Margaret felt her cheeks heat under Helen’s watchful gaze but did not elaborate further.
A few days later, Nathaniel sat in the library, reviewing sketches for a proposed new row of laborer cottages. But he had difficulty concentrating. His mind kept wondering, replaying the scenes from the last weeks. Dancing with Miss Macy at the servants’ ball. Standing near her on the balcony, staring up at the stars. Strolling with her along the moonlit arcade. Carrying her in his arms....
A knock roused Nathaniel from his reverie. He looked up, feeling almost guilty, as if caught doing something he ought not. He was surprised to see Robert Hudson in the threshold.
“Hudson, hello. I didn’t expect you back so soon.”
“Is this a good time, sir?”
“Yes, of course.” Nathaniel straightened and cleared his throat. “How did it go?”
“Very well, I think.”
Nathaniel gestured toward the chair before the desk. “What did you find out?”
“Several interesting things.” Hudson sat and pulled a small leather-bound notebook from his coat pocket. “First, Sterling Benton is indeed in financial straits, over head and ears in debt, according to a talkative banker.”
“You were discreet in your inquiries, I trust?”
“Sir.” Hudson tucked his chin, mouth down-turned, offended he even needed ask.
Nathaniel rotated his hand, gesturing for his steward to continue.
“Sterling Benton has borrowed too much, spent too much, and gambled too much, and refuses to retrench. Evidently very keen on keeping up appearances.”
Nathaniel was reminded of Lewis’s spend-all ways. “Go on.”
“Marcus Benton is Sterling’s nephew and apparent heir—assuming Sterling’s marriage to the forty-something Macy widow results in no offspring.” He opened the leather cover and consulted his notes. “Marcus is three and twenty years of age and is the son of Sterling Benton’s younger brother—a law clerk—who resides in Greenwich. Apparently Sterling sponsored his nephew through Oxford, where he read the law. Marcus has no profession at present and lives the life of a gentleman supported by his uncle’s generosity.”
“Generosity that may be coming to an end.”
Hudson nodded. “So it seems. Marcus has lately come to reside with his uncle and new wife in Mayfair. The wife has three children, but the eldest daughter had been the only one residing at Berkeley Square regularly. Except at school vacations, Caroline Macy boards at a girls’ seminary and Gilbert Macy is at Eton.”
Hudson hesitated. “I know you did not ask me to investigate the missing Margaret Macy, but I did learn something during my inquiries that bears on the situation.”
Nathaniel steeled himself, fearing he might hear something unsavory about Miss Macy’s conduct.
“Go on.”
“Apparently, she will come into a good deal of money from a great-aunt who left her fortune in a trust, which is set to mature at Miss Macy’s twenty-fifth birthday on...” Again Hudson consulted his notes.
“November the twenty-ninth,” Nathaniel murmured, lost in thought. He became aware of the high arch of Hudson’s eyebrows but ignored his expectant expression.
“Might explain why an eligible nephew has come to stay,” Hudson said.
Nathaniel screwed up his face in thought. “I wonder why this inheritance has been such a secret before now. I never heard it mentioned before—by her or the gossipmongers.”
“Perhaps she hoped to avoid—what is the term?—fortune hunters. Not that I include you in that lot, sir.”
“Thank you,” he said dryly. “Does she even know of the trust, do you think?”
“I did not gather it was unknown by her, but rather that she and her parents made a point of keeping it secret from society at large.”
“I wonder if Benton knew before he married into the family.”
Hudson coughed. “Do you mind a little hearsay along with the facts?”
“I suppose not.”
