Chapter Five
“He sounds like a sap,” Lisette told Severine, running her hands over the wheel of the new auto. “That cousin of yours isn’t going to give up with all this flash and shiny behind you. Would you look at this thing?”
The auto had arrived at the mansion after a brief telephone call from Mr. Brand so that Severine could approve his choice. She had been surprised by the swiftness. She owned a black Rolls-Royce merely hours after saying she wanted a car, but there seemed little that the right amount of wealth couldn’t achieve.
The red interior and gleaming black and silver accents screamed wealth as Severine supposed she wanted it to. There was a part of her who couldn’t help but compare it to the rickety wagon that had taken her away from the convent. She remembered the bumpy drive away from the huge old building through the oversized forests that surrounded it.
She hadn’t been herself, she thought, since those surreal moments. Lost since then, unsure of what to do, and heading blindly forward. Today’s step to show up at the Spirit Society was another blind step forward.
She wanted to know why her parents had been involved in the society. Had they been so concerned with spirits or was it something else that drew them to the club? Nearly every member of the society who had been a member when her parents lived had been at that party.
Which was why, she reminded herself, that she was going. Going there, in fact, before she went back to the big house.
Yet again, Severine had slid into her private thoughts and found herself jerked back to the present when Lisette said, “It’s odd to bring me along as your companion.”
“But you are,” Severine said easily. “The paid kind. I’m the Victorian old woman, and you are the poor relation. Except different. Someone who spent over half her life in either a girls’ school or a convent clearly needs a companion to buffer the delicate little flower from the world.”
Lisette laughed and glanced at her sideways. “A flower? I thought you were a broken bird. I felt sorry for you when I first met you. But you aren’t, are you?”
“We’re all a little broken.” Severine ran her fingers down her dress. It was a long swath of black that clung to her curves, ended in fringe, and met all the standards of the day, save the one that required she look boyish. Her pale, pale skin seemed even whiter next to the black.
Lisette was dressed in the theme. Her lovely dark skin was covered in a creamy white. From head to toe, even her shoes, they were opposites.
“I apologize again for the themed dresses and putting us in them.”
“You wanted to be noticed,” Lisette said with a bit of a snort. “My payment is getting to drive this beauty and the other dresses I compelled from you. I suppose I can be an accent to you for the evening.”
Severine wasn’t sure a few more evening gowns and cocktail dresses were sufficient gifts for turning her friend into an accessory, but she’d find a way to make it up to Lisette.
“Shall we?”
Lisette’s answer was to roar the engine of the Rolls and speed down the road.
The Spirit Society’s meeting hall was a mansion of red brick and spiked iron fences. A fellow in uniform approached the auto and pulled open the round door. Severine directed him to be careful with the car in the snooty way she imagined Clive Brand used and winced at the look on Lisette’s face.
She winked at both of them and then nodded at Lisette’s purse. She could tip the man and make up for Severine being horrible. She’d have to go to confession and tell the priest how the Mother Superior would have been disappointed.
Severine walked up the steps slowly, ensuring she was alone and could gather the gazes of those who would watch her approach. Meline had promised that the look would work, but Severine felt anxiety roiling in her stomach.
There was a tall, slim black man of a distinguished air who answered the door. She handed over her card and said nothing. She felt Lisette at her back and as they followed the man, Lisette murmured, “I know that man.”
Severine glanced at Lisette, whose gaze was narrowed on the man as she muttered, “But where do I know him from?”
Severine turned her gaze to the man again and she had to catch herself before she gasped. He was in one of the newspaper articles about her father.
She kept silent, however, as he led them into the large room where the members of the society roamed. It was a large receiving room with chairs along walls and in cozy situations. There were uniformed people walking with trays of cocktails.
Severine’s brows rose at that, but she wasn’t surprised to see the alcohol really. She supposed as long as they weren’t selling the alcohol it wasn’t technically illegal.
Her name was announced, followed by “and companion” and then the butler stepped back.
Severine watched as all eyes turned towards her. She kept her face emotionless as she let her gaze move openly and slowly around the room. One of the men with a tray of drinks approached, and she took a glass.
Severine stepped further into the room and Lisette stepped out from behind her.
“They look like a bunch of startled pigeons,” Lisette said low.
“They’re pretending,” Severine replied easily. “They knew we were coming.”
The reason for the lack of surprise called out to her. “Sevie!” Clive DuNoir stepped forward and Severine smiled smoothly.
“Severine, please,” she said for what felt like the hundredth time. “This is my friend, Lisette.”
Clive’s eyes flicked to Lisette, dismissed her overtly, and then moved back to Severine. He took her hand, having to reach down and
