Jonathan took his seat behind his oak desk, fiddling with his steel pen.“You have probably had sufficient time to read my draft speech and think of some ways to improve what I have written.You are to add nothing that you heard discussed this morning with Lord Marchmere.”
William nodded and gave his agreement.
“And you are to treat everything that you hear in the course of your duties, both inside and outside this room and this house, as confidential.”
“Of course, my lord,” William readily agreed.
Jonathan looked William in the eye.“That is, excepting what you heard just now about Marchmere’s assumptions about my engagement to Jane.”
William raised a scarred eyebrow.“My lord, Jane has told me that your engagement no longer exists.That she has withdrawn from it.I don’t know what caused the rift.Jane refuses to tell me, waving the question away with ‘we didn’t suit.’My other sisters have hinted that you were not at fault and that it was a lovers’ tiff, which may be resolved.They cited as proof the fact that no retraction had been printed in the newspaper as yet.”
“That is all true.We have had a disagreement and she has withdrawn her consent to marry me.However, part of the discord related to things that Marchmere spouted...incorrect information about my motivations for wanting to marry her.”
“I’ve heard, but even had you been stupid enough...sorry, misled enough to believe that and had married her, you would have had no hope of silencing or changing one opinion of my sister’s.”William looked as though he thought such an objective was as impossible as a man flying.“She is a force to be reckoned with, make no mistake.Accept her as she is, or give up your hopes of a happy marriage, or any marriage at all.”
Jonathan gave a bark of laughter.“Well, that’s plain speaking.I’ll take your advice seriously, William.”Jonathan rose from his chair and strode around the desk to clap William on the back affably.“Now, down to business with this speech.Tell me your ideas.”
***
THAT EVENING, JANEand her sisters were delighted to receive their brother, William, for dinner.He had only returned to London in the last few days, and they had scarcely seen him.All were amazed when he told them of his new position and sought every detail.
When the topic was exhausted, Jane said, “Now, William, if you can solve our latest mystery for us, we would be very grateful.”
“Oh, yes,” chimed in Anna.“Who is the mystery pamphlet writer for our cause?”
Jane outlined the nature of the pamphlet to her brother, wondering which side of the debate his response would support.“He or she has drawn the wrath of the Church and every conservative in the country.We presume it is a doctor, but Dr.Logan swears it is not him, and no one in our group is admitting to it.The style of writing is not one that I recognize, and nor does anyone else.”
Jane walked to the sitting room, drew a paper from the pile on its round worktable, and returned with it, handing it to her brother for his perusal.
He scanned it quickly, and looking up at his sister, said with a laugh, “I can see why it has caused a furor.It’s tantamount to heresy to some, I would say!”
The sisters agreed.
William shook his head.“By the bye, one mystery I can solve is why Lord Marchmere claimed Dalton was undertaking a political game with your engagement,” he told Jane.“You have it all wrong that Dalton wanted to discredit you and your views.I overheard him and Marchmere have a terrible to-do about it this morning.They had forgotten about my existence in the library.Seems Marchmere jumped to conclusions.He’s also the person who spread the rumor about the nature of your relationship with Dalton.”
Jane asked for details, and William repeated all he had heard of the conversation relating to her.
At his conclusion, Jane’s sisters were inclined to say, “I told you so,” but Jane was a little more hesitant about taking the words at face value.
She needed more proof.
