Victorian England
*
Kitty shivered in anticipation. It was a warm summer's day but she was excited at the thought of going to London.
Her mother looked sullen however.
"Please don't look so glum Mama."
Her mother tried to smile but failed. "I am very pleased for you my dear but Lady Dona has a reputation so I'm a little worried."
"You still haven't told me why mama," Kitty replied.
Her mother sighed. "When we were debutantes your aunt and I met Dona when we went down to London. She was our age but married to a much older gentleman from Spain or somewhere who was very wealthy and was um... later arrested for blackmailing people into giving him information he could later use for investment."
"Oh my gosh," replied Kitty, "but if she was the same age as you back then how could that have been her fault?"
Kitty's mother cringed remembering the time she'd walked in on Dona and her sister. "It's not so much that my dear. It's just..."
"Oh my gosh, blackmail - you don't think that was how she got the Baron to agree to the divorce?"
Kitty had been married to a local aristocrat when she was just eighteen who although initially appearing very charming had turned out to have very large gambling debts and wanted her family's stud farm as a dowry. Their two year marriage had been unpleasant but somehow this Lady Dona had managed to persuade the Baron to agree to a divorce after coming to the country to visit her aunt but this was the first time blackmail had been mentioned.