Page 2 of The Phantom Duke

“Oh my, did you catch them…you know?” Theodora sounded horrified.

“Not quite. But… on the way,” Maria said.

“Oh my! Oh my! Men are truly brutes!” Theodora said, shaking her head.

“Some are,” Evelina agreed.

“The worst of them are,” Anna said.

“But is there an ideal man?” Maria wondered. “I am beginning to think that there is not. Unless one might be made. Fashioned into the right shape by a woman’s hand.”

“Now that is an idea!” Evelina said, sipping her wine.

“Speaking of the worst of men, has anyone heard the latest rumors about the Phantom?” Anna asked in a tone that suggested she was moving the conversation to a far more salacious topic.

“Oh please, Anna, let us not indulge in gossip and sensationalism. The purpose of this club is, after all, to discuss the finer points of literature and art. Not the gutter press,” Evelina chided.

“And to be free to talk without the restrictions imposed on us by men,” Theodora added, “and I think gossip and rumor fit that description.”

“Well said,” Anna said.

Maria laughed, enjoying the banter between them. It was the perfect tonic for her worries. The openness of their conversation was a liberation that she had come to look forward to and even depend upon.

When one tastes true freedom, one comes to depend upon it and misses it when it is not there.

“What is it you have heard about the poor Phantom?” she asked.

“Poor nothing!” Anna said. “If you had read half of what I have! The latest is that he only comes out of the house at night and that people passing too near to Winterleigh have gone missing, never to be seen again!”

“Those are just stories, nothing more,” Maria said skeptically.

“These stories come from somewhere!” Anna protested.

“From fevered imaginations,” Theodora said firmly, “which are fueled by romantic fiction. You should read more academic work, Anna.”

Maria’s features softened. “Behind all these dreadful rumors, there remains a real man. I’d sooner trust a reclusive duke than a charming scoundrel, any day.”

Anna sighed dramatically. “Is that truly all we’re left to choose from? Unfaithful scoundrels and murdering dukes?”

“First of all, Anna, you’re already married,” Evelina said, arching an eyebrow. “And secondly, as founder of the Corset Chronicles, I hereby exercise my right to end this dreadful discussion about phantoms and disappearances.”

“Well, to make a rather obvious change of subject, I am personally glad that we no longer have to continue with thisfacade of pretending Landsdowne was handsome,” Theodora said as Anna floundered.

Evelina barked a laugh, tossing her head.

“Hear, hear!” she roared.

“I am rather offended. I thought he was quite handsome, actually,” Maria replied.

“He looked like a boy!” Evelina said. “A man of his age should not look so fresh-faced. He should have something of the world about him.”

“He was fine featured,” Maria said.

“A mustache would have made all the difference,” Evelina added.

“I do not think he could grow one. I think he tried, but all he got was… peach fuzz,” Maria said to uproarious laughter from the other women.

She joined in, appreciating the feeling of camaraderie. Her engagement to the Marquess of Landsdowne had been drawing her away from her friends, she realized. Who knew how far that would have gone had she married him?