"Well I should bloody well hope not," Lucinda retorted; she resisted the desire to roll her eyes, but only just. "And I'm more or less impervious to scandals, at this point in my life. An infant is another story." Oh, people might shut up eventually — maybe — and Tybalt Kirke had done the right thing, but Lucinda was not convinced he was ready to be a father. The pregnancy itself suggested a level of impulsivity on his and Elsie's parts — and he was only three years younger than Lucinda but somehow felt very young to her — and he had told her her sitting room was nice.

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