“You have nothing to apologize for,” the Duchess assured her. “But I think we should have a talk. And, I’d like to meet your son and your son’s guardian and his wife if they are here today?”
“Yes, yes they are,” Cassandra said, curious as to why the Duchess should wish to meet them, and a bit concerned about how the Duchess would take Vanessa, who could be quite the toadeater.
“Excellent,” the Duchess said. She turned toward the woman, who stood primly behind her. “This is Mrs. Morrison, my companion.”
“Mrs. Morrison,” Cassandra nodded to the slight, darker-skinned woman who stood behind the Duchess. Romany, perhaps? The woman curtsied. “Welcome,” Cassandra said.
“Mr. Drummond, please invite Mr. and Mrs. Tidemark to join us in the parlor and request the cook to prepare tea and cakes for all.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the butler said, bowing before turning in a stately manner toward the stairs to give the Tidemarks the message.
Cassandra threaded her arm through the Duchess’s. “I was so pleased to get your note this morning saying you would call. I worried that the tale of my behavior yesterday should give you a dislike of me.”
The Duchess laughed. “Hardly!” she said as they walked into the brown and gold parlor.
Cassandra led her to a gold brocade sofa and sat down beside her. Mrs. Morrison took a chair off to the side, nearer the windows, where the light shined brighter for her needlework.
The Duchess patted Cassandra’s hand. “Now, tell me, my dear, what happened yesterday?”
Cassandra tensed. “I accused Lord Lakehurst of killing my husband,” she said, looking straight ahead. “And then I pushed him into the lake,” she said with bravura, turning to look at the Duchess for her reaction to her words.
The Duchess looked at her blandly. “And?”
Cassandra blinked. “My behavior does not horrify you?”
The Duchess laughed. “Not in the slightest! From what Lakehurst has told me it sounds as if he behaved decidedly ham-handed in how he relayed to you his authorship, especially since he knew your reaction to the book from the day before! He should have learned more about why you reacted as you did before he simply blurted out he wrote the book.—And I should tell you—to ease your mind—Lakehurst was in Scotland eighteen months ago visiting his mother’s family when the events that took your husband’s life occurred. He wrote the book while he was there.”
“But those few pages I read they were so close to what transpired!”
“Can you tell me about that time?” the Duchess asked.
“Yes, but another time, please,” she said as she heard the click of the parlor door opening. She looked up to see her uncle-in-law and his wife enter. She would have liked to ask the Duchess about Rose and the street sweeper. That would have to keep for now.
“Your Grace, I’d like you to meet Mr. and Mrs. Tidemark. Mr. Tidemark is my late husband’s uncle,” she said.
The Duchess inclined her head.
Cassandra turned toward her relations. “Vanessa and Edmund, I’d like you to meet the Dowager Duchess of Malmsby.”
Vanessa curtsied deeply, then struggled to stand upright. Her husband put a hand under her elbow to assist her. When she stood steady again, she eagerly approached the Duchess. “It is so wonderful to have you visit our home!” she enthused.
Edmund bowed, then steered his wife to a large chair near the Duchess. “I echo my wife’s words,” he told the Duchess. “Welcome to our home.”
The Duchess frowned, a confused look in her eyes. “I thought this was Lady Darkford’s house, as Lord Darkford’s widow. Is it not in the entail, with her right of residency until her son comes of age?”
Vanessa’s eyes widened and a dark flush creeped up Edmund’s neck. Cassandra kept her lips still against a smile.
“It is not part of the entail, but well, yes, of course she has right of residency. However, under the circumstances, we live here as well.”
“Oh!” said the Duchess. She leaned back on the sofa. She nodded. “Circumstances drive much in our lives, don’t they?” she said, her tone all understanding.
Edmund smiled at her. “Yes, they do.”
Vanessa nodded.
“And what circumstances are those that have you living here?” the Duchess asked.
Cassandra thought the Duchess looked like a harmless, inquisitive little bird. If she hadn’t heard from her brother about the Duchess’s sneaky nature, her words would have relaxed her as they did Edmund.
