Sylvanne stood quickly and took hold of his wrist to stop him from going. “No, no. It’s really time for her to take a rest. I’ll leave you two.”
Thomas looked down at where her hand touched his skin, and felt a tingle surge through him. Her eyes were two pools of sparkling, radiant light. “Your demeanour is so altered these past days that I can scarce believe you’re the same person, Lady Sylvanne,” he said. “You’ve captivated my impressionable young daughter, and caused this room to ring with girlish laughter for the first time in many a moon. I thank you.”
“She’s good company,” Sylvanne said modestly, letting her hand fall from his wrist. “She brightens my days, as well.”
“I do wonder at this sudden change in your deportment, however,” Thomas continued. “It seems to signal a change of heart, and the abandonment of your husband’s wishes. Or could it be playacting, a ruse, an emotional Trojan horse by which you hope to penetrate my defences?”
Sylvanne didn’t flinch. She met his eyes squarely. “The only person in the world I trust at the moment, my maid Mabel, has advised me to look for trust in others, by granting trust to others. So I’m giving myself up to you—in hope that your actions in bringing me here were for an honourable end, and that I might in some way help you achieve them.”
Thomas studied her. “Nothing would please me more than to return that trust,” he said. “Customarily, in listening to the words of others, I can only guess at their true feelings. But in this case, I expect I’ll discover the truth or falseness of what you say, in my dreams. For I have an ally, a spy in your mind, fair Meghan, your twin.”
“Then I pray this Meghan is not a liar,” Sylvanne said.
“No. She has nothing to gain by that,” said Thomas. “She’s a truth-teller, and a mind-reader, inside you even as we speak.” He looked directly into her eyes again. “Just now I think I see her in there with you. It’s as if your eyes are the windows to not one soul, but two. Can that be true? Or is it because when I dream, her eyes are as beautiful as yours?”
“You frighten me.”
“Don’t be frightened. There’s nothing you can do to change the truth.”
“Pray, let her read my mind, and make her report. Call for the guard, for I’ve grown suddenly weary, and wish to retire to my room.”
Thomas walked her to the door and watched as the guard led her away. He was still tingling from the radiance of her eyes, so powerful he’d put it down to the presence of two souls. He asked himself again, Could it really be that I saw Meghan in those eyes?
“Daddy, will we go riding tomorrow?” His daughter’s voice returned him to the moment.
“First we need a horse, before we make plans about riding one.”
Daphne picked up a comb and ran it through her long hair. “Do you like Lady Sylvanne?” she asked.
“I do like her,” Thomas replied. “I’m not sure I trust her.”
“I wish you would,” the girl said.
“And why is that?”
“Because you’re in need of a wife.”
“A few days ago you were terrified of her,” Thomas reminded her.
“She’s different now. And you’re in need of a wife.”
“You’re in need of rest. And you’re awfully young to be a matchmaker.”
“Mother told me something, before she died. She said she hoped you would marry another, to give me sisters, or a brother.”
“Did she? That sounds like something she would wish for. Thinking of others, even at the end.”
“Can we go riding tomorrow?”
“You’ve asked me that. Don’t mount the saddle until there’s a horse underneath.”
28
“How did Derek react, when you told him you knew that his wife and child had died?” Anne asked. Meghan had come for her second session.
“He told me the wounds have healed, but he has scars.”
“What do you think he meant? Keeping in mind that there are many levels of meaning.”
“He meant end of topic. Change subject now. He didn’t want to talk about it. He said he was open to talking about it, but he didn’t want to talk about it.”
“Do you think the wounds have healed?”
“Maybe they don’t. His little girl must have been about four when she died. I think of Betsy, when she was four, to lose her like that…” Meghan shivered at the thought.