of the house if your attire was anything but perfectly modest.”
    Sophie sighed in resignation. She knew Mrs. Summers was right. Still…
    “I said stop that! You will not be pulling at your gown tonight. It is most indecent.”
    “Couldn’t we just—”
    “No.”
    “What if I—”
    “No.”
    “May I at least—”
    “No!”
    “I was only going to ask for my cloak.”
    “Oh. Well, I believe it’s in the front hall, along with your gloves, your fan, and undoubtedly your cousin who is very likely annoyed at your tardiness, so move along.”
    “I do wish you were attending to night,” Sophie said wistfully.
    “As do I, but if I don’t take care of this head cold now, I shall become too sick to be of any use to you for the remainder of our trip.”
    “I know. I’d just feel better knowing you were there.”
    Mrs. Summers bent down and kissed Sophie’s cheek. “That’s very sweet of you, dear, but you needn’t worry. Your cousin and Lady Margaret are perfectly acceptable chaperones.”
    Sophie nodded but in truth, she had certain misgivings about her cousin’s chaperoning skills. He had managed to leave her waiting at the docks, after all. As for Lady Margaret, she was an old friend of Mrs. Summers who had agreed by note to attend to Sophie in Mrs. Summers’s absence. Sophie had never met her, nor even heard of her until this afternoon.
    “You’re woolgathering, Sophie. Run along and fetch your things.”
    The cloak was indeed in the front hall, but Lord Loudor was not. In his stead was a note explaining that he was unable to ride with her to the ball, but he would meet her carriage on the drive of Lord Calmaton’s home.
    Damn.
    She couldn’t very well bring up the ledgers at the ball.
    Sophie headed for the door with a decidedly grim expression.
    Blast.
    She couldn’t very well travel to the ball alone, either. Resigned, she sent the footman for Penny with a request that the maid be quick, and if at all possible, quiet. No point in giving Mrs. Summers a chance to insist on taking a carriage ride on a damp night.
    Penny managed to accomplish both speed and stealth, and the girls were comfortably ensconced in the carriage in less than ten minutes.
    “Sorry to have inconvenienced you, Penny,” Sophie said, pulling on her bodice.
    “You really shouldn’t fuss with that, miss, and I’m happy to be here. Not every day I get to take a night ride in such a fancy carriage as this.”
    Sophie believed her, the bit about the happiness at least. Penny’s face was positively glowing with excitement. She held her head almost completely out the window and was watching the passing scenery with obvious delight. Sophie supposed there were few occurrences that would allow for a servant, even a lady’s maid, to view London after nightfall from the security of a nobleman’s carriage. “It’s like a whole other world,” Penny whispered reverently. “Brighter than I would have guessed.”
    Sophie glanced out the window. “It is, isn’t it?”
    Thank God.
    Sophie was very much of the opinion that there was little more inherently frightening than the unknown, and nothing altered the familiar into the unfamiliar quite so effectively as apitch-black night. In shorter and less flattering terms, Sophie was afraid of the dark.
    Very little was needed to keep that fear at bay—a single candle left burning, the light of a bright moon, or, as in this case, the well-kept streetlamps found in the neighborhoods inhabited by people of means. Any