“I hate how this is distressing you, Mama. I wish I could waft it all away.”
“But you can’t. We can’t even leave the house!”
“It will blow over,” Ariana said, but she didn’t believe it. This was a true disaster.
The crowd outside their door would have to dissipate in time, especially as it was threatening rain, but could she ever appear in Town again? Even if peopledidn’t exactly believe the picture, it would be in their minds whenever Lady AB entered a room.
“Perhaps Kynaston will discover the culprit,” her mother said.
“But will that help?” Ariana asked. “Probably some lowly printer saw that item in the paper and decided to exploit it for profit.” But then she frowned. “If he’s anonymous, how is he earning his filthy money?”
“There’s a good question,” Ethel said. “Paid up front?”
“If so, by whom?”
“Not Inching.”
“You seem sure of that.”
“Lord Inching would never sink so low,” Ariana’s mother said, clearly thinking no nobleman would.
Ariana wasn’t so sure, and Churston was also in the mix. She realized she’d told no one what Ethel had discovered.
“We will leave for Boxstall,” her mother declared.
This time Ariana had to agree, but she said, “Not until we have some idea of how this came about.” There was nothing more to be said, but the silence became intolerable. Ariana surged to her feet to pace the room. “Where the devil is Kynaston?”
“Ariana!” her mother chided.
“This is not the time to fuss about language! I wish I knew some more heinous language. This is all so unfair!”
Her mother broke into tears again. Ariana rushed to her and rocked her, longing for someone to comfort her. To be a child again with faith in hugs and the power of others to make things right. Despite what might happen in the next few days, this scandal would hang around her neck for the rest of her life.
In decades to come, people who heard her name would ask if tall Lady Ariana wasn’t the Amazon who’d been caught in a cellarin flagrante delictowith wicked Lord Kynaston. Even worse, such stories grew over time. Eventually she would have been discovered by dozens, naked in the act, and would have borne bastard triplets, each marked with a mysterious pagan hieroglyph. And then, decades hence, people would marvel that such a dried-up old spinster could ever have been racy, and she would have wasted away her life, hiding in libraries because books were her only friends.
Her brother returned.
“Norris!” Ariana exclaimed. “What’s happening?”
“Devilish little,” Norris complained, “but Kynaston told me to come to give an interim report.”
“Then do so.”
“Don’t take that tone!” he snapped, making Ariana wonder if this hellish situation wasn’t driving them all mad. “We’ve been making enquiries, with the assistance of the magistrates and some Bow Street Runners.”
“That sounds excellent,” she said, trying to be calm. “Has anything been discovered?”
“Would you like tea, dear?” her mother asked, making Ariana want to scream at her.
“Ale,” her brother said.
Ethel went out to arrange for it and at last Norris sat down to make his report.
“The editor of theLondon Intelligencerhas fled London and possibly the country, so it’s suspected that he was behind it. His press might have been used, but there are no plates or other incriminating evidence there.”
Ariana sat down opposite. “Why would he do that at his own expense? He had no reason to hurt me.”
“He might not see it that way. Kynaston laid downthe law to him about the piece in his paper and was taking action to shut him down. Apparently he’s a resentful sort given to using his paper to attack anyone he sees as an enemy. But it’s all supposition as yet.”
