against a window, with no one for conversation but the servants unless Mr. Northam or a kind neighbor came for a visit? I would be isolated and alone.
While Edward’s actions had left me feeling abandoned, I had never truly been alone. I had always had Daniel and Alice for entertainment and Louisa for confidences.
Yet if not Mr. Northam, then who? What other choice did I have if I wished to be free from the deception, from Lord Williams, from my own foolishness—free from of all of this?
Grabbing one of the songs I had set aside, I sat at the piano and worked my way through the scales and arpeggios, aching to bury the reality of my situation.
An hour later, the door opened. “Margaret?”
I stopped playing. “Father.”
“Lord Williams mentioned I might find you here. Did you wish to speak with me? Is everything all right?”
I almost said yes. It would have been so easy to pretend with a false smile and a nod that I was fine. But if I was to leave, I could not pretend for my father. “I cannot stay here. It is too awkward, too embarrassing, too—” I couldn’t say painful or dangerous. My father wouldn’t understand. “Please, isn’t there any other place we can go?”
He walked up and put his arms around me. “We cannot leave so soon after arriving. What would Lord Williams think of us?”
“It no longer matters what he thinks of us. Besides, he cannot regard me with any less esteem than he already does.”
He sighed. “Perhaps you are right. But we must await word from your mother. Tomorrow would be sufficient time for Alice to be well again. Then we can simply return home.”
If the post came early, by tomorrow night I could be home. Home to my lake. Home to my family.
But I would still have to determine what to do about my future.
Twenty-Six
Lady Williams again invited me to join her the next morning, insisting that Mrs. Hargreaves would be her only visitor and that she had taken such a delight in my company yesterday.
Mrs. Hargreaves’s delight undoubtedly had more to do with my not being related to Lady Cox than with any merit I could claim of my own. But as the post had not yet arrived, I would be in the best position to receive any news if I remained near Lady Williams. And I could escape Lord Williams. “Yes, of course.”
We retired to the same room as the day before. Within moments Mrs. Hargreaves was announced.
“Ah, Miss Brinton. I am so glad you decided to join us again this morning.” She sat where she had before, but leaned toward me so that we were quite close. “You mustn’t pay any heed to Miss Perrin.”
“Mrs. Hargreaves,” I replied, determined to put an end to whatever ideas she held regarding Lord Williams and me. “I thank you for your concern, but as I expect our stay will be of very short duration, I do not believe I need be concerned with Miss Perrin at all.”
“You are leaving soon?” Mrs. Hargreaves asked with a frown.
“We await only news of my sister’s recovery. It was never our intent to visit, except my sister became ill and we found it necessary to be away for the sake of my father’s health. Lord Williams graciously offered his home.”
“Of course he did. I know all about it,” Mrs. Hargreaves said, patting my hand.
She couldn’t know all the details. Not how Lord Williams had almost caused me to regret my decision. Nor how similar he was to Edward. And especially not how I ached for word from home, how empty I felt wandering the large house and grounds.
“Perhaps,” Lady Williams said, “you had not heard that the Browns have decided to vacation in Bath this year. Such a long, expensive journey for a clergyman. But his lady’s health has been on the decline ever since winter.”
“I had heard,” Mrs. Hargreaves said. “It is old news, Clarice. But I catch your intent, and so shall leave off teasing Miss Brinton.”
“I doubt you’ll do any such thing,” replied Lady Williams.
“I hope you are not teasing Miss Brinton,” Lord Williams spoke from the doorway, hat in hand. “Though if it is a matter of some humor, I should like to hear it.”
Did the man turn up every morning for his mother’s visitors?
Sundson followed him into the room. “The post, your ladyship.”
I sat forward.
“Thank you, Sundson,” Lady Williams said as he held out a silver tray with three or four