Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

ONE MAN'S TRASH IS ANOTHER WOMAN'S TRIUMPH

D ominic could barely hear a word Charlotte was saying over the blood pounding in his ears. He shook his head, feeling numb with disbelief as he stared at the letter in his hand. The letter he had written, that he had completely forgotten about.

"Batty gave this to you?" he asked as Charlotte's words eventually penetrated the soup of his brain. Where on Earth did she find it?

"Yes, she said she thought I should have it. That it seemed wrong that everyone else should have something so private." Charlotte looked at him, and he saw an odd restlessness in her expression.

"Everyone else? Who found it first?" Who has seen this? Oh God, what must she be thinking? He tried to keep his voice calm and level.

"I have no idea, but it seems most people have read it," Charlotte replied, gesturing around them. "Batty thought that by the evening everyone would know it's contents."

"Have you read it?" Dominic asked, his voice hoarse, his mouth dry.

"It seemed rather unfair that everyone else would read it and I would not," Charlotte admitted. "After all, it was addressed to me."

"I did not mean you to see it," Dominic said. I should never have listened to Frederick.

Charlotte frowned at him, a mix of hurt and some other emotion he could not quite name on her face. "Then why would you leave it where anyone could find it?"

"I did not think I had." He frowned, trying to remember where he had left the letter.

"Clearly, you did, or we would not be having this conversation." Charlotte pointed out.

"It does not matter either way; it appears every person in the estate has read the damn thing," Dominic said bitterly. "I expect they will be quoting parts of it to me at dinner."

"Did you mean it?" Charlotte asked.

"What, that they will quote it at dinner? Does that really surprise you?" Dominic laughed, but there was no mirth in it.

He felt a mix of shame and humiliation course through him. She had seen the letter, his letter. And now, she was standing in front of him, looking furious. His heart sank.

"No, I mean the letter. What you wrote." She gestured to the paper in his hand.

"Does it matter?" he found himself asking, feeling as though his throat was tightening.

"It does," she replied, her voice little more than a whisper.

"Why?" He turned towards her.

"No, you cannot turn this around. You need to answer me first." Charlotte's eyes looked at him accusation in them. "These words, everything you have written on this paper. Is it sincere? Was any of it true? Or was it just some cruel part of this ruse?"

There was a pleading almost desperate look in Charlotte's face. He opened his mouth to reply, but before he could say a word, the door burst open, and several people entered the drawing room.

"Oh good, you are both already here!" Frederick smiled at Dominic and Charlotte. "That will save me the trouble of finding you both for the next event."

"The next event?" Dominic asked stupidly, his eyes still locked on Charlotte's.

"Yes, we are going to play a game of impersonation," the Dowager Duchess announced as she swept into the room. "And I cannot wait to see what you all come up with."

Dominic glanced back at Charlotte who shook her head. She mouthed, "later" and turned away from him.

"Now, the rules of the game are simple," the Dowager Duchess explained, looking around the room. "Each of you will pick someone and impersonate them and their mannerisms. You are not allowed to speak, but you may use props and gestures."

"Is grunting allowed?" someone asked.

"Yes, though I hardly know what you expect to convey through such behaviour." The Dowager Duchess frowned. "You will have five minutes to act out as many people for the others to guess as you can, and the person who has the most people guess correct will win."

"Who would like to go first?" The Dowager Duchess narrowed her eyes at the assembled crowd.

"I will," Lady Andrea said, and she made her way towards the front of the room.

"Well done, you can have seven points for being brave enough to be the first," the Dowager Duchess said, taking a seat in one of the more plush arm chairs.

"Thank you, Your Grace." Lady Andrea inclined her head towards the Duchess.

"Your time starts now." The Dowager Duchess gestured for Lady Andrea to begin.

Lady Andrea nodded, and then she looked at Dominic and Charlotte and smiled. Dominic felt an odd sense of unease spread through him.

