“It was my pleasure.” And to his surprise, he found that he meant it.
A comfortable silence settled over them as Alex lapsed back into her own thoughts on the gardens while Branford contemplated her unusual reaction regarding being on the shelf. He had always thought it ridiculous that young girls were meant to marry before they had a chance to gain some knowledge and experience of the world, but somehow, he didn’t think that was what Miss Chilton meant.
But he couldn’t help but wonder what sentiments had prompted her declaration .
“Milord …” Alex spoke softly, her voice barely audible above the clatter of the phaeton’s wheels.
Jarred from his own musings, Branford gave her a sidelong glance. “yes?”
“I was wondering if I might ask a favor of you. That is, another one, since I regard your driving me to Kew Gardens as a rather large one as well, but …”
She swallowed hard …
His brows rose. “This the first time I’ve seen you at a loss for words, Miss Chilton. Come now, don’t you young ladies practice this sort of thing? It certainly seems most of you have it down toa fine art.” A faint smile. “I do believe that you are supposed to lower your lashes demurely and flutter them a few times when asking a favor from a gentleman.”
Alex stiffened and her face colored. “Forgive me, sir. You are right to ridicule me. I am well aware I have no feminine charms. And I have no right to ask?—”
“It wasn’t meant as ridicule, Miss Chilton,” said Branford. “I was merely teasing you.”
Her eyes remained locked on the road ahead. The silence was now crackling with tension.
Branford swore to himself. She was difficult to puzzle out. He pulled the horses to an easy walk so he could turn his full attention to her.
“Miss Chilton, I apologize if I have offended you. Now please continue and ask me what you intended.”
“It is of no import.”
“Don’t be a peagoose.”
“I amnotacting like …” She stopped and grimaced. “Actually, I am, aren’t I? I’m very sorry.”
Her chin rose as she turned to face him. “In truth, I have little practice in asking a gentleman—or anyone for that matter—for help. You … you embarrassed me.”
“It was badly done of me.” Lud, she was as loath as he was about having to ask for help. “It is I who am sorry.”
Alex took a deep breath. “What I was wondering is … umm … during the Peninsula campaign, you were credited with saving Wellington from ambush?” It was phrased as a question.
He nodded.
“It was because you deciphered a code?”
He nodded again, intrigued as to where things were headed. Certainly in no direction he had ever explored with a lady before.
“Are you an expert in cryptology?”
Would Miss Chilton never cease to surprise him?“I am fairly conversant with the principles from my work in the army.”
“Well, I have been struggling for an age, but I can’t make heads or tails of how one wrests the meaning from a page of gibberish. I seem to have no aptitude for the principles of logic underlying cryptology, and I can’t find a decent book on the subject …”
“I take it, Miss Chilton, you have a code that you wish to decipher?”
It was Alex’s turn to nod.
“And just how did you come by it?”
“It was tucked into one of my father’s books, one of the ones he had with him the night he was driving home and had his fatal accident.”
For a moment, a puzzled look shadowed her features. “He had never written in such a manner before. It is the oddest piece of paper. The letters are jumbled together in the most nonsensical way, and there are little symbols that look like axes or some such things…”
