Free How to Handle a Scandal by Emily Greenwood

fashionable.”
    “No, of course not. But we do want them to appreciate the importance of a polished appearance.”
    Meg pressed her lips together. “Do you hear yourself, Eliza?”
    Eliza blushed. “What do you mean? I’m only trying to be helpful.”
    Meg heaved an exasperated sigh. “You know I love you. We’ve been the best of friends since your first season, when you jumped in that fountain at the Hartwells’ party and needed a towel.”
    “Ugh. That wasn’t a good time in my life.”
    “Wasn’t it? Because you seemed a lot happier then.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I wasn’t happy then—I was making myself into the most scandalous girl in the ton .”
    “Very well, you couldn’t have gone on forever like that. But now…”
    “Yes?” Eliza said with more than a little irritation. First Anna and now Meg—why was everyone insisting they liked her better when she was a disaster?
    “Did you have to go so far in the other direction?”
    “How can you suggest that I’m not going in the right direction—that what we’re doing at Truehart Manor isn’t of the utmost importance? What could be more important than having a life filled with purpose?”
    “I agree it’s important, but what about laughing? Dancing? Playing?” Meg said. “Making mistakes?”
    “You’re not making any sense.”
    Meg sipped her coffee. “I’m just beginning to feel that you’ve set some sort of impossible standard for us all—the girls, me, and especially you. None of us will ever measure up to the ideal of perfection you have.”
    “We have to set high standards for the girls if they’re to improve enough to go to school.”
    “But reading five books a week?” Meg pressed. “Some of them don’t like to read, and pushing too hard may extinguish any moderate interest they have.”
    When she was a girl, Eliza had told herself books were for boring people and given herself permission to become the biggest flirt in Malta. “Nonsense. They just need more exposure.”
    Meg frowned. “What about our meals? Cook says you told her not to cook with salt anymore.”
    “Dr. Henley says it’s better not to eat salt,” Eliza pointed out, though she missed it as well.
    Meg huffed. “Fine. All those things are just details, but this makes me truly worried: you told Mary that if she laughed too much, people would think she was a flirt. She’s ten years old—she’s supposed to laugh! We all are.”
    Eliza frowned more deeply. Mary was a sweet girl, but she could be unbridled, and she didn’t yet understand that needing to capture other people’s attention was a road to becoming ever more outrageous. “I just want the girls to be happy in life. People need self-discipline to be happy.”
    “I agree. But I think you’re being too hard on them. It’s as though somewhere along the line, you decided pleasure was a bad thing.”
    That was because it was a bad thing. Her self-indulgence had cost her Tommy’s friendship and driven him away from his family. But Meg was making her sound like someone who couldn’t enjoy herself, and that wasn’t true.
    The serving girl arrived with a plate piled with treacle tarts, shortbreads, and cakes slathered with cream. Meg took two cream cakes and a tart, which she dolloped further with cream. Eliza selected a piece of shortbread and nibbled it.
    “See?” Eliza said. “I like to indulge.”
    “You chose the dry cookie instead of the creamy delight,” Meg said over a mouthful of cake.
    “I happen to like shortbread.”
    “Or you’ve taught yourself not to want more.”
    “Than shortbread?”
    Meg groaned. “Eliza, I can’t help but feel that the single most important thing in your life is starting to be self-discipline.”
    Eliza flushed. “I thought you liked being my friend.”
    “I do! If I didn’t love you so, I wouldn’t say anything. It’s not pleasant telling people difficult things, you know.”
    “So what do you want me to do?”
    “Go to