When a Duke Loves a Governess (Unlikely Duchesses #3) - Olivia Drake Page 0,35
chance to spend time with his daughter after being gone for so many years.” The visit had been moderately successful, too. Despite Sophy’s wariness, the girl had been somewhat calmer during the noon meal and at naptime.
A pity Tessa couldn’t say the same for her own peace of mind. The duke had startled her with the news that they’d be departing next month for his estate. Never had she imagined she’d be leaving London. If there was any hope of succeeding in her quest, she must act quickly.
She fingered the delicate gold chain that disappeared beneath her bodice. Hide this … find him … father … pain … Those had been the last words her mother had spoken after being struck down by that runaway carriage. She’d placed this pendant around Tessa’s neck, and Tessa had never taken it off since that moment. But she was no closer to learning the name of her noble sire than when she’d worked as a hatmaker.
She turned the conversation to her purpose. “Now that I’ve satisfied your curiosity, I wonder if I might ask you a question.”
“Of course,” Avis said, her eyes alive with friendly curiosity.
Tessa slowly drew the pendant from inside her high-necked bodice and cradled it in her palm. She’d never showed the piece to anyone for fear of being accused of stealing it. But she was no longer an orphaned child or a shopgirl. Here, as governess, she was presumed to be a lady of genteel blood. No one would blink an eye if she owned a modest article of jewelry.
She held out the gold pendant. “I inherited this from my mama. There’s a design engraved on it. Do you by chance recognize it?”
Avis leaned forward. “Your mother didn’t tell you anything about it?”
“No, she died when I was very young, and there was no one else to ask.”
“May I have a closer look?”
At Tessa’s nod, Avis picked up the pendant and turned it toward the sunlight coming through a crack in the draperies. “Why, it appears to be a noble coat of arms.”
Tessa was relieved to have that suspicion confirmed at least. “Yes, though I haven’t any notion which family it might belong to.”
“Hm. There are two crossed swords topped by a coronet. And the winged beasts on either side appear to be griffins.”
“Griffins?”
“Fierce creatures from mythology.” Avis continued to scrutinize the piece. “Oh, look. It’s hard to see, but there’s a Latin word inscribed on the crest … VIRTUS … yes, that’s it.”
“Do you know what it means?”
“Indeed, I do. My father was a vicar and since he had no sons, he made me learn Latin. Virtus means ‘virtue’ and likely refers to the family having valor, courage, honor.”
Virtue, Tessa thought scornfully, was hardly the proper description for a man who had tossed her mother out on the street upon learning she had conceived his child. “Am I to understand, then, that you’ve never seen this coat of arms before?”
“No, I’m sorry,” Avis said with a shake of her head. “My own family was merely gentry, so I’m no authority on matters of the nobility.”
Tessa swallowed her disappointment. “Well, thank you, anyway. Perhaps in time, I’ll spot it on a carriage door or affixed to a house.”
“Wait, I just had a thought. Why not ask the duke? He must own a book on English heraldry. It surely would have illustrations.”
“Oh? I didn’t know such a book existed.” Fearing her friend might find it odd for a governess to be so ignorant of such matters, Tessa added, “I’ve never before worked in a lord’s house, you see.”
“And if Lady Victor read something other than novels, I might be of greater assistance,” Avis said wryly. “Yet there ought to be such a volume here. Perhaps His Grace will lend it to you.”
As the conversation turned to other matters, Tessa vacillated between elation and anxiety. She itched to get her hands on that reference. At the same time, she hesitated to approach the Duke of Carlin. It was one thing to show her pendant to a fellow employee and quite another to do so to the master of the house. He was too clever a man not to ask uncomfortable questions that might unmask her true purpose.
No, there must be another way to acquire that heraldry book. She would just have to formulate a plan.
* * *
Later that afternoon, seated at a table by one of the windows in the schoolroom, Lady Sophy howled in anger when Tessa held the needle