“The valet Avery’s secretary took with him to Brierley was able to—”
“Mr. Goddard took a valet?” Anna said, frowning.
“He was one of our men,” Wren explained. “Not really a valet at all. He was able to relate far more easily with the local people than poor Mr. Goddard, who cannot blend at all well. I am not sure what Avery was able to tell you this morning after they returned, but if you and Cousin Louise are at all worried, Anna, as I daresay you are, I believe I can relieve your minds. Mr. Rochford said at the party that his cousin Gabriel Rochford was a wild young man, even vicious as he grew older. That is not at all how the local people remember him. He had a reputation as a quiet, studious, sweet-natured boy.”
“I am so glad,” Anna said.
“Miss Beck, a lady who lives the life of a hermit in a small house on the estate, is quite adamant about the alibi she can offer Mr. Thorne for the afternoon when that unfortunate young man was killed,” Wren said. “She understands that she may not be believed because she had a very close friendship with Mr. Thorne, but she was able to name a groom from the house who had brought her the injured fawn she and Mr. Thorne were tending at the time. Apparently the groom stayed to watch. And he still works at Brierley—and is willing to testify.”
Anna smiled. “I can remember a time,” she said, “when Avery and Alexander did not particularly like each other. Then Avery fought a duel—it was for the honor of Camille against that horrid man who used to be betrothed to her—and Alexander was his second.”
“Alexander has told me the story,” Wren said. “If he told it as it was and was not exaggerating, Avery felled his very large, boastful, and contemptuous opponent with one bare foot to the chin and almost gave Alexander an apoplexy. I wish I could have been there.”
“I was,” Anna told her. “With Elizabeth. We hid behind a tree.”
They both dissolved into laughter, their heads almost touching.
“Now what is amusing you two?” Elizabeth asked.
“Avery’s duel with Viscount Uxbury,” Anna said, and Elizabeth joined in their laughter.
There was no betrothal announcement in the morning papers. There were no banns. Life proceeded as though nothing of any great moment had happened or was about to happen.
Jessica drove in the park with Mr. Rochford the day her mother and Anna went to her grandmother’s to discuss wedding plans with the rest of the Westcott ladies. On the evening of the following day, her wedding eve, she attended a ball and found herself surrounded by her usual court. She danced with a number of them. She was relieved to discover that Mr. Rochford was not there. That was unusual for him.
She intended to leave before supper since she did not wish to arrive home in the early hours of her wedding day. But the dance before supper was a waltz, and she looked around her court, wondering which gentleman she could encourage to ask her to dance it. Lord Jennings again? Someone touched her arm, however, and she turned to find herself looking into Gabriel’s face.
“Lady Jessica,” he said, “may I have the honor?”
Her court had fallen into a rather sullen silence.
“You are late, Mr. Thorne,” she said.
“Rather,” he said, “I am hoping I have arrived just in time.”
He had told her he would probably not attend the ball. He wished to leave for Brierley the day after their wedding—the day after tomorrow, that was—and wanted to be sure he had tied up some loose ends of business first. It was still difficult for Jessica to believe that two days from now she would have left London and family and everything that was familiar behind her and embarked upon a wholly new life in new surroundings and with new challenges to face.
There was nothing unusual about a woman having to give up everything when she married, of course. In this case, however, it was what they would both be doing. Gabriel had given up the life with which he had been happy in Boston. They were both about to embark upon a new world, a world full of uncertainty and difficulty.
“You have, sir,” she said, placing her hand in his. “I have not promised the set to anyone.”
A protesting murmur rippled through her court. She wondered if they would miss her. She wondered if she would miss them,