Ada & The Queen (The Woodhouse Series #3)

Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

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*Woodhouse Residence, Belgravia/Kensington Gardens, Kensington*

"I was in Miss Nancy's Whispers last year?" I had stormed home after my shift, ready to confront my family as I tossed the pamphlet on the coffee table in front of my brothers, Florence arranging a bouquet on the sideboard.

"So, you're talking to us again?" Theodore asked, looking at me as Emerson picked up the pamphlet.

"Why do you have this and why did you bring it here?"

"You do not get to ask any questions until you answer mine!" I cried. "I met Emily during my lunch break and she let it slip that I was a feature in this thing last summer and not one of you told me!"

Emerson and Theodore looked at each other as Florence came to me. "Adelaide, it is nothing but a hurtful gossip paper! It doesn't mean anything!"

"And there were more important things going on!" Theodore replied, turning back to his newspaper.

"What did it say about me?" I asked, refusing to let this go.

"It was about the death of Mrs. Fraser..." Florence said but I urged her to go on and she looked at my brothers, who silently wanted her to stop. Florence sighed and continued. "As like many other papers at the time, the consensus was that you were responsible for the murder, but it took it a step further. It said you were just like your mother..."

I gasped, in horror. It had been so many years and both of my parents were dead, but still, people continued to disrespect my mother's name by spewing such untrue rumours. "I hope the comparison was that we were both wrongly accused of murders!"

"Look...it is in the past!" Emerson replied. "And we are not going to make it a common occurrence, are we clear? A one-time appearance is perfectly fine, thank you!" He pointed the paper at me, as Charlotte walked in the room.

"Oh...I thought I heard Adelaide's voice!" She smiled at me as I turned to her, but it dropped when her eyes fell on the pamphlet in Emerson's hands. "Why do you have that?"

Emerson hesitated as I looked at the gossip paper in his hands. "It was me..." I replied as Emerson put the paper behind his back. "Someone dropped it at the teahouse and I was a little curious..."

"I don't want that thing in this house..."

I had never been told off by Charlotte but this was pretty close. I felt like melting into the ground as she shook her head and left as I turned to Emerson.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to..."

"Look..." Emerson walked to the fire. "To some it is just a silly gossip paper. But to others, it ruins lives beyond anything you can ever imagine..." He tossed the paper in the fire and left the room after Charlotte.

I watched the words burn away and the whole thing ball up into ashes and flames.

Those words meant nothing to us - but somewhere out there, it was setting someone's world on fire.

***

"What do you three know about Miss Nancy's Whispers?" It was an abrupt question to ask my friends as we sat together on a picnic blanket on the banks of the Serpentine in Kensington Gardens. Louis frowned and Christina swirled her parasol as we basked in the summer sun, my oversized hat protecting me from the harsh heat. It was Friday and Christina had convinced my brothers to let me go on promenade with her and Louis, purchasing some snacks and tea from a stall which we were now divulging in on a blanket.