Thea hadn’t got far with Ewan last night. When she’d questioned him, he’d acted as if there was nowhere she couldn’t venture in the house. She guessed that was because he didn’t want to appear suspicious, and he most likely had no inkling that she would begin poking around bedchambers to find his (other) hidden guest.
Exactly how many people was the man hiding in this house? For all she knew, there were more than two. He certainly had seemed as if he had nothing to hide. If there was another house guest, why wasn’t that guest invited to dinner also? Perhaps Rosalie was mistaken. Or perhaps, Ewan was simply a good liar. There was only one way to find out. She intended to go poking into bedchambers, as soon as she could get out ofthisblasted one.
“No, I don’t want to know who Lord Clayton is hiding down the hall,” Maggie replied firmly. “And you shouldn’t either. In fact, you should be much more concerned with the fact that the same maid who told youthatsecret may be telling other peopleyoursecret.”
Thea froze. “Good heavens, you’re right. I didn’t even think about that.” She bit her lip and considered her friend’s words for a few moments. “Thatissomething to worry about, isn’t it?”
“Yes. It is. And the reason you didn’t think of it before now is because you’re too busy being meddlesome,” Maggie replied.
“I cannot help being curious. Besides, what else am I to do, trapped in this house? I cannot believe Anthony hasn’t at least written yet.” Thea would have stamped her foot if she hadn’t been sitting in a wheelchair with one leg propped up.
Maggie blinked at her over the top of the bed sheet she was folding. “I thought you were hoping he’d arrive instead of write.”
“Iam, but at this point I’d welcome a letter.” Thea had maneuvered herself close enough to the door to tug at the handle, but the angle she was at would ensure that the door could not open wide enough for her to push herself into the corridor. “Please Maggie, help me.”
Maggie sighed and stalked to the door. She waited with her hands on her hips for Thea to move herself far enough away from the door to open it. Once it was open, Thea gleefully pedaled herself into the corridor. “Thank you,” she called. “I’ll be back later.”
“You’re supposed to be hiding,” Maggie replied in a half-whisper.
“Very few servants are allowed on this floor. Rosalie told me herself,” Thea shot back.
“Yes, let’s believe whatever Rosalie says. Including the fact that there’s another guest hidden up here somewhere.”
Over her shoulder, Thea gave her friend a wicked smile. “There’s only one way to find out.”
“I know my words are about to fall on deaf ears, but it’s none of your business if Lord Clayton is housing another guest on this property. You should leave it alone.”
Thea took off in the direction of the far end of the corridor. “You know me, Maggie. There’s no possible way I’m going to leave it alone.”
“MY LADY, WAKE UP,”came Maggie’s voice through Thea’s sleepy haze.
Thea shook herself awake and glanced around. She was sitting in a corner of a corridor in her wheelchair and she’d clearly been asleep from some time. “What time is it?” she groggily asked Maggie who was smiling down at her, her arms folded over her chest.
“Nearly four o’clock,” was Maggie’s reply.
“In the afternoon?” Thea asked. Where was she? And what had she been do— She glanced around and searched her memory. “Lord Clayton’s houseguest. I never found her.”
“By the looks of things, you didn’t get too far,” Maggie replied. “You’re only around the corner from your own room.”
“What? What happened? I feel asleep?” Thea shook her groggy head, still not fully comprehending what happened.
“Laudanum will do that to a person,” Maggie replied in a singsong voice.
“Laudanum? But I didn’t have any laud—” Thea sat up straighter and glared at the maid. “My tea! Margaret Mary Hill, you put laudanum in my tea this morning, didn’t you? I knew it had a strange taste.”
“I warned you to mind your own affairs,” Maggie replied.
“You know how I am,” Thea insisted, trying desperately to back her chair from the corner.
“Yes, I do, which is precisely why I put laudanum in your tea. Now, I’m taking you back to your bedchamber to begin preparing for dinner. Lord Clayton has asked that you join him in the dining room once again.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
After the footmen had cleared away dinner that evening, Ewan dismissed them both. Then he wheeled Thea into the drawing room directly off of the dining room and shut the doors so none of the passing servants would see them.
He pushed Thea’s chair to sit next to the settee and took a seat on the settee himself. They’d had another fine meal, talking and laughing, sharing bits of information they knew about others in the area and joking about everything from horse racing to Shakespeare’s plays.
Ewan was thoroughly impressed with Lady Thea Ballard. She was proving to be witty, warm, and quite clever. She obviously loved her brother a great deal, loved Alabaster perhaps more, and was somewhat tepid when it came to her father. Her mother, however, was someone she had loved quite fiercely. It was tragic that she’d been taken from her young daughter so soon.
