Bella cast a doubtful gaze at Regina with her loud refuting; obviously she didn't understand the urgency of the situation! Nevertheless, she quietly took a seat beside her friend for a moment and allowed her friend to chastise her.

Well, only for a moment.

"Let him hex you in a drunken rage!" she responded, likely still not meeting Regina's standards of discreetness. "Then you can paint him to be the villain, get him arrested, and be safe from him. You have no business even returning home tonight—especially if you're officially engaged," she added, lowering her voice at the end.

Ever since Regina had been sent off to live with her uncle, Bella had felt uneasy sending her home when the sun went down. "You don't know what he might do to you if he thinks you belong to him now. He could hurt you. I don't want you to get hurt—especially not like that," she added softly.

Unlike Regina—and many young ladies raised in the upper class—Bella had lived in the slums. She'd been warned on what type of men were best avoided, and Mr. Tabiner sent of a lot of alarms in her mind.