Daniel's head turned sharply, an automatic rebuke forming on his lips. He had given explicit instructions that he was not to be disturbed while mediating this dispute. Mrs. Gerald knew better than to...
But it was not Mrs. Gerald who stood in the doorway.
It was Miss Lillian Whitcombe.
She was dressed simply, as always, a pale blue muslin that brought out the warmth of her complexion, and her hair was arranged in that practical, plain style he had come to associate with her. She looked, as she always looked, entirely at ease with herself and her surroundings.
Behind her, peering around her shoulder with an expression of avid curiosity, was Rosanne.
"Oh," Miss Whitcombe said, taking in the scene with a quick, assessing glance. "Forgive me, Your Grace. Simmons said you were occupied, but Rosanne was quite insistent that we might wait in the study. We did not realise you had visitors."
"Miss Whitcombe." Daniel's voice came out more clipped than he had intended. "As you can see, I am in the middle of a meeting."
"Of course. We shall wait in the morning room until you are finished."
She began to turn away, and Daniel told himself he was relieved. The last thing this delicate negotiation needed was an audience; particularly an audience that included a young woman with an unsettling talent for seeing through his carefully constructed composure.
But before Miss Whitcombe could complete her exit, Rosanne spoke up.
"What is the dispute about?" she asked, with the artless curiosity of a girl who had not yet learned that some questions were better left unasked. "Is it terribly complicated? You look as though it is terribly complicated."
"Rosanne," Daniel said, in his best quelling tone.
"I am merely inquiring. If it is a simple matter, perhaps a fresh perspective might help. Miss Whitcombe is very good at fresh perspectives."
"I do not require..."
"It is about an oak tree," Garrett interrupted, apparently deciding that if the duke's sister wished to know the nature of the dispute, he might as well explain it. "An oak that has stood at the boundary of my land and Hobbs's land for longer than any of us can remember. It came down in the storm, and now we cannot agree on who owns the strip of land beneath it."
Miss Whitcombe, who had been in the process of ushering Rosanne out of the room, paused.
"The tree marked the boundary?" she asked.
"So my family has always believed, miss."
"And Mr. Hobbs believes otherwise?"
"Hobbs believes the tree was on his land, and that the true boundary lies some distance on my side of where the oak stood."
Miss Whitcombe was quiet for a moment, her brow furrowed in thought. Daniel watched her with a mixture of irritation and unwilling curiosity. He should dismiss her, politely but firmly, and return to the matter at hand. This was estate business, not a parlor discussion, and Miss Whitcombe had no standing to involve herself in the affairs of his tenants.
And yet, there was something about her expression, that calm, focused attention, that made him want to know what she was thinking.
"May I ask a question?" she said, addressing Garrett rather than Daniel. "You need not answer if it is impertinent."
"Ask, miss."
"The oak; was it planted, or did it grow naturally?"
The question hung in the air for a moment. Daniel felt his brow furrow. It was not a question he would have thought to ask, and yet now that she had voiced it, he could see its relevance.
Garrett's weathered face creased in thought. "Planted," he said slowly. "My grandfather planted it, or so my father always told me. As a windbreak, to protect the crops in the western field."
"Your grandfather planted it," Miss Whitcombe repeated. "On his own land, presumably. To protect his own crops."
"That's right, miss."
"Then the land beneath it would have been his land at the time of planting. The tree was not a boundary marker at all; it was a windbreak. A feature of the Garrett plot, like a fence or a well." She paused, her gaze shifting to Hobbs. "If Mr. Hobbs's family had owned that strip of land, they would have been the ones to plant the windbreak. Or they would have objected to Mr. Garrett's grandfather planting trees on their property."
