He nodded. “Which is why you were so stunned to meet with Carlisle.”
She peered up at him. “You are quite observant, did you know that?”
Only with you, he nearly said. Blessedly he stopped himself in time. “She was older than you, I assume?” he asked instead.
“By three years.” A small smile lifted her lips. “Funny enough, I was the responsible one. She and my father were dreamers, you see. I had to keep them both in line.” She gave a little laugh. “They always said that without me they would be lost.”
A cloud seemed to move across her face then. All the joy fled, to be replaced with an unbearable sadness. “Then she died, and my father followed soon after. And I was left with no one.”
“And that is when you became a companion,” he deduced.
“Yes. A distant cousin took pity on me and hired me on.”
“It must have been difficult for you.”
“More than you know.”
He paused at the darkness in her voice. He should change the subject. It appeared to give her only pain, keeping on in this vein. But he could not ignore the injustice that had been dealt her earlier that day, apparently only the last in a long line of it. “It was not fair of Mrs. Gladstow to let you go over her daughter’s engagement. It seems to me Mr. Marlow will make Miss Gladstow a fine husband. I am sorry you were caught up in the whole mess, that you suffered because of it.”
She pursed her lips, her sharp eyes cutting to him. “Are you taking blame then?”
He blinked, nearly stumbling at the sudden change in her. “Pardon?”
Her voice dropped. “I know you were responsible for Miss Gladstow’s engagement.”
Speared by the accusation and certainty in her eyes, Tristan took a moment to consider his options. He could either feign anger or laugh it off and declare her mad.
Or he could admit it all.
The last held a surprising amount of appeal. And besides, she would not believe him if he denied any involvement in it. He saw it in her eyes. For the briefest of seconds he was tempted to tell her all.
But no, she would never understand, would only look on him with more disgust than she did now. It was the very reason he refused to tell others of his endeavors. No one would be able to comprehend the importance of such a venture to him. How it made him feel that, for the first time in his life, he was worthy, and useful, and more than what society perceived him to be. Daphne was the only one who knew, and that was because she was the one who had aided him on that very first matchmaking scheme, when he had realized there was something more to him than an empty smile and a handsome face.
In the end, he merely asked, “If I was responsible for helping Miss Gladstow find her happiness, would you blame me?”
The self-righteous anger that had settled hard over her gaze like a lacquer cracked at his soft tone. “No,” she admitted reluctantly.
“Well then, there is nothing more to say on the subject, is there?” He looked down the path, toward Grace and Carlisle. They had fallen behind quite a ways. And he found himself desperate to get to them. “We should hurry.”
To his surprise she stopped, letting her hand fall from his arm. “No,” she answered slowly, “I don’t think I shall join you.”
“Are we to stand and glare at one another then? For though you are a lovely vision and I wouldn’t mind it in the least, I would like a bit more exercise before we return to the house. One does not get this trim form by standing idle.”
Instead of lightening the mood as he had hoped, his comments only served to deepen the line between her brows. “I think it is best if we part here.”
“Part?”
“Yes. I think we can agree, Sir Tristan, that we are better off not getting friendly with one another.”
He frowned. “I should not let you go off on your own, Miss Merriweather.”
She laughed at that. But it was not the light-hearted mirth she had shown earlier. No, this was a dark thing. “And what will happen to me, Sir Tristan? I am not a young lady of good breeding that must be coddled. I have been forced to make my way in the world for too long. And I assure you, with how I feel now, no one would dare presume to accost me. Good day.”
Tristan could only watch helplessly as she strode away, knowing he was partly to blame and not able to do a blasted thing to help.
