A certain Miss Pennyfeather might have noticed another name posted, albeit with just enough of a donation to get her name featured: Loretta Agnes Ward.

It was just then that she blazed in, in a dress befitting of the occasion – if heavy on the lavender. A couple of eyes slid toward her, and then just as quickly away. Just as quickly as unattended men realized there was a lone woman, most of them seemed, too, to realize there was a reason why she had neither a gentleman nor a chaperon.

Her eyes landed on a familiar woman from that town meeting, smiling – and then her smile fell when it landed on the man in her arms.

Entirely lost cause? Not entirely. Not even halfway lost. She glided toward them, lurking for an opening.