Chapter 35

Things were most definitely, quite assuredly, and without question, not going well at the Cluett house. For starters, Mr. Alcott and his reticent daughter had arrived late, which had put Lady Veronica into a foul humour from the very beginning. As if this were not bad enough, then Mr. Alcott appeared to have misplaced a codicil to the marriage contract, which was only located after a solid ten minutes of searching the pockets of his leather satchel. Finally, quill pens somehow seemed to keep going missing, which mystified everyone standing about the desk in the library.

That is, everyone except Seth. He saw precisely where they were going, but kept his own counsel. It seemed that not only was Miss Alcott blessed with a quick mind, but quick hands as well: the moment that there was the slightest distraction, her hand would dart forward, and another pen would vanish. Mr. Alcott would look at the desk in confusion, and then withdraw another quill, quickly cutting a nib. This process continued until at least five pens had vanished.

Seth had no clue as to what game was afoot, but he was inclined to follow Miss Alcott's lead. She had made some vague statements accompanied with significant looks, and he obligingly stayed out of her way. If she had some reason to delay proceedings, he was not about to object.

Finally, everything was laid out in front of them, with Lady Veronica keeping hold of the quill so that it could not vanish again. Mr. Alcott unstoppered a bottle of ink, and was prepared to begin signing when Miss Alcott laid a gentle hand on his arm.

"Wait, Father," she murmured, "where are your spectacles? You know that you cannot read without them, and you always say to never sign anything that you have not read."

"What does that matter?" Lady Veronica demanded, clearly exasperated. "It is the same contract that was agreed upon last week!"

"No, no," Mr. Alcott agreed, patting about his person for said spectacles. "My daughter is quite right."

"Oh dear, Father," Miss Alcott tutted, all concern, "have you lost your spectacles again? Oh goodness," she said, hands behind her back. She turned slightly so that Seth could glimpse something shiny in her grip.

Subtly, he shifted closer to her, passing his hand behind her back and lifting them from her hands. He bent low under the pretext of looking for the spectacles under the desk, instead dropping them at the edge. He straightened, and with a cough, scooted them out of sight. When this was completed, Miss Alcott met Seth's eyes and nearly smiled.

"Well, fortunately for us all, I have brought a spare pair," Mr. Alcott announced, fishing out a new pair from the inner pocket of his jacket. Seth and Miss Alcott exchanged glances, both of them looking a little despairing. "Now, I shall sign just here," Mr. Alcott continued, doing as he said. "If you would be so kind as to sign here, my Lord," he instructed, pointing with one stubby finger at a line at the bottom of the contract.

Mr. Alcott passed the quill to Seth, who hesitated, but accepted it. He glanced about the faces assembled around the desk: Mr. Alcott, who watched him closely, eagerly; his mother, Lady Veronica, who was clearly a bundle of nerves; and Miss Alcott, who sent him silent, pleading looks. He felt caught, cornered like a bear in a net.

With a halting hand, he dipped the pen in the bottle of ink, and tapped it on the side with a last look at Miss Alcott…and then tapped too hard, knocking it clean over. Immediately, everyone around the table leapt into action, whisking the contract away before it could be ruined, dabbing with handkerchiefs to blot the puddle of ink.

Miss Alcott made little sympathetic noises, giving him a small smile. "Poor dear," she cooed, tilting her head, "he's so eager his hands tremble!"

Seth nodded absently, which seemed to satisfy Mr. Alcott. Lady Veronica, however, was not so easily fobbed off, and she turned shrewd eyes onto him. Resolutely, Seth ignored her, but he knew now that they would have to be very, very careful. Any other shenanigans would surely have her pouncing on them.

Slowly, with fingers that trembled without pretext this time, Seth took up the quill again. There was nothing for it, no other way to delay the inevitable. Some distant part of his mind was already trying to reconcile what it would be like, being married to someone that he did not particularly love.

There are many types of marriages , he thought, a little frantic. Surely I might learn to be happy, even without Kitty . And yet, even as he thought it, he knew that to be a lie. He would not be happy without her, not ever, not for the briefest instance.

But there was no stopping this. He knew what he had to do to save his family's legacy and security. Dipping the pen again, Seth took a deep breath, letting the nib hang over the line he was meant to sign on. He had just pressed the quill to the page when two things happened in quick succession: First, Miss Alcott let out a breathy sigh, pressed a hand to forehead, and crumpled to the floor in a dead faint.

