Edith Wharton
Lily Bart goes International! She begins Book 2 on vacation, more specifically on a European cruise. Lily does her general social habits, flirting with boys, getting on the good side of the wealthy, and impressing the powerful members in the room. Those members include Lady Skiddaw, the Princess of Macedonia, and Lord Hubert. Slowly, a whole lot of drama unfolds on the cruise. Bertha Dorset, a now friend of Lily's, brought Lily on the cruise so that Lily would flirt with and distract Mr George Dorset. Bertha wanted her husband distracted so that she could have an affair with Ned Silverton. This plan starts to turn sour because George genuinely is liking Lily and Bertha is getting jealous of Lily's prominence on the ship. So Bertha does what any logical person would, she tries to ruin her own marriage by starting rumors of Lily having an affair with Mr Dorset. The rumors spread quickly, but rumors of Ned and Bertha also get out, which happen to be solid facts. The Dorset's marriage is practically over, but Bertha is still angry at Lily. She goes to Lily and threatens her, saying she has gone too far and all this is Lily's fault. It was after the exchange that "a chill of fear passed over Miss Bart: a sense of remembered treachery that was like a gleam of a knife" (Wharton 168).
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