"You cannot?" Seraphine asked with wide eyes.
"No." Maria folded her hands neatly in her lap. "Because if you had not gone, you would likely be on your way to the Abbey by now, and I daresay you would not find that particularly agreeable."
Despite herself, Seraphine let out a watery laugh. "I suppose not."
"There now," Maria said with satisfaction. "If I can make you laugh, matters cannot be entirely hopeless."
Seraphine shook her head. "You always did possess unreasonable confidence."
"It comes from years of surviving a difficult employer like your father," Maria replied with perfect seriousness.
That earned another small laugh. Then the smile disappeared as quickly as it had come.
"Maria..." Seraphine whispered, lowering her gaze. "He says he loves me."
Maria blinked. "The Duke told you so?"
"Yes."
"Well..." Maria smiled warmly. "That seems rather wonderful."
"It would be," Seraphine replied, tears filling her eyes once more, "if he had not then immediately agreed that I should go and live with Rosaline in Scotland."
Maria's expression softened. "Oh."
"He says he loves me," Seraphine continued, clutching the glass tightly, "yet he is perfectly content to let me leave." She looked up helplessly. "What sort of love is that?"
Maria was silent for several moments before speaking carefully. "My lady... His Grace has always seemed a good man to me."
"He is a good man," Seraphine admitted with a weary sigh. "That is the worst part."
Maria tilted her head. "How so?"
"Because goodness ought to make matters simpler." Seraphine rubbed at her eyes. "Instead, he confuses me dreadfully."
She rose from the bed and wandered towards the window. "If he truly wished me beside him..., would he not have fought for me?"
Maria joined her at the window. "Men are very strange creatures," she declared wisely.
Seraphine looked sideways at her. "Is that your expert opinion?"
"It is." Maria smiled.
"Based upon extensive study?" Seraphine teased for a moment.
Maria nodded gravely. "I have observed them for years."
Seraphine could not help smiling. "And your conclusion?"
"They are capable of performing astonishingly clever things," Maria said. "Managing estates, winning wars, making fortunes..." She paused. "...yet they become absolute fools the moment emotions are involved."
A genuine laugh escaped Seraphine. "I believe you may have solved the mystery of mankind."
"I do try," Maria laughed.
The humor faded as Seraphine rested her forehead lightly against the cool glass. "My father..." she began quietly. "I do not think I have ever truly recovered from him." Her voice was scarcely above a whisper. "I told myself I had." She swallowed. "But I do not think I ever learned to trust men."
Maria listened without interrupting.
