"Madam."
Georgiana looked up at Matilda and Leila du Renard behind her.
"What is it?" Georgiana asked.
"Renard has come to say goodbye." Matilda glanced back at Layla, who was so dejected she was nearly in tears. "She has already packed her luggage."
"What?" she asked in confusion.
"It's all my fault." Layla looked on the verge of tears. "I didn't stop that gentleman."
Georgiana recalled what had happened last night and immediately understood.
"I only told you how to stop soldiers trying to force their way into the venue. I didn't tell you how to stop a priest." She rubbed her forehead. "Especially that priest."
No one replied.
"Go make me some tea," Georgiana said gently. "Don't forget the butterfly pea flowers."
Layla seemed about to say something, but Matilda stopped her with a look, and the two left together.
Georgiana remained leaning back in her chair, gazing at the fireplace before her.
An uninvited guest had arrived during the latter half of yesterday's party: Father Henri Jean-Baptiste Grégoire, the president of the National Convention of the French First Republic who had denounced, on the opening day of the National Convention, "The court is a breeding ground for crime, the source of corruption, the nest of tyrants; the history of kings is a record of the people's suffering."
While other clergymen had become cautious and restrained, he had actively participated in politics and taken part in nearly every major event of the French Revolution, including the Tennis Court Oath.
How could a sixteen-year-old girl like Layla possibly stop someone like that? He had faced Napoleon without the slightest fear. If he wanted to force his way into the venue, who could stop him?
Talleyrand had eventually cast off his clerical robes, but Grégoire had not. And she had deliberately