“I can do what I like!” Sophie replied. It was hard to imagine that anyone could be more beautiful! With her golden curls, pink and white skin, and perfect features, Sophie Studley had sprung to fame the moment the Bucks and Dandies of St. James’s had set eyes on her. After one month in London she was proclaimed an “Incomparable” and after two months she was engaged to be married to Julius Verton, who on his uncle’s death would become the Duke of Yelverton. The engagement had been announced in The Gazette and wedding-presents had already begun to arrive at the house in Mayfair which Lady Studley had taken for the London Season. But now, two weeks before her marriage, Sophie had declared that she intended running away with Lord Rothwyn. “It will cause a tremendous scandal!” Lalitha protested. “Why must you do such a thing?” The difference between the two girls, who were nearly the same age, was startling. While Sophie was every man’s ideal of beauty and looked like an English rose, Lalitha was pathetic.
