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This time, she managed a sidelong glance at him. “Because of the expedition?”

“In part. But mostly due to the fact that I have just turned in my latest book to the printers.”

Enthusiasm lit in her eyes. “Truly?” she asked before checking her interest and feigning a look of placidity. “I believe I recall Mr. Chumley mentioning you had drafted a book or two. What volume is this, then?”

He hid a smile. Had she read his work? She had called him—what were the words again, esteemed and talented?

“The eighth,” he replied.

“Oh, that is very…fine.”

He held his hands behind his back as they continued to move at a snail’s pace behind the group still meandering. They’d only just reached the beginning of the second carriage. At this rate, they wouldn’t reach Yorkshire for four days instead of three.

Not that he minded. All it meant was more time with Miss Fernside on her own. “Have you perchance read one?”

“Oh, I-I am uncertain. I read so many books about birds, it is difficult to tell one from another.”

Henry did not believe her for a moment. Still, he would allow her to keep her secret.

For now.

They finally reached the horses of the third carriage, but instead of continuing forward, Miss Fernside, to his surprise, stopped at the center of the pavement and faced him directly.

“Mr. Branok,” she began, staring at the ground between them, “before we go any farther, I must apologize for my behavior within the Chumleys’ parlor. Specifically for hushing you. I can assure you, it will not happen again, and I beg your forgiveness for offending you.”

Henry could only smile. “Allow me to set your mind at ease. You did not offend me in the slightest. It certainly was not the first time I have been hushed, and I daresay, it will not be the last.”

She eyed him for a moment, opening and closing her mouth twice without a word. Why did she stop herself from speaking now, when before, she’d voiced her opinion without hesitation?

“Was there something else you wished to say?” he pressed.

Her lips tightened, then she took a step toward him, clutching her book to her chest as if it were a breastplate that would guard her from any wayward attack. This time, her eyes were on him squarely. “Yes. I would like to clarify, in reference to Mr. Chumley’s words…” She paused, her small nostrils flaring before she drew an apparent, calming breath. “I will be neither flirtatious nor silly, but as dignified as the gentlemen attendees, if not more so. It is true that I have promised, as Mr. Chumley said, to remain invisible during this expedition, and invisible I shall be. So our time in the parlor will be the last disturbance I cause.”

She ended with a prompt nod, and once more, Henry had to hide his smile. This woman was utterly amusing, especially her concern over matters of which he hadn’t thought twice.

He did have more questions about why on earth she was required to remain invisible on the trip—and if Mr. Chumley was the one to come up with such an absurdly antiquated idea—but he set the notion of asking her aside. There would be time for that over the coming months. Right now, he could not, in good conscience, allow her worries to last a single moment longer.

“Thank you for your explanation,” he said. “While I cannot understand why you must remain invisible, or Mr. Chumley’s reticence in involving women on this excursion, I will apologize on his behalf and heartily welcome you—an unmarried female—on this expedition.”

Surprise spread across her features, which made Henry’s words more than worth it.

“Thank you, sir,” she sputtered.

“Of course.”

He had spoken the truth in every regard and would have said the same to Mr. Chumley, had he thought it would have made any difference at all.

Henry had known the gentleman for a few years now, but their relationship was merely a respectful friendship—no camaraderie or closeness involved—and there was a reason behind that. Mr. Chumley was clearly of the old guard, leaving others out of his personal bird-observing community if the man—or more specifically woman—did not fit into Mr. Chumley’s mold of expectations.

That was precisely why Henry despised the gentlemen’s clubs around London. Each of them was filled with pretentious, judgmental gentlemen who spread their fastidious requirements and prevented toleration and acceptance.

Except Blackstone’s, of course.

However, while Henry could not agree with Mr. Chumley’s rulings, he would allow him his opinion, in the hope that Mr. Chumley would allow Henry to keep his own.

Seeing Miss Fernside’s appreciation made him realize all the more that his belief in welcoming all to the bird-observing community was one he would never change his mind on.

But that did not mean a little teasing could not occur.