Truer words were never spoken.Jane favored Eli with a smile, thinking about when she might catch him alone again. Though she hadn’t had the heart to confront him last night, when he’d been in such low spirits, she still intended to solve the mystery of his absence.
Jane and Hannah rode up toward Winkfield and Maiden’s Green, stopping several times to view the grounds of the historic manorhouses in the area at their leisure. Hannah enjoyed being out of doors, and she was in her element here, without any pressure from her mother to meet an eligible gentleman. With her shoulders set back and a bright smile on her face, she looked like a new person.
“I’ve decided how I want to use my forfeit,” she confided to Jane as they rested in the shade of a tree to take some refreshments. “I want an invitation to your card club. Only don’t tell my mother. She thinks it too scandalous. You don’t mind, do you?”
She passed the little note toward Jane, who hesitated. She didn’t like to get involved in a quarrel between Mrs. Williams and her daughter, but it might be a good idea to have Hannah on her side. Aside from the fact that Jane liked the girl, she also needed her help. “We’ll be happy to have you,” she finally replied.
She studied Hannah for a long moment as the branches above them danced shadows across her face. Jane had a forfeit of her own burning a hole in her pocket, and only one thing she wanted. But how would Hannah take it if she enlisted her help against her own brother? She didn’t want to abuse their friendship.
Best to just come out with it. Fortune favors the bold.
“I’d like to use my forfeit too. I’m going to ask you for something a bit odd, but I trust I can count on your discretion.” She fumbled with the slip of paper as she searched for the right words. She needed to be delicate. “I would like you to tell me straight away if you ever learn something unexpected about Eli’s absence.”
“Unexpected?” Hannah repeated. “Are you…saying you think he’s hiding something from us?”
Oh dear.It would do no good to cause offense, nor to create a rift between the siblings when she had no greater proof than her own intuition. There was no doubt that Eli had suffered in the shipwreck. She felt quite wretched, poking about after how he’d finally opened up to her last night.
But he still hadn’t told her anything about his captivity, where all her questions lay.
“I don’t doubt the lieutenant is an honorable man,” she said quickly. Thoughtless, but honorable, if his engagement to Cecily had proven anything. “But he says so little about that time, and what he does say is…”
Unsatisfying? Vague? Has the air of dissimulation?
Better to adopt the kindest interpretation she could. “Perhaps he only has difficultly talking about his experience, and you’d be doing him a favor to share his troubles with a friend he can trust. I promise anything you tell me will remain strictly between us.”
Hannah gave her the most incredulous look she’d ever seen, but she took the note and tore it up. “I suppose I can’t refuse, but I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“I’m sorry to put you in an uncomfortable position.” Jane meant it. “But look at it this way, maybe there will never be anything to tell.”
Hannah gave her the second-most incredulous look she’d ever seen.
They decided to head back toward the Lindens’ house around three o’clock and wash up before everyone else returned from the races. The tip of the redbrick clock tower on the Sunninghill Church jutted up above the trees as they drew near.
When they arrived back at the house, they found it still empty. Jane let Hannah have the bath first, while she wandered around in search of something to do until her turn. She found baby Tommy in the study, which had been converted into a makeshift nursery for the duration of the visit. He wriggled on the carpet while his wet nurse dangled a bauble for him to flail at with his tiny fists.
“Hullo, Miss Bishop.” The woman quickly ceased her game and rose to her feet.
“I don’t want to disturb you,” Jane said. “I just thought I’d comeand play with Tommy for a bit before it’s time to get dressed for dinner. Is it a good time?”
“Perfectly fine, Miss.” The wet nurse smiled. She was a kindly young woman of about twenty years. “If you don’t mind sitting with him, I’ll pop downstairs and take some of his laundry to the maids.”
Jane picked up the bauble in the wet nurse’s absence and dangled it for Tommy as she’d seen the other woman doing. He was a cute little thing. He had enormously fat cheeks, which she was partial to in babies.
Jane picked him up and walked about the room, testing out the feeling. He rested his head on her shoulder and gurgled.
“I don’t dislike you, you know,” she explained. “It’s only the way other people act around you that’s bothersome. I worry it will go to your head.”
Tommy cooed.
He wasn’t so bad, really. It wasn’t his fault that his mother was dreadful.
“I’ll make you a deal. If you promise not to become conceited, then I shall promise to be a good aunt to you—I’m not your real aunt, but you don’t know that, and you don’thavea proper aunt. Anyway, I’ll be a good aunt and teach you important things like how to annoy your parents. We could be great friends.”
Tommy did not reply, which she took to be an assent.
“I’m glad we’ve had this talk, Tommy. You’re a nice baby, aren’t you? Such a nice baby.”
“Ma-ma-ma,” said Tommy.
