“My sister says you left that party very suddenly.” Clarice moued as if prickled with grief. “What trouble hied you home, my lord?”
“Your disappearance was all any of us could talk about.” Anne angled to recapture his attention, having recovered from her indignation. “When I returned the next year, James told me you had not gone back to school. And then last year, we all heard of your father’s passing, and wondered where you werestillhiding yourself. The rumours have been innumerable — honestly, people will sayanything!”
“Wait!” Clarice clapped her hands together and turned to Miss Everson, whose face was as pale as the moon. “You said he’s been tending to Uncle George, didn’t you, Belinda?”
“Yet we can seeyouknew nothing of his ruse,” Anne added tartly.
“So all this time, you’ve been disguising yourself as a doctor in London?” Clarice laughed.
Alwyn forced a smile, though it felt like a grimace.
“You are sorely mistaken, I never sought todisguisemyself as a doctor. Rather, I have been studying all these years to actually become one. Very soon, in fact, I’ll be a member of the Royal College of Surgeons.” Though his every word was true, Alwyn felt he was spinning a yarn. “All of my efforts have been in earnest, as my licensure will soon attest.”
“Oh,” Anne breathed as if she was being entrusted with some great confidence. “Well, I shall be sure to set the record straight on your behalf when I hear anyone say otherwise.”
“Ho ho!” Clarice hooted. “What fun to tell our uncle that aviscounthas been treating him!”
“Yes, whereisour uncle?” asked Anne, fixing Miss Everson with an icy glare. “We’re out of our minds with worry! We simply must see him!”
“He is sleeping,” the latter murmured. Then, her voice grew stronger. “And he will have no visitors tonight, so I will respectfully insist that you leave now.”
“We cannot assure our mother that he is well until we see him with our own eyes,Belinda.” Anne intoned the last word as if muttering an insult. “Our aunt barred our way last time, and now you—”
“Remove yourselves this instant!” Alwyn barked and the sisters blanched as if he had just called a curse down on their heads. Taking long strides to the front door, he opened it.
After a fraught moment, Clarice drifted towards him, and dipped her head. “It was a pleasure to meet you, my lord. Should you want to come to call, we’re staying at…”
With a grunt of disgust, Alwyn swung the door as wide as it would go and waved her through. Anne followed in her sister’s wake, her nose high in the air as she sailed out into the darkening night.
Though his arm twitched to slam the door behind them, Alwyn stepped outside and watched to make certain they were safely handed into their carriage.
Only ten minutes ago, I was ready to tell Miss Everson everything, and thentheyappeared and made my history out to be some silly scandal.Watching the carriage roll off down Hertford Street, his chest almost hurt as he took a deep breath.
But they are gone now, and I can set things right.
Stepping back inside the house, he shut the door softly, saying, “I dearly hope to explain myself fully to you, Miss Ev—”
He looked around to find that he was alone in the front hall.
Of course. It would be best to sit for such a conversation.
But trodding lightly back to the parlour, he saw that it, too, was empty.
Miss Everson had vanished.
He waited a moment in the stillness, his heart sinking further and further, until he was certain she did not mean to reappear. Then, he went through the front door, and walked out into the city.
Between Hope and Alarm
MORNING LIGHT puddled on the floor of the front hall as Belinda came down the staircase. Her belly was still in knots from what had occurred there the night before.
He’s a viscount. Mr Alwyn is a viscount.
It was a word she had heard before, of course, but she had never given the actual rank any thought. Earls, dukes, barons — they were all the same to her — inscrutable, wealthy men, shut up in their gleaming carriages as they rolled through a lofty sphere she had barely glimpsed.
She paused outside of the parlour where Mr Alwyn had covered her hand with his on the doorknob. Closing her eyes, she tried to recapture the sensation, and could not help but think,Perhaps hedoeslove me, but felt compelled to tell me that Society would not allow for our union.
Or, perhaps…
