Dorothy’s soft, sad face confirmed Bridget’s worst suspicions, which was that her sister also likely anticipated Elias’s eventual agreement.
“It is unfair,” Bridget said softly.
“I know.”
And the tears that Bridget had been holding back for the better part of the day sprang into her eyes.
“Oh, dearest,” Dorothy murmured, folding her sister into a warm embrace.
Bridget sobbed into her sister’s shoulder, dampening Dorothy’s gown with tears. Dorothy’s hand, warm and light, rubbed soothing circles over Bridget’s back. “I know it feels like the end of the world, Bridget, but I promise it is not. It is early, but you may wish to retire. I find that most matters do not seem so terrible after a good rest.”
“Assuming I can even find rest,” Bridget murmured against her sister’s shoulder.
“It is worth trying.”
It was. Maybe if Bridget was very lucky, she would fall into a deep sleep, onlyto be awakened by true love’s kiss.
CHAPTER 6
Solamen miseris socios habuisse doloris.
It was the one line that Lewis remembered from Christopher Marlowe’s playDr. Faustus.Misery loves company.
Lewis doubted the veracity of that statement in part because the line had been delivered by Mephistopheles, who was a demon from Hell, but also because he had never found it to be true. If anything, misery made him want to hide away from everyone.
He could not. Already, he was late, and the world had been thrown into chaos.
Lewis grimaced, as he approached his grandmother’s familiar townhouse. She was the last person who he wanted to interact with after such a trying day, but he knew that he must. If Lewis did not make an appearance, his grandmother would launch into a fit of hysterics, and she would inevitably send her entire staffto his townhouse, fearing that some terrible calamity might have befallen him.
Technically, he supposed one had.
Simon Black, his grandmother’s butler, promptly opened the door. “Welcome, Your Grace.”
Lewis only grunted in response. Simon Black was a middle-aged man, quiet and efficient. Discrete. Lewis had never thought much about him or any of the staff, except for Mrs. Eleanor Clove, who worked as his grandmother’s housekeeper, nurse, and lady’s maid. In a sea of servants, she was the one paragon of virtue and the only true necessity in his grandmother’s household.
“Her Grace is waiting for you in her bedchamber,” Black continued. “She complained of a headache, and?—”
“Doubtlessly.”
His grandmother was forever complaining of headaches, which no amount of valerian root or laudanum seemed capable of soothing.
Lewis crossed the foyer and darted up the stairs, taking them as quickly and quietly as he could. Was it too much to hope that his grandmother might have fallen asleep? That was the usual end of her headaches.
When he reached the bedchamber, he paused at the entrance. The door was slightly ajar, and he peered inside. His grandmother’s room was dark, the drapes having been drawn, and only the smallest amount of light flitted through the window. In that small piece of light, Mrs. Clove sat mending a stocking.
Lewis gingerly opened the door, which groaned slightly. Mrs. Clove turned her head and, seeing him, rose. She curtsied neatly, abandoning her mending, and joined him in the doorway.
“How is she?” Lewis asked softly.
“She has been in a foul mood.” Mrs. Clove’s brown eyes darted into the darkness, as if she feared that the Dowager Duchess might emerge from the shadows and chastise her for being so blunt. “A quarter of an hour ago, she went to bed. Before that, she was asking after you. I am uncertain if you realized, but you are a little later than usual, Your Grace.”
Precisely four hours late.
“And surprisingly, the world did not end,” Lewis said dryly.
Mrs. Clove gave him a chastening look, which Lewis chose to ignore. She had no right to gaze at him like that, but he appreciated Mrs. Clove too much to antagonize her over something so slight. Mrs. Clove was everything to his grandmother, and the poor woman might well fall to pieces without her aid.
“It has been a trying day,” he said by way of explanation. “Aside from my tardiness, how has she been?”
