Suzette shot a glance around the room, where everyone was still scowling, although most people were nodding as well. She turned back to Gwendolyn. “Fine, we’ll agree to leave afterward, but no promises about the insults since we don’t know what you’re going to say.”
“Fair enough, and since you seem to be the spokeswoman of this particular gathering, allow me to start with you, Miss Tilden.” She caught Suzette’s eye. “To be frank, if you’re hoping I’m about to tell you I thought you would be a suitable candidate for Walter, I’m not.”
“Why not?”
“You gave his children a pony.”
Suzette blinked. “The pony was a generous gift. It’s ridiculous to think that because of my generosity, I was taken out of the running.”
“It was a questionable gift, but that’s not the only reason I felt you weren’t suitable to marry him. A more important one would be that I never got the impression you wanted to marry Walter.”
“He’s the catch of the Season.”
Gwendolyn resisted the inclination to roll her eyes. “Well, there is that, but Walter’s not the only catch this summer.” She nodded to Thurman Chandler. “He’s considered quite a catch as well.”
Suzette’s nose wrinkled. “What does Thurman’s being a catch have anything to do with me?”
Gwendolyn wrinkled her nose right back at her. “You’ve ignored what’s been right in front of you this whole time, because you, Suzette, and you, Thurman, enjoy each other’s company. You grew up together, and while many people grow apart as they age, the two of you seem to have grown closer. That, if you’d take the time to think about it, is telling.”
She caught Thurman’s eye. “That’s what I’d started writing about on the page dedicated to you in my notepad before Mrs. Parker fired me. What the two of you do next is completely up to you, but I suggest you seek out some privacy and discuss the matter more thoroughly.”
Suzette’s cheeks suddenly turned rather pink as she settled a small smile on Thurman. “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt for us to have a private discussion. There’s no question we’re compatible, but . . . I never considered that might be a precursor to something more than friendship.”
Thurman’s eyes began to gleam. “I’ve considered it a time or two but never felt as if you’d want to explore a deeper relationship with me.”
“I wouldn’t be opposed to doing a little . . . exploring.”
In the span of a heartbeat, Thurman was holding fast to Suzette’s arm, and together they quit the parlor without another word, although the smiles on their faces were rather telling.
“This is turning into a most riveting morning,” Adelaide said, fanning her face. “And good show, Gwendolyn. I think you’re exactly right about the two of them.”
“Thank you, Adelaide,” Gwendolyn said before she looked around the room and settled her sights on Russell Damrosch, who shot a longing look to the parlor door, seemed to consider bolting out of it, but then squared his shoulders and returned his attention to Gwendolyn.
“I take it I’m next?” he asked.
“Indeed, because you are, after all, another gentleman Mrs. Parker took on and then left me to find you a suitable match. Allow me to apologize in advance for what I’m about to say, because you’ll probably find it insulting, given the less than positive attributes I’ve concluded about your character. But do know I have a reason for pointing them out.”
“What negative qualities could you possibly have concluded about me?” Russell demanded.
“You’re far too competitive and you lack sensitivity.”
“Being competitive is not a deficiency,” Russell argued.
“Perhaps not in your opinion, but your heightened competitiveness is the reason I told Mrs. Parker not to sponsor you. And that very nature was evidently aroused when I told you I didn’t want to find you a match, which was what clearly led you to offering Mrs. Parker a bauble she couldn’t resist.”
“But you didn’t find me a match,” Russell pointed out. “And Mrs. Parker doesn’t have your notes, incomplete as they apparently are, so she doesn’t know if you encountered a lady who would be a match for me.”
Gwendolyn’s toe began tapping against the Aubusson carpet. “I would have found you a match if I’d not been fired, because I have the perfect candidate in mind for you. With that said, what I’m about to divulge should be considered fulfillment of Mrs. Parker’s contract with you.”
“I’m listening,” Russell began. “Who is she?”
Gwendolyn nodded to Tillie Wickham, who blinked even as her mouth went agape. “Miss Wickham, of course. The two of you are equally overly competitive, that proven when you both seemed to believe it was acceptable to target children while playing Annie Over. And while I could point out other similarities you share, I don’t think it would be kind of me to do so, and whenever possible I do try to not ruffle feathers.”
She folded her arms over her chest. “I suggest the two of you follow Suzette and Thurman’s lead and remove yourself from the parlor to find a secluded place to engage in a chat, or perhaps an arm-wrestling match or something of that nature. The winner could get the prize of deciding when and where you should wed.” She waggled her fingers toward the door. “Off you go.”
Amusement was swift when Russell glanced at Tillie—who was looking at him as if she were sizing him up against the competition, although there really wasn’t any competition to be had in the parlor—took hold of her arm, and strode from the room, Tillie matching his every stride.
“I wish you both the best,” Gwendolyn called after them before she turned her attention to the room again. “I have to admit I don’t have any ready-made matches for the rest of you, but I’d be more than happy to hash over any grievances you care to level against me.”
Fresh amusement swept through her when everyone except Cordelia Lowe, Frank Lambert, and Daniel Mizner, who’d been lurking unnoticed in the back of the room, turned on their heels and bolted out of the parlor.
Thirty-Five
“It’s incredibly impressive how you’ve gotten that whole intimidation business down,” Adelaide said, wincing when the fan she was still plying smacked her in the nose. She tossed it aside as Cordelia Lowe stepped front and center.
“With the departure of those ladies who had little hope you took notice of them because they weren’t often seen in your company,” Cordelia began, “what say we get down to what my role should have been with Walter. May I assume, if you’d not decided to try your hand at stealing him away from the serious contenders, I could have expected to become the next Mrs. Walter Townsend? I was, after all, one of the ladies who spent the most time with him.”
She took a step toward Gwendolyn and considered her for a moment. “If you admit I was the lady you had in mind for Walter, you could leave Newport with a clear conscience because you would be fulfilling the last of your obligations to Mrs. Parker by securing a match for the final gentleman she agreed to sponsor this Season.”