“I told them, sir, but they were most insistent I inform you it’s Miss Jane Bishop and her uncle on a matter of great importance.”
What could that mean? Had Jane’s uncle got wind of his fightwith MacPherson and come to force an engagement after all? Or did this have something to do with the brief appearance he’d made at her club yesterday? He’d violated her request to stay away, but it had seemed the lesser evil.
“Is this the Jane you told me about when we were at sea?” A sudden spark of interest lit Geórgios’s face. “Let me meet her.”
“No!” Eli rushed to place himself before the door. “You stay here, please. I’ll deal with this and be back in just a minute.”
Geórgios’s enormous shoulders slumped a touch, and Eli suppressed a twinge of guilt as he left him behind and followed Cuttle out into the hall. His friend hadn’t received the warmest welcome in this house. Eli’s father had forbidden the women from speaking to him and muttered darkly about “foreign invaders” whenever he saw him coming. But it was safest for everyone if Geórgios stayed out of sight, at least until the court of inquiry was over.
Soon he would resolve this whole business and they could return to their normal lives.
A moment later, Eli was settled with Jane and her family in the parlor, along with Hannah, who’d peered in to see what the commotion was about.
“What a pleasant surprise. How are you?” Eli began. The question was addressed to the room, but it was Jane he couldn’t turn away from. It was almost painful to see her like this, dressed up for a morning call as though he were an ordinary acquaintance and nothing had passed between them. But her eyes betrayed her. A dozen emotions battled for space there.
“Very well, thank you.” Jane smoothed down her skirts nervously.
“Er…Cuttle will have told you that we aren’t receiving visitors, as my father is ill. I believe you said there was a matter of importance to discuss?”
“Oh, but it’s that,” her uncle explained. “That your father was ill.We were worried he must have caught Jane’s cold at Ascot, and we’ve brought you some broth from our kitchens to speed his recovery. It was Jane’s idea. Isn’t she thoughtful?” He produced a large jar of amber liquid from a basket, the glass fogged with steam, and set it on the end table.
“Most thoughtful,” Eli agreed with a helpless look to Jane.
It was plain that Mr. Bishop knew nothing of his fight with MacPherson, nor his visit to Miss Danby’s house yesterday, so what was the meaning of this?
She had a sort of urgency written on her face, but all she said was, “We just wanted to make sure you were all right, and to invite you to call on us if there’s anything at all we can do.”
A chill worked its way down Eli’s spine as understanding set in. She looked truly worried.
Could she know of the court-martial? There had been nothing in the papers.
“Why don’t we all take a walk about the gardens?” Hannah suggested. “Our aunt has some rosebushes that are… Well, they aren’t in bloom yet, exactly, but they have some very promising buds.”
“How wonderful,” Jane agreed too quickly.
Eli stared at his sister, dumbstruck. Wasshebehind this? The traitor! Were oaths of secrecy meaningless these days?
She countered his fury with a shrug and led them down the hall toward the back door.
Well, at least he might have a chance to steal a word or two with Jane while they walked. He fell into step beside her, deliberately lingering as the others drew ahead.
“What is this really about?” he whispered.
“I told you, we were worried,” she returned.
“Worried about what?”
“I was hoping you would tell me that.”
They were passing the kitchen, which was set at the rear of the town house overlooking the gardens, when a deep voice carried out to them from the other side of the door.
“Eli, is that you? Have your friends gone yet?”
Jane gasped at the sound, peering toward the kitchen with interest. “Who isthat?”
“No one,” Eli barked. “Never mind.”
Hannah was a little ways ahead, at the back door of the house already. Judging from the panic written on her face, she’d heard Geórgios too. “Right this way,” she urged their guests. “Pay no mind to our new cook.”
