“Instead he said, quite merrily, ‘Why, Lady Mayfield, I believe. I am surprised to see you here.’”
“I panicked for a moment, until I reminded myself it was amasquerade ball. He could not prove who I was by one glimpse of my face. So I decided to brush him off. Still, I was surprised that he did not seem astonished I was alive, only that I was in attendance. Anthony had told me there had been no announcement of mydeathin the papers, but until that moment, I hadn’t believed him.
“I said to the man, ‘I don’t know whom you are referring to, my good sir.’
“Then he surprised me. He did not make a scene or go on about my being alive and did I not know everyone thought I was dead? Instead, he smiled and said, ‘Never fear, my lady. I shall not let on you are here. I imagine life in Devonshire must be tiresome. An acquaintance of mine, Mr. Lowden, has spent time there with Sir John and says it’s a remote place. Very rustic. Nothing as civilized as this.’
“Mr. Lowden—that name Ididrecall. My husband’s solicitor. An older gentleman who thought the world of me, I know. Probably summoned to revise John’s will.” Marianna swirled the golden liquid in her glass. “I was quite confused, as you can imagine. Had he not heard about the crash? That I was missing if not assumed dead? I wondered if someone had seen me leaving the scene of the accident. I said casually, ‘Oh? Does Mr. Lowden not care for Devonshire?’
“The man replied, ‘I don’t say that. He was loath to go in the first place and leave his practice. But I think he was impressed. I know he was impressed withyou, Lady Mayfield.’
“What was this? Mr. Lowden had seen me in Devonshire? I was not believed missing or dead, but was rather alive and living in the West Country? I felt quite shocked, I can tell you. I tried to fathom how such a misunderstanding had happened. I said, ‘Come, you must tell me what Mr. Lowden said about me. I’m afraid I was ... not very ... kind to him?’
“The officer chuckled and replied, ‘Lowden admitted you were not what he was expecting. He said nothing critical, however, Iassure you. He said you were secretive, but charming, and had the most darling little boy.’”
Marianna widened her eyes. “Imagine my surprise. Not only was I not dead or even missing, but I was charming and had a darling boy in Devonshire.”
She ran her gaze over Hannah. “I did not think of you—not at first. For surely my most loyal companion would not be party to such a hoax. Even so, I asked him how my companion fared. He looked at me strangely and said, ‘Do you jest? Or did I hear it wrong? I am sure Lowden mentioned that your lady’s companion drowned in the accident.’”
Marianna held up her pointer finger. “Ah ... then I realized. I was not missing and assumed dead. You were.” She clicked her tongue. “I must say, Hannah, I am impressed. Quite a little plot you’ve pulled off here in my absence. I guess your years with me taught you something after all.”
Hannah frowned. “I did not plan this. The local doctor who found us assumed I was Sir John’s wife, since he was expecting only the two of you.”
“And you allowed that false assumption to continue. Gracious. That’s quite a promotion. From lowly companion to ‘my lady’ in a single day. What a climbing schemer you are. I would never have guessed.”
“Me, a schemer? When you pretended to drown? To leave Sir John for good, or so we thought?”
“Soyouthought. Sorry to disappoint you, my dear,loyalfriend.”
Hannah flinched at Marianna’s cutting tone. “I did nothing to you. We thought you were dead.”
“Oh, please.” Marianna flapped a dismissive hand. “Don’t play the innocent. You saw me. You opened your eyes and saw me.”
“What?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t remember. Before I slipped awayfrom the carriage, I put my finger to your lips to shush you, then pressed my ring into your hand.”
Hannah stared at her. She began, “No. That’s not what I remember.” But a flitting, recurring dream danced on the edges of her mind. Lady Mayfield smiling coyly amid the horrid wreckage. Placing her own ring in her hand...
Hannah sputtered. “I thought it was a dream, my trying to keep the tide from drawing you from the carriage. I grabbed your hand—that is how your ring came to be in mine.”
“Is it?” Marianna shook her head, eyeing her cynically. “I don’t think so.”
“Then why would you give it to me?”
“I didn’t want to wear any such identifying jewelry. And yes, I thought it would reward you for keeping quiet if you lived. I didn’t know if you would—you looked a fright—your head bleeding profusely. And if you died, your body might be identified as mine. Which would buy me some time before anyone came looking for me. Of course nobody came, which I found somehow insulting. Now I know why.”
She took a long drink. “Later, Anthony was furious when he learned I’d left the ring behind. He put a notice in the paper to establish its loss or theft, hoping to claim insurance money for it. I could make no such claim, of course. But the insurance company took one look at Anthony’s debts and dismissed his claim. And who can blame them?”
Hannah willed herself to remain calm. “I don’t understand. You were free of your husband and your marriage, as you had long told me you wanted. Why come back now? What is it you want?”
Marianna smirked. “Why, to see my dear husband of course.”
Hannah’s stomach clenched. “I am sorry to disappoint you, but—”
Marianna leaned forward conspiratorially and wrinkled hernose. “I’d rather not, actually. He’s more likely to strangle me than to welcome me back with open arms, I imagine.”
If she didn’t want to see Sir John, what did she want? Money? Hannah would have to tread carefully. The truth was on her tongue. She said it even as she questioned the wisdom and the consequences of doing so: “Sir John would have taken you back. He would have forgiven you, raised your child as his own.”
