Miss Pendleton (Update to C.222 END) - Chapter 144

Epilogue

It was the day of Miss Dora Lance and Mr. William Fairfax’s wedding.

Countless London notables gathered at the church. On the stone steps leading to the chapel, the hems of golden, pale green, and red dresses fluttered in the May spring breeze, while gentlemen in sharp suits whispered excitedly with acquaintances, their faces no less animated than those of the ladies.

For them, today’s wedding was a grand event they had eagerly anticipated for months. And why not? It was the day when the protagonist of a scandal that had shaken London society a year ago would don a bridal veil.

As people took their seats in the chapel, hardly anyone refrained from murmuring about that affair. Even the prim old ladies, who pretended to be above sordid gossip, couldn’t help but recall it in their minds.

How could they forget? The Whitefield hunting party, where a star of high society plummeted in disgrace.

Miss Lance was, at that time, the brightest star, a fragrant bloom with a promising future. Everyone expected her to secure the most eligible bachelor in her debut season and change her surname, and no one doubted this prediction.

Suddenly appearing in society, Ian Dalton, the great landowner of Whitefield, was the man most likely to wrap Miss Lance up neatly and take her home.

But things took a strange turn. Ian Dalton invited everyone to Whitefield and assigned the role of hostess to a woman no one had paid attention to—Laura Pendleton. A twenty-nine-year-old spinster with no dowry, born to illegitimate parents, abandoned by her family, and belonging to a house that had fallen into ruin.

What followed was even more intriguing. Throughout the hunting party, Miss Lance followed Ian Dalton around so pathetically it was painful to watch. Meanwhile, Ian Dalton, with almost comical distaste for Miss Lance, trailed after Miss Pendleton.

This incident was a catastrophe that sent Miss Lance’s standing crashing to the ground in an instant.

At the time, the engagement of Miss Lance and Mr. Dalton was considered a foregone conclusion among society. Dozens of young ladies spread rumors they claimed to have overheard in the ballroom lounge, lending credibility by saying they heard it directly from Miss Lance’s friends.

Miss Lance’s friends, when questioned about the rumors’ truth, used ambiguous language—neither confirming nor denying—effectively advertising the rumors as fact. Miss Lance herself did little to deny them.

This was tantamount to her personally proclaiming an engagement.

But what was this? Why did Mr. Dalton publicly declare his protection of Miss Pendleton and adorn her with the late Mrs. Dalton’s clothes and jewels? And why did Miss Lance cling to Mr. Dalton with a face that looked on the verge of tears?

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