Sarah realized they’d probably never seen this much food all in one place in their lives. “It’s for the guests,” Sarah explained.

Gina glanced at the crowd and back at the table again. “They must be real hungry.”

Sarah bit back a smile and handed each of the girls a plate. “Just tell the servers what you’d like and they’ll put it on your plate for you,” she instructed.

By the time the girls had reached the end of the table, their plates were heaping with far more food than they could ever hope to eat. The servants were frowning in disapproval, but they didn’t say anything because Sarah kept giving them warning looks behind the girls’ backs. Sarah seated them at one of the small tables that had been set up at the end of the room, and took the liberty of joining them while they ate.

Mrs. Wells had taught them table manners, if not restraint, so at least they didn’t disgrace themselves. Sarah gave them a few minutes to sample their delicacies before striking up a conversation.

“Did you enjoy the carriage ride?” she asked.

Maeve looked at her suspiciously. Plainly, she was remembering how she’d snubbed Sarah at the mission, but she knew she needed to be polite to her here. She was probably trying to decide if Sarah’s friendliness was genuine or a ploy to get her in some kind of trouble as revenge.

Gina didn’t have any reason to be suspicious. “It was fancy,” she said. “And so big!” Her thick, dark hair hung in a single braid down her back, and her dark eyes were lovely in her olive-skinned face. While Maeve was bony and angular, Gina’s curves were soft and rounded.

“The driver wasn’t very nice,” Maeve reported sourly.

“He was, too!” Gina said. “He opened the door for us!”

“He kept his nose up in the air,” Maeve said. “You could see he didn’t like us.”

“Coachmen are trained to act like that,” Sarah explained. “They’re not supposed to stare at their passengers.”

“He helped us down when we got out, too,” Gina reminded Maeve. “He took my hand so I wouldn’t fall. I thought he was handsome.”

“He was ugly as a toad,” Maeve insisted.

Since the Deckers’ coachman was neither, Sarah had to smile.

“I’m just glad we come in a coach,” Gina said. “I never was in one before, and neither was you, Maeve, so don’t pretend you was!”

Maeve wasn’t going to argue the point, especially in front of Sarah, so she just glared at Gina. Sarah remembered what Opal Graves had said about sisters arguing, and had to agree the girls were behaving just like siblings. Perhaps she’d been mistaken in thinking the rivalry at the mission was more than that.

“We wanted to be sure you were safe coming here tonight,” Sarah said, deciding to raise the subject she really wanted to discuss, “after what happened to Emilia.”

Gina frowned and glanced around uneasily, as if checking to make sure no one had overheard this reference to the dead girl.

Maeve didn’t seem the least bit disturbed, however. “That won’t happen to us,” she said confidently.

“You seem very sure,” Sarah said.

“Emilia was stupid,” Maeve said.

“You just didn’t like her because she was Mrs. Wells’s favorite,” Gina accused.

“No, she wasn’t,” Maeve insisted. “Mrs. Wells just felt sorry for her!”

“Then she must feel sorry for you, too, because she gave you all of her jobs!”

“You’re just jealous because she didn’t give them to you!”

“I don’t want to watch Aggie,” Gina claimed disdainfully. “That little brat can run out in the street and get herself trampled to a lump for all I care!”

“I guess Mrs. Wells don’t know how much you hate Aggie,” Maeve observed with a sly grin, and Gina blushed scarlet.

“Everybody hates Aggie, and that includes you!” Gina claimed.

“What other jobs did Emilia have?” Sarah asked quickly, before the two girls came to blows. “Besides watching Aggie, that is.”

Maeve obviously had no intention of answering, but Gina said, “She was in charge of making all the girls get up and dressed in the morning, then she looked after them all day, so they went to their classes and to meals and didn’t sneak out. Then she checked to make sure everybody was in bed at night.”

“All that in addition to looking after Aggie,” Sarah said in amazement. “That’s a lot of responsibility. And now you do it all, Maeve?”

Somewhat mollified by the implied respect, Maeve said, “Yes, ma’am, I do everything.”

“So now all the girls hate her instead of Emilia,” Gina said smugly.

Wanting to head off another argument, Sarah said, “You said Emilia was stupid, Maeve. It sounds like she had to be smart to do all those jobs, though.”

“She went places she shouldn’t go,” Maeve said. “Like that park where she got killed. That was stupid.”

“City Hall Park isn’t really a bad place,” Sarah said. “In fact, it’s a very nice park. Courting couples meet there all the time. But of course we don’t know why she went there that morning. Did she say anything to either of you about it?”

“She was always doing things she shouldn’t do,” Maeve insisted. Her eyes narrowed. “And she was stupid with men. That’s why she got herself killed.”

“Was she going to meet a man that morning?” Sarah asked, remembering Mrs. Wells had said one of the girls heard Emilia say she wanted Ugo to see how nice she looked. Perhaps Emilia had said more than that.

“No, she was going to get a job,” Gina said. “She told everybody who would listen. We was sick of hearing about it.”

“That and her new dress,” Maeve recalled with a frown. “It wasn’t new at all. Somebody gave it for charity, and it was an ugly old thing! Mrs. Wells offered it to me first, but I wouldn’t take it.”

“She did not,” Gina said. “You’re a liar! Everybody knows she always gave the best things to Emilia. And I heard you begging Mrs. Wells for that hat Emilia was wearing.”

“So you don’t think Emilia was going to meet a lover that morning?” Sarah pressed, trying not to remember the hat and dress in question had been hers.

“Not likely,” Gina said, taking a bite of caviar then quickly spitting it out. “Ew, what was that awful stuff?”

“Fish eggs,” Sarah said with a smile. “I’ve never cared for them either.”

Gina looked more closely at the brown glop. “Fish don’t lay eggs,” she informed Sarah. “Chickens lay eggs. You’re teasing me.”

Sarah could have argued, but she didn’t want to get distracted. “You’re right, I am,” she agreed. “Why wouldn’t Emilia have been meeting a lover?”

“She said she didn’t have no use for men after what happened to her,” Gina said. “She swore she’d never so much as speak to one again.”

“She must’ve changed her mind,” Maeve said with an unpleasant grin, “or she wouldn’t be dead, would she?”

“Did either of you hear her say she wished Ugo could see her in her new outfit?” Sarah asked.

Both girls just gave her a blank look.

Sarah opened her mouth to ask another question when she heard her father calling for everyone’s attention.

“Is it time for Mrs. Wells?” Maeve asked in alarm.

“I guess it is,” Sarah replied, and the girls were gone in an instant, hurrying to take their places beside her. Sarah rose and made her way more slowly to the other end of the ballroom so she could have a good view of the proceedings.