Thinking of all this, with her eyes upon the ceiling, Charlotte realized that she would have to face one of two inevitable options very, very soon. She would either have to convince the society ladies that she was just as beautiful, if only in a different, more grown up way, or she would have to stop refusing the long string of young gentlemen who were flocking to her and lacked the social graces that Charlotte required in a man to be his dance partner.

            In the end, she chose to chat with society’s ladies. Arthur Greensfeld smelled of cow manure.

            As Charlotte entered the conversation, she began to tune herself into the gossip of the British upper crust.

            “Mrs. Thatcher!” disagreed the one, holding a gloved hand to her chest and gracing her fingers over a small strand of pearls, “I assure you that your Felicity would have been much better matched with the man who arrived late to last evening’s ball!”

            “You cannot mean that outrageously strange young man without a title?” asked another, “Honestly, Mrs. Dorsen, he only claimed to be the son of a deceased clergyman! And he had no land or profession to speak of, either!”

            “Are you speaking of the famous Carlisle Cullen?” asked Mrs. Thatcher.

            “But of course!” exclaimed the other two.                               

            “Oh, I would never allow my daughter to marry him!” she resisted. “He was just so…so strange!”

            “If I may,” began a Mrs. Goldenthatch, standing at the fringes of the conversation, “My daughter Abigail danced with him twice last evening, and she was absolutely mystified by him! And he is not unemployed as you presume, Mrs. Spinnet! He is a doctor!”

            The other women in the circle burst out into polite, tinkling laughter. “A doctor indeed!”

            “He may as well cease to exist!”

            “Doctors hold no water here, Mrs. Goldenthatch!” explained Mrs. Thatcher. “It is a highly disrespectful position! When one has studied the human body so extensively, it can only be assumed the he is looking to disgrace the girl in any way possible, right there on the dance floor, even!”

            “Quite scandalous, indeed!” commented Mrs. Dorsen. “And he carries something strange about him, too. Did you see the complexion and color of his skin?”