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her? That’s what I tried to say last night, but you both—”
    “That’s not bad enough to stop the marriage,” Angeline said.
    I studied her face. Her expression was as bland as the watered wine Stepmama gave me at dinner … but I knew her too well to be fooled. I picked up Mama’s magic books.
    “It won’t wash,” I said. “If you don’t think I’m old enough to understand, that’s your decision, but if you don’t tell me the truth, you’ll have to listen to Elissa being horrified by your behavior for the next three weeks at least.” I raised my voice to imitate Elissa’s soft, lilting tones. “‘I just don’t understand , Angeline. How could such a thing ever occur to you? How could you possibly dream of such a wickedly improper, immoral—’”
    “Enough!” Angeline threw her apple onto the bed. “Fine. I’ll tell you exactly what I don’t like about Sir Neville. But if I tell you, you can’t let anyone else find out that you know, and you absolutely may not think up some mad scheme to interfere. Elissa has made her decision, she is determined to follow Stepmama’s orders, and there is nothing you can possibly do to stop her.”
    “Fine,” I said. “But you needn’t tell me that Elissa’s as stubborn as a mule. She’s my sister too.”
    “I know. That’s exactly what worries me.” Angeline took a deep breath. “Very well,” she said. “Sir Neville Collingwood was married once before, as you know. And …” She closed her eyes, frowning in concentration as if she was trying to think of exactly the right words.
    “And?” I said. “What happened to his wife?”
    Angeline opened her eyes and looked straight at me. “He murdered her.”

Four
    “He what?” I stared at her across the bed. the apple suddenly felt very cold and clammy in my hand.
    “You heard me.” Angeline set her jaw. “Elissa won’t admit it, and Stepmama says it’s all pure, unfounded gossip and speculation that young ladies should be ashamed to repeat, but it’s the truth. Mrs. Watkins’s niece works in the village where it happened, and she told me all about it two months ago.”
    She leaned closer to me, lowering her voice to a whisper. “Sir Neville Collingwood was so jealous of his first wife that he locked her up as a prisoner in a tower room, and she died of grief. Now that he’s looking for another victim, we’re all supposed to hope and pray that his eye falls on Elissa, so Charles can be rescued from his own folly and the rest of us can escape social ruin.” She pointed her finger at me like a weapon, her voice rising. “But I will be damned if I sit by and let her marry him!”
    “What can we do?” I tossed my apple aside, half-eaten. I had lost my appetite. “Why didn’t you say any of this last night? Why did you chime along with Elissa when she said what a wonderful thing her marriage would be for all of us? How could you—”
    “What good would it have done?” Angeline said. “You know Elissa. I tried everything I could three days ago, when I first found out. I told her we don’t need the money that badly. Good God, let Charles go to debtors’ prison for a month or two and actually feel the results of his idiocy! Let the whole family be ruined in Society and none of us ever make eligible marriages. Let us be whispered about and pointed at in the streets, if it comes to that! I’d rather we all become outcasts from good Society than sell her into slavery.”
    I winced. “You didn’t say all that to Elissa.”
    “I did.”
    “Whispering in the streets? Social outcasts?”
    “I was angry!” Angeline scowled. “But of course it didn’t work.”
    “Well, of course not,” I said. “Elissa would die of humiliation if even one person pointed at her in a public street. I think she’d rather die than have that happen.”
    “Well, I wouldn’t. But of course she got completely up-in-the-air about it all and said if I had any hint of propriety I would never say such wicked