Diary of an Accidental Wallflower

It had not escaped his notice that he was one of Lady Austerely's most frequent -- indeed, one of her only -- visitors. Her husband was long dead, and their forty year union had not been blessed with children. The cousin who had inherited her husband's title never came to call.
- Chapter 2

... "Honestly, Sophie, was it necessary to be so cruel? He's done naught to earn our ire."

"Oh, don't look so glum," Sophie chided. She flicked her fan open and fluttered it lazily below her green eyes. "Truly, the occasional set-down is the best thing all around for him. Have you forgotten the debacle last year, when he had the gall to think you might consider his proposal?" The air rang with her light laughter. "It isn't as though he should harbor hopes for anything beyond the occasional dance where we are concerned."

Clare held her tongue. It was true she had set her sights higher than a proposal from Meeks, but that did not mean she thought it was all right to snub him. There were some in the crowd who thought she should have accepted his proposal, her mother among them. After all, Mr. Meeks had an annual income of two thousand pounds and would one day be a viscount, the same title as her own father. There was potential there, to be sure.

But Sophie had decided, based on some unfathomable criteria only she knew, that Mr. Meeks was not within their sphere.
- Chapter 3