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EPILOGUE

The scandal of Angelica Hutton's marriage to Mr. Drent sustained the ton for many weeks—but not for the reasons her mother feared.

When it became known that the two married for love—such a plebian, crass reason for matrimony—the tongues did wag.

However, for those who knew and loved the couple, it was a blissful union.

For never had Neville Drent looked happier than when he first laid eyes on his bride walking toward him.

Never had Angelica glowed as bright as when her groom announced before God and man that he would cherish her forever.

Lady Hutton wept extensively during the ceremony—but again, not for the reasons assumed by the kindhearted people of London.

She wept for her daughter's "most ill-fated match", as she would refer to it for years to come, though never again to her daughter's face.

Angelica loved her husband dearly, and eventually, after a grandchild or two, Lady Hutton relented her tragic insistence of her daughter's ruin.

And every summer, when the weather was fair, Mr. and Mrs. Drent could be found in Ainsley Manor with their circle of friends. There, Angelica would draw her growing family with her artful and sure lines—each one a testimony of her love and joy.