Before her sister could retort, there was a commotion in the front hall. Hope could hear her grandmother greeting the servants and calling for her luggage to be brought in from the carriage. Even more unexpected than that, the activity was accompanied by a flurry of high-pitched barking.
Then the Dowager appeared in the doorway. She was wearing a new travelling gown and had a small black and white dog tucked under her arm that yipped continually as he tried to wriggle free of her.
Gregory sprang to his feet in a show of respect, but the Dowager waved him back into his chair with her free arm. ‘Please sit, Mr Drake. I am the one interrupting your breakfast. I have been in a rented carriage five long hours and my legs need a good stretch.’
She stared at her granddaughters. ‘Of course, I would not have needed a post-chaise if the Comstock carriage had been available.’
‘I am sorry, Grandmama,’ Hope began. ‘But Charity...’
‘I read your note,’ she said with a firm smile. ‘I was impressed by your ability to single-handedly deal with an emergency that occurred during a time when I was not home to accompany you.’ There was something in her eyes that said she had calculated the timeline to the minute and knew full well that the problem had been discovered long before they had set out and solved long before breakfast.
The dog let out another miserable whine and the Dowager signalled the footman hovering in the doorway. ‘Take care of Pepper, Jenks. I am sure he would like to stretch his legs as well. One of them, at least. Once he is done, you are to bring him straight back into the house. He will be living here, now, and must get used to behaving inside.’
‘Grandmama,’ Hope said, with a warning tone. ‘He cannot be coming to live here because we are not sure how long we will be staying.’
‘Do not be ridiculous, Hope. Pepper can stay as long as he wishes.’ Her grandmother smiled. ‘He does not belong to me, you see.’
‘You have no right to bring a strange dog into the place. Does it belong to your sick cousin?’ Hope threw her hands in the air. ‘I do not understand.’ It was bad that Charity had returned, but now the whole family was back where they did not belong and had grown by one.
The Dowager stared at her as if she were being unforgivably dense. ‘Have you not guessed what has happened? Did you not realise why I had gone to Bristol? The seas were rough. The poor fellow has not had a decent meal in weeks and kept down little of the food he did get. He needed time to recover before travelling on to London.’
‘Your cousin is...’ Hope raised her eyebrows. ‘That cousin?’
‘When I returned to London and found that you were both gone, I did not want to waste the time on a letter. The news is so amazing.’
There was a sound of distant barking and then the sudden yip of a dog that had attempted to chase something more inclined to fight than run.
The Dowager gave a worried look out the window. ‘I hope Jenks has not let Pepper too near the stable cats. The Earl wanted someone to bring the little fellow to his new home and I volunteered. I am assured that he is normally a sweet-tempered creature. Pepper, that is, not the Earl.’
She smiled. ‘But Miles is a sweet-tempered creature as well. The pair of them have been cooped up in a small cabin for weeks. A dog needs to feel grass under his feet and there did not seem to be enough of it in London to suit him.’
‘Miles?’ Hope had heard but one in ten of the torrent of words in her grandmother’s rambling discourse. But she had understood enough to realise that they had run out of time. She could not seem to take a breath. It was as if all the air was pushed out of her lungs, leaving her nothing to respond with. ‘You saw him?’
‘I escorted him back to London, where he will be for some time.’ She gave the girls a disapproving look. ‘I should never have given you such free use of the carriage, for he should be riding in it when he goes to the palace. Although he said it was not necessary to stand on ceremony. At least not until the formalities have been dealt with. There is a need to prove his identity, beyond doubt. Then there will be a Letter of Patent to transfer lands and title.’ The Dowager waved her hand. ‘It is all very tedious. Especially for Pepper, who did not like the town house at all.’
‘Never mind the dog.’ Now that she could manage to get a word in, Hope had to struggle to keep from shouting. ‘Tell me about the Earl.’
Her grandmother waggled a finger at her. ‘You are not still thinking of him, are you? It is very shallow of you to throw Mr Drake aside before even meeting your cousin.’
She turned to Gregory with a somewhat sterner smile. ‘The two of you will be marrying, of course. After what happened last night, I expect you will want to do so as soon as possible.’
‘What happened?’ Hope said, trying to sound as though she did not know the answer to the question.
Her grandmother frowned and shook her head. ‘Lord save me from poor liars and silly young girls.’
Was there no way to hide the truth of her behaviour, even for a moment? Charity had been lying when she’d said that the change in her was not that noticeable. It explained why girls were taught to protect their innocence at all costs. But like many strict rules, obedience had been more important than understanding. Of all the things Gregory had taught her last night, why had he not explained that there could be no turning back because, once she returned to London, everyone would know exactly what she had done?
Worst of all, Grandmama was not her usual, flippant self. She was more stern than Hope had ever seen her and, rather than telling an amusing anecdote about her misspent youth, she was giving them both dark looks and talking of marriage as afait accompli.
‘Nothing of interest happened last night,’ Hope blurted. Gregory’s mouth, which had opened to speak, closed with a frown.
She continued. ‘Charity can assure you of that, for I retired early and the two of them stayed up until all hours, playing chess. And I am not throwing anyone over for my American cousin, who is probably too old for me and married.’
‘Old and married?’ Her grandmother released a silvery laugh. ‘Whatever gave you such an idea?’
‘You, Charity and everyone else in the family,’ she replied. ‘Perhaps I have finally accepted what the two of you have been telling me all along. It would be too great a miracle for him to be young and unmarried. It is far more likely that he is old and has a wife and several children.’
‘Then miracles do happen,’ her grandmother said, stepping forward to pat her on the shoulder. ‘He is barely thirty and single. He has nothing but Pepper to claim as family. Even now, the Crown is impressing on him his responsibilities and the need for an heir.’
