“Then I’m not here purely for my valeting skills?”
“Not purely,” Piers said, eying Stewart’s efforts through his quizzing glass.“Though I’ll not deny those are useful too.”
“What in particular would you like me to do?”
“Perhaps help serve at table?”Piers suggested.“Exercise a bit of staff supervision, although Mrs.Riley seems quite capable of discipline.Also, keep an eye on our patient.”
“In case someone tries to finish the job?”
“It crossed my mind.And—er...how are you with formidable old ladies?”
***
DR.JOSEPH HALE, SOONto be the vicar of St.Dunstan’s, discovered his betrothed alone in the dining room, gazing out of the window.He had come across her earlier, in a similar position in the library.Then, she had been looking out upon a scene that included Withy on a garden bench talking to his wife.This view was of the other side of the garden and there were no Withans in sight.
“Hungry?”he asked lightly.
Turning, she gave him a rueful smile.“Just a little...unsettled,” she said, with more softness, and more openness than he had seen in her since their arrival at Temper House.
“It’s odd seeing him again,” Hale said, returning the favour.“SoWithy, and yet so not.”
“He is changed,” she said.“How could he not be?To be inveigled into marriage by such a creature, to be made a laughing stock—”
“I don’t think he was,” Hale interrupted.“Inveigled, I mean.From something he let slip, he had to persuade her.I’d say she is definitely beneath him, no gentleman’s daughter, though she has learned well.So yes, the marriage is unequal.But she is not grasping.In fact, I would say she is devoted.”
Hostility flashed in Claudia’s eyes once more.“Would you?But then, like Piers, confronted by a pretty face, you forget to use your brain.”
“Is love ever all about the brain?”he asked, irked.“Or don’t you know?”
She coloured.“What do you mean by that?”
I mean, do you love me?Or was I only ever second best?At least he didn’t say the words aloud, although he did blurt something almost as bad.“You did not accept me until Withy was married.”
Her shock was unexpected.She even made a movement toward him before she stopped herself.She was considering what he had said, analysing it.Hope soared, because the thought seemed to be new to her.
Mal wandered in.“Luncheon is coming,” he said cheerfully.“Seems an age since breakfast.Fancy a game of pall-mall this afternoon?”
“Why not?”Hale said.“Providing the weather holds and our hosts are not too busy investigating their mysteries.”
He spoke lightly, but he knew an odd feeling at the loss of his moment with Claudia.He didn’t know if it was a good or a bad thing.Was honesty ever too much?
“The footman?”Mal said, as though he had forgotten, which he probably had.
Hale hadn’t forgotten him for a moment, and from the sudden flash of guilt in Claudia’s eyes, neither had she.It was all a mess.And it might be best if this was one puzzle Withy never solved.
