Penelope's clapped hands had come to rest against her chest now, pressed there by the sheer thrill of the revelation, and her face was glowing with the kind of radiant excitement that only the prospect of something truly spectacular could produce in her.
"Oh my goodness," she breathed, her mind already clearly racing ahead to the possibilities. "Me too, Richard. I want to know exactly who this person is more than anything right now - the suspense alone is going to drive me absolutely mad until we find out."
But then, as quickly as the excitement had swept over her, Penelope's expression shifted with the practiced focus of a woman who never allowed herself to get so carried away with one thing that she lost sight of another. She tilted her head again and fixed Richard with a more grounded, searching look.
