Oh, Mrs. Bates. She's complaining again that the girls need a chaperone, this time for their London trip. Somehow, they get sidetracked and talk about the Devil Earl. The original one, I mean. Apparently, his wife was mad so he locked her in a tower room for years. She got out, or something, and killed him. Clearly, Ravenclaw killed his brother. Apparently he killed his uncle to get the earl title. Then Mrs. Bates tells Prudence that Ravenclaw will be in London and the trip suddenly seems much brighter to Prudence. She'll have the chance, probably only a chance, to see him again. Prudence visibly freaks out and Mrs. Bates assumes she's upset the author. So, they talk about chaperones again because that's something Prudence loves to talk about. Anyway, Mrs. Bates has written a letter to Mrs. Broadgirdle to see if she'll chaperone the two girls. Prudence decides to trust the gossip and Mrs. Bates hands over the letter from the chaperone-for-hire.
They get to London and Mrs. Broadgirdle immediately calls them out on being from the country. Clearly they should have stopped along the way to buy dresses suited for London. Whateves. Prudence makes it clear that she's not taking shit and she's not getting married. The first startles Mrs. Broadgirdle, but the latter makes her happy. Also, it's mentioned that Mrs. Broadgirdle is nothing like her name: she's really skinny. I'm starting to think that Prudence is named similarly. Starting? Well, anyway, they go to the residence of the girls' one relation: a cousin named Hugh Lancaster and it's a pretty neat bachelor pad. He's a confirmed bachelor by the way. I suppose then we don't have to worry about a personality for his wife, or something. Anyway, he launches into a sermon, about politics, and Prudence thinks twice about the wisdom of their trip.
Sebastian, a man rumored to have murdered two of his family members, and man woman look at and whimper, a man.... who is a man, walks in off the street into a bookstore. Books are the only thing that can come close to relieving his boredom that he's had since that trip to Cornwall about five months back. Granted, one book is tainted for him. He calls it The Book, since people capitalize things about which they don't know what else to do. He wanders around the bookstore, rambling about how he likes books and ensuring that the reader will have a common cause with him. Then some jerk walks in (I mean jerk according to Sebastian, I have my doubts) and Sebastian decides to stand in front of the display of The Book, just to drive home to the jerk that he really doesn't care about them. We know he does, but all right. The main character of The Book looks like him and has a similar name, as well as a house similar to Wolfinger Abbey, so clearly they're the same person. The character in this book lures young, innocent girls to their death in his house until the brave heroine blah blah blah. We all know this is the book Prudence wrote, right? We do now, anyway.
So, people bought this book because of the scandal attached to Sebastian's name after his brother disappeared. Wow. That's more complexity in this plot than I thought there would be. I figured Prudence's book sold well just because.
Trying to deny the connection between the book and him, Sebastian picks up a copy and strokes the binding. Okay... Then this girl with glasses shows up next to him. Sebastian thinks of that spinster in Cornwall and wonders why he's pining for her. He tries to ignore the woman next to him, but she grabs the book and asks if he wants her to sign it for him.
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