“Oh yes. I am more than ready for some company and conversation.” I was a bit nervous too. The last time I’d seen her had been at the picnic, and so much had transpired since then. Would she understand?
“Wonderful,” Lady Winfield said. “I think I will have a table set for us in the rose garden. It’s such a lovely day.”
“Itisa lovely day, Mother.” Ollie walked into the breakfast room with a newspaper tucked under his arm and a stack of letters in his hand. He sat in his usual seat at the table across from me. “I passed Caldwell on the way in,” he said and gave her the letters.
She riffled through them. “Thank you, Oliver.”
I hoped there would be one addressed to me from Damon, but no. Lady Winfield set the stack aside and opened the first letter. Ollie returned to his paper and I to my breakfast.
“Hanny,” Ollie said, drawing my attention. “Seeing as it is such a nice day, might I entice you to walk with me in the garden after breakfast?”
I blinked at his invitation. Although he’d been attentive to me while I lay in my sickbed, now that I’d recovered, I fully expected him to return to his normal behavior of ignoring me and courting Miss Digby. But I welcomed the chance to strengthen our friendship. “I would like that very much. Thank you.”
“The pleasure is all mine,” he said and opened his newspaper.
Gentlemen commonly read thePostat the table—even Papa enjoyed the habit—but when I wasn’t participating in the activity, I found I quite disliked being ignored.
“Oh!” Lady Winfield exclaimed, looking up from her missives. “We have received an invitation from the Garretts. They are hosting a ball at the end of the week.”
Ollie lowered the corner of his newspaper and met my gaze. “Perhaps we can finally have that dance I promised you so long ago.”
My brow tightened at his words, and it took me a moment to respond. “That would be nice.” I smiled at him across the table, but I could not help wondering why he was acting so strangely. First with an invitation to walk in the garden, and now he wished to dance with me? Perhaps my illness had worried him more than I’d realized. But whatever the cause, I would not turn down the opportunity to mend our friendship.
Lady Winfield opened another letter and skimmed the contents. “And more good news! The modiste says your dress will be ready to be fitted in time to wear to the Garretts’ ball.”
“That is wonderful news,” I agreed. It would be so nice to have a new dress to wear. What would Damon think of it?
Lady Winfield’s final letter was sealed with red wax, and pressed into the center was the Jennings family crest.
My heart gave a little jolt, and my fingers itched to snatch it.
Lady Winfield read silently between sips of tea, her face giving nothing away. And then she sighed. Heavily.
I held my breath. Was something wrong?
“What is it?” Ollie asked.
She shook her head. “Damon writes that he and your father are to remain in London for another fortnight so he can continue his lessons with a man named Mr. Rowley.”
A fortnight. But that was so long. And who was Mr. Rowley?
“Pity they will miss the ball,” Ollie said.
The ball and more. If they remained in the city that long, Damon and I wouldn’t evenseeeach other before I returned to London.
Had he designed it that way?
“It won’t do,” Lady Winfield said. “If your father and Damon do not attend the ball, the Garretts may view their absence as a slight. I must write back immediately and convince them to come home. Please excuse me.” She rose from the table and quit the room, and I could only hope her efforts to persuade them to come home proved successful.
***
“It really is a lovely day for a stroll, is it not?” Ollie said as we walked down the garden path.
“Lovely,” I agreed, though I had to admit my mind was more focused on where Damon was than where I was at present. What was he learning from Mr. Rowley? And when would he return? And while I had no right to expect him to write me, it hurt that he did not even ask after my health in his letter to his mother. “Do you know Mr. Rowley?”
“Mr. Rowley?” Ollie asked.
“Damon’s letter to your mother said he was learning business from a Mr. Rowley.”
