“Ivy, did you not notice something peculiar about Felicity’s demeanor?”
“Should I have?”
“She was awfully nice, wasn’t she?”
“Yes.”
“To you.”
“Yes.”
“And to me.”
“Yes, why”—a pause—“come to think on it, that is peculiar.”
“Isn’t it just?”
“Is she in poor health?”
“My dear sister has joined a society.” Lady Maccon pursed her lips and pretended coyness.
This was lost on Mrs. Tunstell, who said only, “Well, there you have it. Constructive occupation and attention to good works can have just such a beneficial effect on peevish young ladies. Either that or she has fallen in love.”
Alexia could hardly find the words to explain in a manner that Ivy would comprehend. “It is a feminine-advocacy association.”
Ivy gasped and clutched at her bosom. “Oh, Alexia, what a thing to say out loud!”
Lady Maccon realized that Ivy might be right—they were heading into highly indecorous, not to say dangerous, territory. “Well, of course”—Alexia cleared her throat ostentatiously—“do tell me, what business is it that has brought you to call this afternoon, my dear Ivy?”
“Oh, Alexia, I do have quite the surfeit of delightful news to relate. I hardly know where to start.”
“The beginning, I find, is usually the best place.”
“Oh, but, Alexia, that’s the most overwhelming part. It is all happening at once.”
Lady Maccon took a firm stance at this juncture—she rang for Floote. “Tea is obviously necessary.”
“Oh, my, yes,” agreed Ivy fervently.
Floote, having anticipated just such a request, came in with tea, treacle tart, and a bunch of grapes imported at prodigious expense from Portugal.
Lady Maccon poured the tea while Ivy waited, fairly vibrating with her news but unwilling to begin recitation until her friend had finished handling the hot liquid.
Alexia placed the teapot carefully back on the tray and handed Ivy her cup. “Well?”
“Have you noticed anything singular about my appearance?” Ivy immediately put the cup down without taking a sip.
Lady Maccon regarded her friend. If a brown dress could be called glaring, Ivy’s could be so described. It boasted an overdress and bustle of chocolate satin with a pure white skirt striped, like a circus tent, in the same shade. The accompanying hat was, of course, ridiculous: almost conical in shape but covered with what looked to be the feathers of at least three pheasants mixed in with a good deal of blue and yellow silk flowers. However, none of these extremes of dress were unusual for Mrs. Tunstell. “Not as such.”
Ivy blushed beet red, apparently mortified by what she must now relate given Alexia’s failed powers of observation. She lowered her voice. “I am very eager for the tea.” This garnered no response from the confused Alexia, as Ivy wasn’t drinking it. So Ivy soldiered bravely on. “I am—oh, dear, how to put this delicately?—anticipating a familial increase.”
“Why, Ivy, I didn’t know you expected any kind of inheritance.”
“Oh, no.” Ivy’s blush deepened. “Not that kind of increase.” She nodded significantly toward Alexia’s portly form.
“Ivy! You are pregnant!”
“Oh, Alexia, really, must you say it so loudly?”
“Felicitations, indeed. How delightful.”
Ivy moved the conversation hurriedly onward. “And Tunny and I have decided to form our own dramatic association.”
Lady Maccon paused to reinterpret this confession. “Ivy, are you saying you intend to establish an acting troupe?”
Mrs. Tunstell nodded, her curls bouncing. “Tunny thinks it a good plan to start a new family of players as well as a new family, as he is keen on saying.”
A family, indeed, Alexia thought. Having left the werewolf pack, Tunstell must be trying, in his own way, to build a new pack for himself. “Well,” she said, “I do wish you all the best luck in the world. However, Ivy—and I do not mean to be crude—how have you managed to gather the means to fund such an undertaking?”
Ivy blushed and lowered her eyes. “I was dispatched to consult you on just such a subject. I understand Woolsey is quite enthusiastic in its patronage of artistic endeavors. Tunny implied you even had some capital invested in a circus!”
“Indeed, but, Ivy, for obvious reasons, those are in the interest of furthering the pack. Claviger recruitment and so forth. Tunstell has voluntarily severed any such connection.”
Ivy nodded glumly. “I thought you would say as much.”
“Now, wait just a moment. I’m not so feeble a friend as to abandon anyone, especially you, my dear, when in need.” Lady Maccon frowned in thought. “Perhaps I could dip into my own coffers. You may not be aware, but my father left me rather well set up, and Conall is quite generous with a weekly allowance. We have never discussed my personal income, but he seems disinterested in my financial affairs. I am convinced he shouldn’t object if I were to become a patron of the arts. Why should Woolsey have all the fun?”
“Oh, Alexia, really? I couldn’t ask such a thing of you!” protested Ivy in a tone that suggested this had been her objective in calling all along.
“No, no.” Alexia was becoming rather entranced with the proposal. “I think it a capital idea. I wonder if I might ask a rather odd favor in return?”