“ Amelia, do meet my cousin.Your cousin?Indeed. He might be the duke.Then who are you?Excellent question.”

“It's still horrible. The whole thing.""Dreadful," Grace agreed.Amelia turned and looked at her directly. "Sodding bad."Grace gasped, "Amelia!"Amelia's face wrinkled in thought. "Did I use that correctly?""I wouldn't know.""Oh, come now, don't tell me you haven't thought something just as unladylike.""I wouldn't say it."The look Amelia gave her was clear as a dare. "But you thought it."Grace felt her lips twitch. "It's a dammed shame.""A bloody inconvenience, if you ask me.”

“Honoria couldn’t help but watch her make her way over toDaisy, and Mr. Bridgerton said, “Don’t worry, she’s mostlyharmless.”“My cousin Daisy?” she asked dubiously.“No,” he replied, momentarily nonplussed. “Lady Danbury.”Honoria looked past him to Daisy and Lady Danbury. “Is shedeaf?”“Your cousin Daisy?”“No, Lady Danbury.”“I don’t believe so.”“Oh.” Honoria winced. “That’s too bad. She might be by thetime Daisy is through with her.“That’s not going to end well,” he murmured.Honoria could do nothing but shake her head and murmur,“No.”“Is your cousin fond of her toes?”Honoria blinked in confusion. “I believe so, yes.”“She’ll want to watch that cane, then.”Honoria looked back just in time to see Daisy let out a smallshriek as she tried to jump back. She was not successful with thelatter; Lady Danbury’s cane had her pinned rather firmly.”

“Ellie fought the urge to stamp her foot. "I meant it this time. Do you accept my apology?""It appears," he said, raising his eyebrows, "that you might do me bodily harm if I do not.""Ungracious prig," she muttered. "I am trying to apologize.""And I," he said, "am trying to accept.”

“I'm not sure what it means."Grace frowned. "I don't think I do either.""It sounds bad, though.""Sodding bad." Grace said with a smile, and she patted Amelia's hand.Amelia sighed. "A dammed shame."We are repeating ourselves." Grace pointed out."I know." Amelia said, but with a fair bit of feeling. "But whose fault is ut? Not ours. We've been far too sheltered.""Now that," Grace announced with a flair, "really is a dammed shame!""A bloody inconvenience, if you ask me.”

“I can’t help but think that if she was going to kill herself, she might as well have done it earlier. Perhaps when I was a toddler. Or better yet, an infant. It certainly would have made my life easier. I asked my uncle Hugh (who is not really my uncle, but he is married to the stepsister of my current mother’s brother’s wife and he lives quite closeand he’s a vicar) if I would be going to hell for such a thought. He said no, that frankly, it made a lot of sense to him. I do think I prefer his parish to my own.”

“There was a certain history to this. While heavily pregnant with Amelia, she had asked him if she was radiant or if she just looked like a waddling duck. He told her she’d looked like a radiant duck. This had not been the correct answer.”