“I know that this has all been sudden,” her mother sighed. “But you must not look for shadows where there are none. It is unfair.”
“Are you certain there are none?”
“I am certain that if there were something improper, it would not be announced by a foolish footman in the entrance hall.”
Margaret almost smiled at that.
“Men of his position are discreet,” Penelope added.
“And you are certain of that.”
“Yes.”
Margaret turned her gaze toward the window. London blurred past in muted tones of stone and smoke.
“He did not seem flustered,” she said.
“That speaks well of him.”
“Or of practice.”
Her mother’s tone sharpened slightly.
“Margaret.”
She looked back at her mother.
“You must decide whether you trust the man,” her mother said. “Not the servants. Not the corridors. The man.”
Margaret absorbed that in silence.
“I do,” she said at last.
“Then let it rest.”
The carriage rolled onward. Margaret watched her reflection faintly in the glass. She had had a wonderful evening, as she always did when she was with him, and yet the name had been spoken so familiarly.
She folded her hands together in her lap.
“It was likely nothing,” she murmured, almost to herself.
“Yes,” Lady Fairleigh said firmly. “Nothing.”
Margaret nodded, but as the carriage slowed before Fairleigh House, she found that the word did not seem so believable. Margaret dismissed her maid earlier than usual. The room felt smaller at night. The candlelight softened the corners, blurred the cracks along the ceiling she had known since childhood. She removed her earrings slowly, placing them in their dish with deliberate care.
Miss Eliza. It was nothing, of course, but it did not feel like it.
A knock came at her door.
“Come in,” she said.
Poppy slipped inside without waiting for further permission, closing the door behind her. She wore her usual bright smile, and was still in her new gown as though she had been somewhere herself all night.
“I knew you would still be awake.”
“I usually am.”
Poppy crossed the room and perched at the end of the bed, skirts rustling. She had removed her elaborate pins, and her curls fell freely around her shoulders.
