“He called me a pie!” she announced, defensively. There was a pause. “Wait. That’s not right.”“A tart?”“Yes! That’s it!”

“I . . . hit him . . . elsewhere.”“Where?”“In his . . .In his inguine.”“Oh, dear God.” It was unclear whether Ralston’s words were meant as prayer or blasphemy.What was clear was that the woman was a gladiator.“He called me a pie!” she announced, defensively. There was a pause. “Wait. That’s not right.”“A tart?”“Yes! That’s it!” She registered her brother’s fists and looked to Simon. “I see that it is not a compliment.”“No. It is not.”

“Yes Simon. He was in control.He was ruining her for all others. And she did not care.”

“So, are you... intrigued ... by Stanhope?""Intrigued by him?""Indeed. Do you find him ..." he paused."Intriguing?" she teased.He sent her an exasperated look.”

“I forbid you from frequenting taverns, public houses, or other establishments of vice.”She snorted in amusement. “Establishments of vice? That’s a rather puritanical view of things, isn’t it? I assure you, I was quite safe.”“You were with Ralston!” he said, as though she were simpleminded.“He was perfectly respectable,” she said, the words coming out before she remembered that the carriage ride home was anything but respectable.“Imagine—my sister and the Marquess of Ralston together. And he turns out to be the respectable one,” Benedick said wryly, sending heat flaring on Callie’s cheeks, but not for the reason he thought. “No more taverns.”

“If I were anyone else…your opera singer…the woman across the hall…would you have apologized?”He looked confused. “No…but you are neither of those women. You deserve better.”“Better,” she repeated, frustrated. “That’s just my point! You and the rest of society believe that it’s better for me to be set upon a pedestal of primness and propriety—which might have been fine if a decade on that pedestal hadn’t simply landed me on the shelf. Perhaps unmarried young women like our sisters should be there. But what of me?” Her voice dropped as she looked down at the cards in her hands. “I’m never going to get a chance to experience life from up there. All that is up there is dust and unwanted apologies. The same cage as hers”—she indicated the woman outside—“merely a different gilt.”

“Yes, she was a scandal.Her brother simply didn’t know it.“I fell in the Serpentine today.”“Yes, well, that doesn’t usually happen to women in London. But it’s not so much of a scandal as it is a challenge.”