“No intention of doing that, ma’am. Apple’s real father was a man of high rank, but so was her mother. Or genteel, at least. He was already married, so the thing was hushed up. It was the grandfather who settled the trust on Apple and arranged for Greenaway to adopt her.”
He’d told it in as matter of fact a fashion as he could, stripped of the implications, the soiled background that rendered Appoline Greenaway unfit for the future he’d have given anything in the world to offer her.
Georgy burst into tears and buried her face in her handkerchief. Had his distress shown after all? Or was she upset for Apple?
Lord Luthrie rubbed a hand along his back and the touch of sympathy very nearly overset Alex. He swung his mind away from remembrance of Apple’s tortured little face and, lifting his glass, tossed off the remainder of his wine.
His father took his glass and set it down. Another one appeared in front of Alex, this time with a measure of golden liquid in the bottom.
“Here, my dear boy. Sit down and sip this.”
Pushed into the chair opposite his mother’s, Alex took a sip of the fiery liquid and realised his sire had given him the more potent restorative of brandy.
“That’s better.” Lord Luthrie looked at his daughter. “You sit down too, my pet, and try not to interrupt.”
Georgy, still sniffling, sank into a chair by her mother. Lord Luthrie, evidently satisfied, drew a chair up near Alex’s and laid a hand on his son’s arm.
“I dare say you’ve forgotten in all the excitement, Alex, but did I not say that your mother has had a notion?”
A vague recollection filtered through the hollow in Alex’s head. “When I came up earlier?”
“Just so.” His sire looked across at his wife. “Now, my dear Pippa, if you will.”
Alex eyed his mother’s face with a rising sense of apprehension. She did not look disapproving, rather to his surprise. Instead, she wore an expression in which he recognised the signs of the managing disposition which had frequently resulted in the complaint that she was an interfering busybody. The apprehension deepened. Had his mother got her teeth into this? If she had, woe betide him. Once she was set on a course, nothing deterred her.
The thought that his father evidently approved flitted through his mind, and the worry lightened a trifle. He trusted Lord Luthrie to have his interests at heart.
“It was this business of your keeping Appoline safe until her birthday that made me think of it, Alexander.”
“Think of what, ma’am?”
“Her age, my dear boy. If she is almost one and twenty, it fits in very nicely.”
Impatience began to ride Alex. “What in the world are you talking of, ma’am? Wish you won’t talk in riddles.”
“If you will have the courtesy to listen, Alexander, you will understand directly.”
The sharp tone irritated, but his father’s hand was once again on his arm and he refrained from retort.
“Do be quiet, Alex,” his sister chimed in. “Much as I dislike Mama’s notion, you do need to hear it.”
“I thank you, Georgiana, but I can dispense with your assistance.” Georgy subsided, flushing, and Lady Luthrie returned her gaze to Alex. “An old scandal, Alexander. I have as yet no proof, but the coincidence is much too close to discount.”
Alex set down his glass on the little table beside his chair and sat up. “Do you mean to say you know who Apple really is?”
His mother tutted. “I cannot know until I hear back from Lady Mere. But if I do not miss my guess, Appoline is the Duke of Melkesham’s daughter.”
Dumbfounded, it took a moment for Alex to find his voice. “I don’t believe it! But the fellow’s a stickler. You’re saying Apple is a skeleton in his closet?”
“As I say, I cannot yet be certain, but the facts fit.”
“Well, what are they? And how do you know if it was hushed up?”
“It happens that Lady Mere, who is the duke’s sister, you must know —”
“I didn’t, but let that pass.” Alex was feeling stunned and not a little bewildered.
“Lady Mere,” pursued his mother in the measured tone she always used when she was obliged to repeat herself, “was a friend of my girlhood, which is how I became privy to the facts of the case. She was still Lady Oriana Damerham at that time and thus witnessed the entirety of the scandalous proceedings at first hand. She was distressed and confided in me, and I may say I have never opened my lips upon the subject from that day until now.”
