Chapters 19-21 Summary

Elizabeth is staying at her uncle's town house in London, but is at Alex's home planning to attend a ball that night. Alex is hoping that with the support of her grandmother-in-law, the Dowager Duchess of Hawthorne, they can repair Elizabeth's reputation and find her a better husband than Sir Belhaven. The Dowager Duchess finds Elizabeth to be of strong character and agrees to help, but a friend of Alex's, Roddy Carstairs, whom Alex was planning on escorting Elizabeth to the ball and helping improve her reputation, turns them down because Elizabeth's reputation is too badly damaged. At the same time, Ian arrives at the town house to inform Elizabeth that they are betrothed. Ian ended up paying Elizabeth's uncle a large sum for the right to marry her and is eager to tell Elizabeth the news himself. Unfortunately, Bentner will...