Lady Andrea began to swagger across the stage in an uncanny imitation of Frederick's walk.

"That looks almost exactly like me." Frederick murmured beside him. "How closely has she been watching me?"

"Frederick!" someone called out, and Lady Andrea nodded excitedly.

"That is one point," called Dominic's grandmother.

Lady Andrea began to draw the shape of a square in front of her and started to act as though she were painting. Dominic frowned.

"A painter?" someone called. "Someone who likes painting!"

"Margaret?" another person ventured, but Lady Andrea shook her head.

A moment later, she made a wild gesture, as though someone had bumped into her and knocked her off her seat. The crowd laughed as Lady Andrea began to mime shouting, making several rude gestures.

"Callum! It is Callum after Lady Gertrude knocked into him the other day." Someone said.

"That is another point to Lady Andrea," the Dowager Duchess announced.

Lady Andrea smiled again, and then she began to stroke the ring finger of her left hand.

"Marriage? Someone who is married?" Frederick called out.

She shook her head, pinching her forefinger and thumb together, signalling that the guess was close but not correct.

"Someone who will be married soon?" another person called out.

Lady Andrea smiled and shrugged. Then she began to waltz with an invisible partner, acting as though she were whispering in the person's ears. Her eyes flicked to Dominic, and he felt his growing sense of unease spread.

She mimed pushing the person away, suddenly changed from warm and affectionate to cold and uninterested. Then she glanced over her shoulder, as though someone were looking at her, and suddenly warmth returned.

She acted as though she were throwing her arms around someone, moving close to some imaginary figure. Then she glanced over her shoulder again, mimed removing something from her finger, and sighed in apparent relief.

"Someone pretending to be married?" a voice called, puzzled. "Julia?"

"Julia did not do such a thing; you are thinking of Janice! She is the one who told us all she had a fiancé last year."

Lady Andrea shook her head, and Dominic felt his chest tighten. He glanced at Charlotte and saw the same realisation spreading across her face.

Perhaps it is just coincidence. And then Lady Andrea began to mime writing letters, reading them, and laughing at them as though they were jokes. Each time she did something, she looked over her shoulder.

One moment, she was cold and distant, the next warm and effusive. In one scene, she was clutching her hands to her heart and acting giddy and delighted, the next moment, she was pushing some invisible person away.

And then she looked at him, and Dominic knew without a shadow of a doubt that Lady Andrea knew the truth. And she was about to reveal it to everyone around them.

Their eyes met, his wide with fear, hers full of a grim satisfaction. Dominic was barely aware of anything else around him; all he could feel was the sweat pouring down the back of his neck.

"Please," he mouthed, unable to stop himself. "Do not do this."

Lady Andrea held his gaze, as she acted out searching for something and then covered and uncovered an invisible person's eyes, laughing each time she covered them.

"My God," Charlotte whispered, barely loud enough for him to hear. Her face was so pale, it might have been a ghost.

"It is Gemima!" someone yelled triumphantly.

"Who?" another voice called back.

"Gemima, the girl who was eliminated because grandmother found out she was lying to her. Do you remember? She was constantly one way in public and then another in private!" the first voice said, and Dominic heard the excitement in it, the surety.

He looked at Lady Andrea. He knew that it was not Gemima, that it had never been Gemima. Time seemed to freeze as he waited for her to shake her head, to keep the game going a moment longer.

"Yes, it must be Gemima," a voice was saying.

"It could be Albert," another voice called. "He was the most two-faced person I ever met. And I believe he also had a fake fiancée."

"Honestly, it boggles the mind that so many people would feel the need to invent a fiancée! A real one is more than enough, I cannot imagine adding a fake one," someone grumbled from the back of the drawing room.

There was a yelp of pain and then a smattering of laughter while Lady Andrea continued to act out various things on the stage. People called out guesses, but each time she shook her head.

