And after a fraught moment or two, during which his father's stare cooled not one whit, and during which Isaiah refused to blink or utter another word, his father shrugged.
“As you wish. In the context of the rest of your life, tonight's little altercation with Eversea will be meaningless. A mere...” he inhaled, then leisurely exhaled, a great stream of cheroot smoke. “...flyspeck.”
Of course, neither of them would ever forget it.
It would go on the ancient Redmond and Eversea score sheet. It would join all the old resentments that ceaselessly, invisibly heaved beneath their careful civility like lava beneath the earth's crust. The anecdote of how Jacob Eversea attacked Isaiah Redmond (like a slavering beast!”) allegedly unprovoked would be told and re-told between Redmonds—and Everseas (“His smug face needed hitting”)— for centuries. But only ever in private. Only ever in hushed rooms, and in tones of bored contempt.
And they would only ever have part of the truth.
Because Isaiah would never tell the truth to another soul.
He didn't need to. It didn't need to be spoken aloud. Three people already knew it without it being articulated. And it would remain between him, and Jacob Eversea, and Isolde.
“No one died,”George reported, poking his head into Isolde’s Room. “Believe it or not, everyone was dancing when I left. Jacob and the Redmonds went home. Separately. But that goes without saying.”
Isolde had revived from her faint on the assembly hall floor, ringed by concerned ladies. While the rest of the Pennyroyal Green citizenry milled about like ants from a kicked anthill, she was smuggled out of the hall and installed in Lady Fennimore’s carriage (she’d volunteered it), then taken home, along with Maria and her parents.
Whereupon she been had been tucked into bed and forced to drink a tisane.
George had lingered at the assembly to collect, as he’d dryly put it to his parents, “intelligence,” and had made his own way home.
Physically, she felt more or less fine.
Inwardly, numbness currently blunted the pain of a destroyed heart.
“I expect it was a bit of silly competition that got out of hand,” she told her parents vaguely. “You know how boys can be. I didn’t know I would be alarmed into a swoon. How embarrassing. I’m so sorry to ruin everyone’s evening.”
She refused to expound, no matter how sternly or woefully they stared at her. And as she was unharmed physically, they finally consented to stop fussing and left her alone with Maria, who sat companionably by her bed.
When Isolde suddenly shivered as she pictured Jacob hovering over Isaiah's prone body, Maria leaned over and tucked her shawl around her.
Isolde couldn’t suppress an unworthy satisfaction that Jacob had gone mad and attacked Isaiah, though she couldn’t know exactly what had motivated him. But she would wager it was for the same reason he’d raced to rescue his nephew from toppling from a fence.
And she still didn’t think he’d overheard her conversation with Isaiah. But he had seen her expression when Isaiah had walked away from her. And she was fairly certain this had told him enough.
She remained horrified and embarrassed that he’d witnessed both her perfidy and her pain.
“Isolde…did you know Jacob had returned?” Maria ventured.
After a moment, Isolde nodded.
“Do you think Jacob is jealous of Mr. Redmond because of you?” Maria whispered it.
“I think he could be.”
Maria peered intently at her. Clearly contemplating whether to ask another question.
Isolde cleared her throat. “Maria, have you heard any gossip about me lately about…?”
Maria shook her head. “But I don’t think anyone would say anything to me directly, anyway.” She paused, then whispered. “Have youdoneanything worth gossiping about? Is that why you were late to the picnic?”
It was a bold and astute question.
And Isolde didn’t answer, which was answer enough.
“Maria…what if I’m a pariah now because an Eversea and a Redmond came to blows? Am I going to be a burden to my relatives?” This scared her badly.
“I'm not certainno onewill marry you,” Maria suggested carefully. “There are men living on other continents, for instance.”
