“No, not at all. I shall let you continue with your work.”
Tristan turned on his heel and strode down the hallway, heart thumping. He was aware of the maids—both maids, probably—standing in the doorway and gawping at him.
Surely she hasn’t taken the baby and left me.Surely she wouldn’t do that to me.
But might she not react sharply if she thought he had betrayed her? A clear answer was not presenting itself. There was only one thing for it—he would have to investigate himself, and hope for the best.
If Isaac and Charlotte were surprised when Tristan came striding into their parlor, they did not let on. They were sitting side by side on a sofa, respectively reading a newspaper and a book, and glanced up at him with only a mild curiosity.
“Hello, old chap,” Isaac said at last. “I didn’t expect you to visit this early in the morning.”
“Well, here I am,” Tristan responded tightly. “Is Madeline here?”
“No, she isn’t. Why?”
“She’s gone missing,” Tristan stated.
Charlotte carefully marked her place in her book and set it aside, leaning forward.
“Gone missing? What a dreadful thing,” she murmured. “How long has she been missing?”
“She went out before breakfast with the baby.”
Charlotte’s eyebrows shot up. She glanced pointedly at the clock, which read a quarter past eleven. “I am not sure we need to send out the search parties just yet.”
Tristan clenched his jaw, irritated by her sarcastic tone.
“She should have told me that she was going out. She should have told me where she was going.”
“I see,” Charlotte shot back, leaning back in her seat. “And I suppose that you, of course, always do her the courtesy of telling her where you are going and when, every single timeyouleave the house?”
Tristan did not bother to reply, as he was fairly sure that Charlotte already knew the answer.
“The thing is, Tristan,” she continued after a moment of taut silence, “you are not truly concerned about Madeline. You feel entitled to know her whereabouts. You are not.”
“Iamconcerned,” he insisted. “We parted on bad terms last night, and I suppose I am afraid that she is going to take Adam—mynephew—and flee to France or something.”
“Madeline? Flee to France with a baby? You are mad,” Charlotte snapped, giving a high, mirthless laugh.
She’s angry at me,Tristan realized, with a jolt of surprise.
“You know where she is,” he murmured, a plain statement of fact.
Charlotte sniffed, picking at her skirts. “Of course I do. And perhaps if you were kinder to your wife,Your Grace, she would also have told you.”
Silence hung in the air between them. Isaac, who was now on his feet, shifted awkwardly, glancing between his wife and his friend.
“Perhaps you ought to tell him, Charlotte,” he said at last, wincing.
Charlotte sighed heavily. “She has gone to St. Naomi’s.”
Tristan went still. “St. Naomi’s? Why?”
Charlotte frowned. “What do you mean, why? Madeline adores her charity work. She has visited the place quite often. I imagine she thought that the airing would do Adam good, and I agree with her. If I weren’t already spending the day with my husband, I would have wanted to go with her.”
Tristan swallowed hard, raking a hand through his hair.
“St. Naomi’s,” he muttered. “She visits St. Naomi’s.”
