“Buford and two footmen are in the garden running about with Doddy,” she said, walking in with a note. “This arrived while you were out walking, which I would have joined you on had I known.”
“I was quite able to walk with Timmy alone, Jenny, don’t fret,” Sophie said, opening the missive.
“It’s not safe for you to go wandering about.”
“And yet here I stand before you, safe,” Sophie said, not willing to go into what had actually happened.
Jenny harrumphed, which she excelled at, but said nothing further.
Reading the contents of the note from Amelia, she found it was an invitation to visit the Logan town house to see her collection of figurines.
“I am going out, Jenny?—”
“With me,” her maid said before she finished her sentence.
“With you, and we will leave shortly.” Sophie left the room to find Letty and tell her where she was going.
She located her writing letters in a small parlor.
“I have been asked to visit with Miss Logan, Letty, and I would like to go,” Sophie said, handing her the note.
“But of course, dear, you must go,” Letty agreed after reading it, “and I will accompany you.”
“That is not necessary, as I feel quite comfortable visiting Amelia alone.”
She needed something to take her mind off those men and seeing Lord Coulter again, and this was the perfect opportunity.
“Minerva, Miss Logan’s mother, is an old friend, Sophie.” Letty looked at the note she still held. “We came out together. She was a beauty,” Letty said as her eyes now filled with distant memories.
“As were you, Letty,” Sophie added.
“Thank you, dear. I had my share of admirers.” Sophie hid her smile. She’d heard stories about those admirers. “Minerva was my dearest friend before her parents forced her to wed, Sophie. A lecherous old man over three times her age.” Letty sipped her tea before she continued, her face serious now.
“To the eye, Lord Logan was a gently bred, wealthy, titled peer. He married Minerva and took her from London to his estate in the country. The last time we met, she told me how scared she was, but of course there was little I could do or say to ease that fear; I just prayed that Lord Logan would take care of my friend.”
Sophie could see by the expression on Letty’s face that had not been the case. “What happened?” she whispered, almost fearing what she was about to hear.
“He mistreated her and gambled every penny he had away. His estates were entailed, and she was left penniless.” Sophie could hear the anger in her sister-in-law’s voice.
“How did you find out?”
“When Minerva did not respond to my letters, I paid her a visit,” Letty said. “Henry was courting me at the time, so he offered to take me. We arrived to find my beautiful friend bearing absolutely no resemblance to the sweet young woman who had left London mere months before.”
“What did you do?”
“I found him, her husband. He lay in a drunken stupor on his bed,” Letty said, and Sophie could see the anger that still smoldered inside her.
“I threw a basin of water over him to make him wake up,” she said. “Then I told him I was taking Minerva back to London, and if he tried to follow, she would expose him for the man he was.”
“That was very brave,” Sophie said.
“Of course, he yelled and tried to hit me, but Henry had followed me and, astute man that he was, took in the situation with one glance and knocked Lord Logan to the ground.”
Sophie had been on the receiving end of Letty’s protection and knew exactly what she had done for Minerva.
“I think I would have liked your Henry, Letty.”
“Yes, he was the very best of men.” Letty sighed, dabbing the corners of her eyes before she continued with her story. “We gathered her up, along with her terrified maid, and left. On the journey back to London, she told us everything he had done to her—all of it, Sophie.” Letty’s eyes looked bleak, which told Sophie more than words could say about just what had happened to Minerva Logan.
