Mary explained the whole conversation. Kitty understood at last and shook her head.
"Your mistake was to mention your cousin. You should have asked for money for a new dress for yourself and used it how you wish. That's how it's done. But it's too late now. He knows your secret." She spoke regretfully but lightly, as if this was a mere game of manners not a matter of life and death.
Looking around the room, Mary saw them in a new light: these dazzling women and their wealthy men. To get what they wanted, the women had to lie and cheat a little, so as not to upset their menfolk's feeling of superiority. It was expected and accepted. It mad her feel quite ill. She thought being rich and cosseted as Kitty would bring a sense of freedom but it didn't. She began to understand the jealousy Kitty had expressed towards her in Cremorne Gardens. True, up to now Mary had lied on an epic scale - but not to people she loved. Not as a matter of course. Not as these women seemed to do without troubling their consciences.
Following Ophelia, P313-314
Sophia Bennett
ISBN 978-1-84715-810-9
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