Chapter 47 Rumor Has It

Rumours are terrible things. I know I should not trust the things I hear from servants when they are conversing with each other and I just happen to be passing by. Indeed, I once heard a servant say, back at Grandmother s chateau, that Zira has devil s hooves instead of feet, which is entirely false (although I can understand how someone might get confused, given Zira s general disposition and the sorts of shoes she generally wears). But rumours about Dmitri and Yekaterina float through the Berkeley mansion like the fog that Giacomo is currently trying to teach me to create. I can t focus on that just now. My mind moves in endless circles from rumour to memory to rumour and back again. "She was sitting on his lap during their English lessons. He tried to push her off, but she would not be persuaded. I can t imagine why Their Excellencies let those English lessons go unsupervised," a maid recounts in the kitchen as I pass by. I m sure she means to be heard, although probabl