Minty's heart started beating faster. Mentions of her sister always made her feel terribly awkward and mortified. At least Mr. Selwyn didn't seem to be the judgemental sort, though he did strike her as the kind of person to stir discord for the hell of it.

"I suppose," she replied awkwardly. Then, she allowed herself a bit of a bitchy tone: "Miss Scrimgeour does seem to have been cursed to live out the plot of a cheap scandalous novel."

From being kidnapped as a baby to getting disowned and being a harlot who worked as a barmaid, Bella's life would certainly make a novel that rivalled, say, the stories of the Marquis de Sade. (Which Minty had heard were very scandalous!)