She also wished to heal the rift with her sister. To do that, they must speak. Certainly, Elise could understand that.
Lady Whitby turned as if ready to make her way to the door. Dara did not hesitate in seizing the moment. She moved as if also intent on leaving and feigned practically stumbling into Lady Whitby’s path and almost knocking her over.
“Oh, dear,” Dara said in alarm. “I’m so sorry. Please excuse me.” And then she acted surprised to see whom she had almost run over. “Why, Lady Whitby, I’m doubly sorry to you for my clumsiness.”
Her ladyship was some years older than Dara with an unfortunately long face and large nostrils that flared at the unexpected intrusion. “Mrs.Brogan—” The emphasis on the salutation was an implied insult. “Not a problem at all. Now, if you will excuse me—”
“I was leaving as well. Let me accompany you out of the store—”
“You need not go to the trouble—”
“It is not a task at all, my lady.” With those words, Dara followed the woman out of the shop.She would explain her disappearance later to Gwendolyn. Nor would she be gone long.
Out on the busy street, Lady Whitby looked up the road and down. It was difficult to find places for vehicles to wait, especially early on a fine afternoon like this one. Her driver was probably circling the square until she signaled she was ready to depart.
Dara knew she had perhaps three minutes to speak her piece. She plunged in. “How is Elise?”
Lady Whitby pulled back as if Dara had attacked her. “You are very blunt.” Her disapproval for Dara was etched in each word. Then, she saw her driver in the distance and took a step as if to meet him halfway.
Again, Dara stepped into her path. “You are correct, I am, especially where my sister is concerned. Please, my lady, I love Elise. I—” She paused, groping for the right words. Lady Whitby appeared to not be paying any attention at all to her heartfelt entreaty.
But Dara was nothing if not bold. She had never backed off when she felt a cause was just. “I miss Elise. Please tell her that I long to make amends. But I can’t do so when she refuses to speak to me.”
“You may tell her that yourself,” Lady Whitby answered crisply. “I do not direct Elise.” She took a step around Dara and would have charged off to meet her coachmen except for Dara’s next statement.
“Youaredirecting Elise if you make it easy for her to avoid us.”
Lady Whitby stopped. She turned and frowned at Dara. “Avoid you?” She sounded confused.
“You are keeping her from us,” Dara said, moving closer to her ladyship lest this very private discussion be overheard by someone in the public.
“I’m doing no such thing.”
“As long as you repeatedly allow her to be a guest under your roof, Elise does not have to confront us. I know she is upset. My heart breaks over it—”
“Truly? It seems to me you overrode your sister’s heart quite effectively, Mrs. Brogan.”
“That was not my intention.Ever.Please, I wish to speak to my sister.” There. Dara had sounded almost calm.
“Then speak to her,” Lady Whitby shot back. “I’m not stopping you.”
“May I call on you later today to see Elise?”
Her ladyship’s coach had almost reached her. She’d been about to hurry toward it when she paused. She looked to Dara. “Call on me to see Elise?”
“If I am to talk to her, I must go to where she is.”
Lady Whitby held up a finger to her driver, a signal she would be right there. She faced Dara. “Your sister is not with me.”
If the ground had opened up beneath Dara’sfeet, she could not have been more surprised. “We assumed...” She stopped, confused.
“Is she not with you?”
Dara dumbly shook her head.
It was a testimony to Lady Whitby’s regard for Elise that she genuinely looked concerned. “Mrs. Brogan, she is not my guest. I haven’t seen her since, well, the Norwards’ musicale. When was that? Last Monday?”
“We thought she went to you. She hasn’t been home. We haven’t seen her for the good part of two days.”
