Ella was led away willingly, the flow of tears pausing for a moment. She disliked crying anyway. This was a time to be distraught and demure, not a wailing mess! "I'm sorry Patience." Ella hiccuped again from having swallowed too much air while trying to keep in her sobs. "I would rather stay here with everyone else. I shouldn't like to be alone just now, especially not somewhere quiet and boring. You'll stay with me?"
She daubed at her eyes with the handkerchief one of the maids had insisted she would need that morning. Then she took a few calming breaths. She felt much better now that she'd had her little outburst and hoped it wouldn't happen again. She could be sorry for missed opportunities without being a baby about it. But that thought alone made the tears form again and she tried to blink them away.