Mother had ranked every young man of our acquaintance that I had met a few over the years with Jack. She expected me to memorize the list, and to grant only the wealthier men more than one dance. It had ruined my mood for the party before the first chords of music were ever struck. Ephraim Knowlton was at the top of the list, a pity since I detested Ephraim, and second was Dudley. If I had told her that I did not mean to marry any of the young men on her list, she would have had heart spasms. Since my dances with both Dudley and Ephraim were over, I agreed to dance with whoever asked me, regardless of their wealth and prospects. I had watched in curiosity the young woman from the Inn enter, but after witnessing Jack’s blunder by stopping in the middle of the dance, then going straight to the group that was surrounding her, I had a moment of discomfort. Jack was well-known in society to be considering entering holy orders. Watching him go to her and then dance with her, well, the effect that woman had on him was nothing short of alarming.
