“Bartimaeus. Who played a leading role in this entire affair. What would we have done without you?” Henry picked up the little pup, and together they returned to the dining room.
The dowager raised her quizzing glass when the couple entered, arm in arm.
“First she is a housemaid, then a prank-playing friend, the daughter of a pair of itinerant acting dwarves, a governess, a Drury Lane actress, a Viscount’s daughter, and now, appearing from the besotted look on my grandson’s face,the next Duchess of Ashmore. Pray make up your mind who you are.”
“Miss Lucy Bell—also known as Miss Catherine Edgewood, has just given me the great happiness of accepting to be my duchess.”
The entire company was unsurprised but delighted.
Arabella hugged Lucy. “I knew it,” she whispered into her ears. “I’m so glad to have you as a sister.”
The dowager sniffed. “I see you finally had the good sense to put my grandson out of his misery. It wasn’t to be borne. He is beaming. Ashford never beams. Now this is accomplished, can we finally proceed to having some tea?”
Epilogue
1918, Ashmore Hall, Oxfordshire.
Arabella stared at the newspaper.
They were having tea outside, since it was a sunny, warm day. Her grandmamma had just retired, and Ash carried a mewling baby in his arms, two-month-old Lady Isolde Rosamunde Kunigunde, while Bartimaeus, who’d grown considerably, trotted after him.
“What a brilliant idea. Let’s got to London and watchLionel & Clarissa,” Lucy said. She was softer, and there was a dreamy, contented look in her eyes that her younger self had never had. “It’ll be amusing, for the sub-title is ‘the school for fathers,’ so it’s positively mandatory for Ashmore to see. Arabella, did you hear?”
“Hm?” She looked up, blinking.
“The comic opera. London.”
“So?”
“You said you’d wanted to see it.”
She set the paper aside. “Oh, yes. I did. Didn’t I?”
“I was suggesting to Ash that we could go in a fortnight?”
Arabella shook herself. “Yes. Absolutely, let’s go. Brilliant.”
Lucy tilted her curly head to one side. “Are you feeling well, Arabella?”
Arabella smiled back at her friend. “Couldn’t be happier.”
“Good. You seem so quiet these days.”
“Remember the wishing well, Lucy?”
Lucy laughed. “How could I ever forget? That blasted well started it off. What a disaster it was.”
“I never asked you about that night. What did you wish for?”
Lucy grinned. “Nothing that ever came true, alas. That Miss Hilversham would let us spend some time at the seaside. It never happened. Superstitious nonsense.”
Arabella looked at her oddly. “How curious of you to say so. You ended up marrying a duke.”
Lucy stared at her. “Do you believe me marrying Henry had something to do with your wish?”
“Of course.Look at you. Happy end and all.”
Lucy took Arabella’s hands in her own. “You’ll find your happy end, too.”