Dominic felt as though he would be sick. He forced himself to count as he breathed in, to not do anything that might give away the panic that was threatening to worm its way through his chest.

How do I stop her? I need to stop her.

"And that is your time," the Dowager Duchess called out.

There were frustrated grumblings as Lady Andrea bowed to her audience. Dominic let out a breath that he did not know he had been holding. He heard Charlotte do the same.

We are safe. No one guessed the truth.

"Come on, tell us who it was!" someone called as Lady Andrea prepared to rejoin the crowd.

"I am not sure that is allowed," she said, glancing at the Dowager Duchess. "And I would not wish to upset our generous hostess."

"Come on! It is not fair!" Cecily's voice called out.

"Tell us!" another person shouted.

To Dominic's horror, the shout became something of a chant with each person yelling, "Tell us!" over and over. The sound of it seemed to reverberate in his chest, and he saw Lady Andrea's grin broaden.

This must be how a mouse feels when the cat plays with it.

Lady Andrea held up her hands and silence fell. She smiled at the crowd, her eyes scanning over each face. Dominic swore they rested on him and Charlotte a moment longer than anyone else.

"Only if the Dowager Duchess wishes it will I reveal the secret," Lady Andrea said, looking to the Dowager Duchess and bowing her head respectfully. "After all, these are her games."

The Dowager Duchess surveyed her, and the people gathered in the room. She stroked her lip thoughtfully, and even in his panic, Dominic had to admit that his grandmother knew how to put on a show.

She drew out the silence, holding the audience captive as she appeared to deliberate her answer. After what felt like an eternity she said, "I do not wish for you to reveal it, but I sense that this unruly brood wants answers. You may act out one more clue, and if anyone guesses right, you will tell them. Though you will only get half a point."

"That seems more than fair," Lady Andrea murmured as the gathered crowd began to whisper excitedly.

"You had best make it a good one, for you only have one chance." His Grandmother said.

"That is all I will need." Lady Andrea replied, her eyes meeting Dominic's. "Just one chance."

Lady Andrea began to act out giving someone flowers, pretending to receive them graciously and excitedly. She acted as though everything that would ever bring her happiness was dependent on the flowers. She looked at him once more, held her hands up so that the entire room could see and crossed her fingers.

She hid them behind her back and then mimed laughing and pushing away the flowers, acting as though the very notion disgusted her.

I do not know if I am worthy of you. The echoes of his letter seemed etched into his mind. There is no way his family would not guess this. There could be no way they would not see what she was implying. I am sorry, Charlotte. I have ruined everything.

"It is BATTY!" someone yelled excitedly, as though the answer had been obvious all along.

Lady Andrea looked at Dominic, her eyes boring into his, and then, to his great surprise, she nodded. A cheer went up around them, and people congratulated the clever guesswork.

Lady Andrea smiled and rejoined the crowd. Dominic felt Charlotte tug on his hand. Wordlessly he looked at her, and though she hid it well, he could see fear in her face.

The next person began their own act, but Dominic was barely aware of what they were doing. He used his cousins' eagerness to play along to allow himself and Charlotte to be moved further backwards, waiting until they were at the farthest point from the action.

The sound of loud yells and guesses filled the air as each person tried to work out who was being impersonated, clearly riled up from Lady Andrea's performance.

"She knows," Charlotte whispered to him, leaning close. "I do not know how, but she does."

Dominic nodded and murmured back so quietly he could barely hear himself. "That little act seemed entirely too pointed to be simple chance."

"Why did she not tell everyone?" Charlotte frowned. "From what I have seen, she is not one to shy from a killing blow."

"I do not know," Dominic replied.

"Do you think it was a warning?" Charlotte asked.

"Perhaps." Dominic answered, glancing around and finding Lady Andrea watching them. "But I think there is only one way to find out."

Across the room, Lady Andrea smiled and mouthed the words, "Time's up."

Dominic's heart sunk. We've lost .