"Magdalena!" Mr. Alcott exclaimed, quickly kneeling by her side. "What on Earth has come over you?"

"Oh, good Lord," Lady Veronica swore mildly. "Can't you see what's happening here? They're clearly in—"

And that is precisely when the second thing happened, which was the unmistakable sound of the front door banging open abruptly. This was followed by a cacophony of yelling and scrambling feet, some sort of crashing noise, and something that sounded a bit like a scuffle. Lady Veronica and Mr. Alcott both immediately turned to see what this new disturbance was, shifting toward the library door.

They did not have to wait long to see what it was, for the door to the library burst inward, with no less than three footmen trying to manhandle what appeared to be a scrawny soldier in an ill-fitting red coat. The soldier's tricorn hat was shoved down over his face, and he was swinging wildly, the footman ducking flying fists as they tried to wrangle him back out the door. This was somewhat curtailed, however, by their instinct to bow to Lady Veronica and co., as well as the sheer determination of the little lad.

"What is the meaning of all this?!" Lady Veronica cried, her voice rising in both tone and volume.

"Apologies, Your Ladyship," one of the footmen grunted, "but this fellow demanded an audience with you straight away, and then pushed his way in— hurf !" He was cut off by an errant elbow from the soldier directly into his stomach, all the breath whooshing out of him.

Seth, captivated and a little amused by the spectacle, casually waded into the fray, plucked up the determined little fellow by the arms, and set him down a few steps away. Still holding onto one of the soldier's arms, he lifted the hat away from their face, revealing a pert little nose and bright green eyes that he would have known anywhere.

"Kitty?" he breathed, certain that he must be dreaming. His eyes roved wildly over her, from her hair, breaking free of the pins mooring it down, to the too-large boots on her feet.

"Miss Johnson?" Lady Veronica gasped, somewhere between outrage and disbelief. "What on Earth are you doing here?"

Miss Alcott, somewhat forgotten on the floor in her swoon, suddenly sat bolt upright, nearly catching her father by the forehead as she did so. "Miss Johnson, you say? Oh, thank God," she muttered, pushing herself to her feet and dusting off her dress as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep that up."

"Keep what up? Who is—someone had better tell me what is happening this very instant !" Lady Veronica demanded, her face florid.

Kitty, blushing fiercely but determined, wrangled a small leather satchel from over her shoulder. "Please, Lady Veronica, Lord Cluett—everything is here, it will all be explained. You've been deceived, all of you!" Without further preamble, she stepped forward, and without a care for the contract on the desk, dumped out the contents of the satchel.

"What is all this?" Lady Veronica demanded.

Seth put a calming arm on his mother's arm, angling himself a little between her and Kitty. "Hear her out, Mother," he said firmly. "Surely you owe her that much."

"It is proof that you were about to be greatly swindled, with me paying the price for it, and your son as well," Kitty announced, her eyes narrowing on Mr. Alcott. Seth, meanwhile, leaned over the desk, his hands gingerly moving the papers aside, his eyes quickly scanning them.

"In short, Lady Veronica," Miss Alcott continued, picking up the thread, "my father and Sir Wright have conspired to do a very, very bad thing."

"Magdalena, what have you done?" Mr. Alcott demanded, his face reddening all the way down to his neck.

"I've told the truth, Father," Miss Alcott responded simply. "And I shall tell you another truth: I'll not be marrying Lord Cluett."

"What—but who—Oh I say, Miss Johnson, are you wearing breeches ?" Lady Veronica demanded. It was clear that she could not take in everything else that was happening, and had instead focused on the one thing that was the most obvious.

Seth, without shame but with quite a bit of delight, let his eyes rove over Kitty again. Slowly, a laugh began to rumble in his wide chest, which built into full-on laughter. It was not at Kitty's expense, though she was the cause of it; it was pure joy and gratitude for her. Without a care for who saw or was there, Seth darted forward and swept Kitty up, who squeaked but wrapped her own arms around Seth's neck.

"You marvellous, splendid girl," he breathed into the wild black curls on her head.

"It was all for you," she whispered back, clinging to him tightly as her feet were quite some way off the floor. "All of it, always for you."

He did not need to ask what she meant; he knew already, much as he knew that he would never be able to find a more solid proof of love in his life. She had sacrificed and was willing to sacrifice more of herself than he could ever know, simply for him. Such was their happiness in each other that they did not notice the quiet, efficient way that Miss Alcott herded everyone else from the library, leaving Seth and Kitty as they had always longed to be: Together.