Grandmama buttered a piece of toast. “You’ve suffered from rather a lot of those of late. I do hope they are pleasant ones.” She glanced up at Thea. “But I rather fear they are not.”
Thea forced a smile. “I daresay one cannot be badly hurt by thoughts alone.”
“No,” Grandmama reached for the strawberry jam. “Unless one acts unwisely on them.”
Ash had arrivedat Ponder’s End late in the afternoon. He found the boarding school without difficulty, a rambling two-story, red brick building with attic rooms in the roof, on the High Street, behind a tall hedge. There was no sign of Corbet, and no vehicle waited outside the school. He couldn’t have been far behind the assassin and might have even arrived before him. With that hope, he left Jed with the horses and strode to the door.
A maid dressed in a crisp apron and mobcap answered the door. He handed her his card. A moment later, he was shown into Mrs. Tyler’s modest office on the ground floor, where the smell of beeswax polish lingered. A small, neatly dressed woman, her gray-streaked dark hair drawn back in a severe bun, came from behind her highly polished desk to greet him.
She shook his hand, her brown eyes sharp behind her glasses. “Lord Grainger?” She motioned him to sit. “Are you in need of our services? I must point out that we don’t take girls younger than eight years old.”
Ash took the chair. “No. I am unmarried, Mrs. Tyler. I am here as a favor to Lord Farnborough. He wished me to visit his stepdaughter, Julia.” Spying no sign of dismay on her face, he relaxed a little.
“Julia will be pleased. She hasn’t received a visitor since she came here.”
So Corbet had not yet arrived. Ash was grateful for his speedy horses.
Mrs. Tyler reached for the bell on her desk. Its sharp ring brought an immediate response from another middle-aged lady. “Miss Davis, please ask Julia Bannockburn to come to the office.”
A few minutes later, a girl entered. Tall and dark-haired, she appeared older than Ash had expected, perhaps thirteen or fourteen. Not a child, a serious young lady.
“Julia, Lord Grainger, who is a friend of your stepfather’s, has come to visit you.”
The girl’s dark eyebrows lowered in a perplexed frown as she bobbed a curtsey.
Mrs. Tyler went to the door. “May I offer you tea or coffee, Lord Grainger?”
“Nothing, thank you.”
The lady went out and closed the door behind her.
Julia stood stiffly before him, her hands clutched against the white pleated bodice of her dress.
“Please sit down, Julia.”
She perched on the straight-backed wooden chair and carefully arranged her dark-blue skirts. “You know my stepfather, sir?”
“I do.” Her eyes seemed wary, but he imagined girls of her age would view strangers with suspicion. Ash wondered how to broach the delicate subject, which would prove devastating to her. “Please accept my deepest regrets for your mother’s passing. It is very difficult indeed to lose a loved one, especially one’s beloved mother.”
Her brows snapped together. “Mama is not dead.”
For a moment, he feared she might not have heard. “But my dear…”
“I have Mama’s letter. She told me to wait until she can come to get me.” For the first time, uncertainty crept into her eyes.
“When was this?”
“Almost a year ago now. I have marked the days off on my calendar if you wish for the exact date?”
“That won’t be necessary,” Ash said, filled with compassion for the girl.
“My stepfather says Mama died. But I don’t believe him. He lies to keep me here.”
She obviously didn’t care for her stepfather. Ash felt a rush of anger. “But if it’s been nearly a year,” he said gently, “where could your mother be?”
“Mama refused to say because she fears my stepfather will try to make me tell him. Uncle Robert wrote to me. He is coming down from Scotland. I hope he’ll take me to her.”
Ash gazed at her somberly. “Lord Spencer did express some concern for your safety, which is why I am here.”
