He scowled. “You’re sure? They can be hard on your shelves.”
Her chuckle was delighted. “Oh, yes. From what I’ve heard as we walked up, we need to visit before you drag them off to darkest Wales.”
“You live on the Severn,” Glenn spoke up. “What can you tell my friend here about the country across the river?”
She shook her head. “That it’s too much trouble to cross the river to see it. Even from the Manor it takes at least at least two days, depending on the season. As unreliable as ferries are in the tidal currents, you must travel all the way up to Gloucester to cross over.”
“We have made the trip a few times,” Miss Edwina said. “We have some cousins near Abergavenny. I remember how pretty the hills were.”
“I remember that it rained,” Miss Charlotte added. “Constantly.”
“Oh, yes,” Lady Georgianna agreed. “Which meant it tookthreedays to get there. And everything was damp.” She lifted an elegant hand in exception. “Beautiful, mind. But wet.”
“I think our work is done here,” Lady Charlote murmured. “Prissy’s father just hurried out of here as if the place had caught fire.”
“I suspect he’s looking for Prissy’s mother,” Lady Georgianna responded with a small turn of her head. “She tends to frequent the card room.”
“Somehow I doubt she’ll be so easy to convince,” Grey said.
Lady Georgianna nodded. “We’ll probably have to perform a second act,” she said, “which we girls can manage. All we must do is share your sad news with my Aunt Berenice. She will provide all the outrage Mr. Mayhew will need to stoke his determination. She loathes Wales.”
“Shall I see to it?” Edwina asked.
“Yes, please.” Lady Georgianna shot her a bright smile. “You know how to handle Aunt Berenice better than we do.”
“Everyone knows how to handle her better thanIdo,” Charlie retorted.
“Eddie has patience,” Lady Georgianna said. “Besides, you get along better with the fathers, Charlie.”
Rob laughed. “That’s because she can outride them all.”
“I still say we need a rake,” Lady Edwina said, her voice pitched low.
Rob leaned in. “You need awhat?”
Lady Georgianna smiled. “Eddie believes that if a known rake shows interest in Priscilla, it would provide the final push needed for her parents to wed her to her safe neighbor. But we don’t know any rakes. Well, not any who can be trusted.”
Rob snapped his fingers. “Declan Bowdern.”
Lady Georgianna perked up. “Is he a rake?”
“Worse. He’s anIrishrake.”
Lady Georgianna was beginning to look delighted. “Is he poor?”
Rob shrugged. “Nobody knows. My suspicion is that he does quite well for himself but just doesn’t want to invite a notoriously anti-Irishtoninto his affairs.”
“But can we trust him?”
Both men nodded.
“Pulled my cods out of the fire more than once,” Rob said.
“He was on the Peninsula with you?” Lady Georgianna asked.
Grey nodded. “Came home on the same ship.”
Lady Charlotte tilted her head, her attention on Rob. “Aren’t you enough of a rake for our purposes, Rob? I can’t imagine you made it across the entire Iberian Peninsula in an unsullied state.”
