Then someone let out a knowing little laugh.
"True enough."
"The Hardings have been sinking these past few years. Of course Ernest has to hold on tight to the Hensons."
"No wonder he's so on edge."
The color drained slowly from my face.
After the Harding family fell, it was Cecily who came to me and offered to marry me.
She'd said, "Ernest, from now on I'll shield you. No one will dare look down on you again."
But now.
Her friends, right in front of her, were tearing open the most humiliating wound I had.
And Cecily just sat there, watching in silence.
All at once I understood.
It wasn't that they looked down on me.
It was that Cecily was letting them.
Roy seemed to finally realize he'd said the wrong thing, and hurried to apologize under his breath.
"Ernest, I'm sorry."
"That's not what I meant."
"I just hate to see you hurting."
His voice was soft, yet every word drove a cold spike into my chest.
At last Cecily reached out and pulled him behind her.
"Enough."
The look she gave me was cold in a way I didn't recognize.
"Ernest. Apologize."
For a second I thought I'd misheard.
"What did you say?"
She spelled it out, one word at a time.
"Apologize to Roy."
"He's bent over backwards to spare your feelings. He's already given this much ground."
A faint laugh slipped out of me.
"Sure."
Cecily's expression eased a little.
She probably thought I'd finally backed down.
But the next second, I lifted my head and looked straight at Roy.
"Roy."
"Tonight, you keep an eye on her for me."
His face went stiff.
I turned back to Cecily.
"As for the apology."
"Let's talk about it after I've signed the marriage license tomorrow."
Her brow sank low.
"Ernest, what's that supposed to mean?"
I gave the room key in my hand a little wave.
"Isn't it 'you bet, you lose, you pay'?"
"Guess I'd better go find my own room too."
With that, I turned and walked out.
Behind me, Cecily shot to her feet.
"Ernest!"
"If you really dare go looking for Marina Gilbert tonight, then forget about signing anything tomorrow."
My steps faltered.
Something pricked lightly at my chest.
But soon there was nothing left but numbness.
I looked back and gave her a smile.
"Perfect."
"I don't much feel like signing it either."
As I stepped out of the private room, the laughter swelled up again behind me.
Someone deliberately lowered their voice, and still it carried, clear as day, right into my ears.
"Cecily, Ernest really needs to fix that temper of his."
"Signing the license tomorrow and he's still throwing breakups around to scare people."
Cecily's voice came out flat.
"Relax. He can't bear to leave me. Everyone knows exactly what shape the Hardings are in right now, don't they?"
A burst of laughter.
Cecily didn't come after me.
I stood at the far end of the hallway, gripping that room key with Marina Gilbert's name on it, and suddenly I remembered a long time ago.
Back then, Cecily hadn't been like this.
The year the Harding family first fell apart, I went to a dinner party with her for the first time.
Someone had deliberately seated me at the very foot of the table.
Partway through the meal, one of them said with a smile,
"The Hardings are in that kind of state and Ernest can still show his face at a gathering like this. Solid nerves on him."
The whole table laughed.
I sat there clutching my glass, my face burning.
The next second, Cecily set her glass down hard on the table.
"Wherever Ernest sits, that's the head of the table."
And with that, she got up from the seat of honor and came to sit beside me.
That night, she draped her own coat over my shoulders.
Blocking out all those appraising stares.
Back then I really was moved by the overwhelming way Cecily favored me.
I believed she would love me and protect me forever.
