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speak of the incident.”
    “I must ask you to finish the tale, madam,” Matthias said ruthlessly. “I cannot decide how to proceed until I know everything there is to know about this situation.”
    Horatia slanted him an uncertain glance and then appeared to come to a decision. She stuffed the hankie back into a pocket. “Very well, sir. It is no secret after all. Everyone in Town knew of the incident, and when Imogen returns, the gossip will no doubt be resurrected. The long and the short of it is that Imogen was discovered in a bedchamber with Vanneck.”
    For some reason, Matthias felt as though he had just been kicked in the stomach. He was puzzled by the violent reaction. It took him a moment to realize that he had not been expecting to hear quite such a dramatic ending to the tale.
    He had imagined something a good deal more innocent. After all, it took very little to ruin a young woman’s reputation in Society. An indiscreet kiss, venturing out alone to shop or ride without a maid, too many waltzes with the wrong man, any number of such harmless lapses could make a woman notorious. Appearances were everything among the ton.
    But being discovered in a bedchamber with a man, any man, let alone one of Vanneck’s stripe, was more than a minor indiscretion, Matthias thought. Immodest Imogen had apparently earned her title. She was fortunate that the epithet had not been worse.
    “Was it Vanneck’s bedchamber?” Matthias made himself ask. “Or did she invite him to her house?”
    “Of course not.” Horatia averted her gaze. “But in the end it might have been better if the incident had occurred at some such private location. Unfortunately, Imogenand Vanneck were discovered together in an upstairs bedchamber during the course of a ball given by Lord and Lady Sandown.”
    “I see.” Matthias had to exert an effort to quell the whip of anger that had uncurled in him. What the devil was wrong with him? He barely knew the lady. “Your niece certainly does not do things by halves, does she?”
    “It was not her fault,” Horatia said with touching loyalty. “Vanneck lured her to that bedchamber.”
    “Who discovered them?”
    Horatia heaved another sigh of regret. “Mr. Drake, the nice young man who was on the verge of making an offer. He was accompanied by a companion. Naturally, there was no more talk of marriage after the incident. One could hardly blame Mr. Drake for losing interest.”
    “Drake could at least have kept his mouth shut about what he had seen.”
    “I expect he did,” Horatia said. “But as I said, he had a companion with him that night. The other man was obviously not such a gentleman.”
    Matthias released a deep breath that he had not realized he had been holding. “I take it the incident, as you term it, put an end to the friendship between Miss Waterstone and Lady Vanneck?”
    “Lucy took her own life the day after Vanneck was discovered with Imogen. She left a note saying that she could not endure the knowledge that her best friend had betrayed her with her husband.”
    Matthias considered that briefly. “How did she kill herself?”
    “She took a great quantity of laudanum.”
    “Then there is no question but that she committed suicide?”
    “None so far as the rest of the world is concerned. Imogen is the only one who believes that Vanneck murdered Lucy. I fear my niece’s view of the matter is clouded by her own dreadful experience at his hands. Perhaps shefeels a measure of guilt. But what happened in that bedchamber was Vanneck’s fault. I have no doubt of that.”
    Matthias glanced at the empty doorway of the library. “And now, three years later, Miss Waterstone has hit upon this crazed notion of avenging her friend.”
    “I thought she had put it all behind her,” Horatia confided. “But through her membership in the Zamarian Society, she corresponds with a vast number of people. A few weeks ago one of them conveyed the information that Lord Vanneck was hanging