31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

N athaniel waved the others away from the door knowing Melior would not want company while she spoke with Lady Agatha. He too, decided to attend to a few matters of his own. Perhaps after answering his mother's letter and seeing to all the other invitations left over the last two days, he'd come back and check on them.

When he returned to his study he shuffled through the stack of correspondence and found a letter he'd not realized the butler had delivered. Flipping it over, he broke the Newhurst seal.

Nate,

It is with great sadness that I announce the death of your neighbor, Mrs. Wayland.

Nathaniel stopped and reread the words twice.

But they had only been gone a few days. How had she deteriorated so fast? His next thought was for his mother. Mrs. Wayland had been a dear friend to her for the last twenty years, ever since the woman had married Mr. Wayland. After his mother's sickness had kept her homebound, Mrs. Wayland had visited every day. They had spent so much time together before Mrs. Wayland's own illness, and he would be forever grateful for the woman's kindness.

How would his mother react to her friend's death? Should he do as Melior said and stop pursuing Lady Edith so they could return to Havencrest?

No, they needed to stay, if only for her uncle's nuptials. What if he left Melior to attend her uncle's marriage and had Al bring her home? He slapped the letter down on his desk. That would not work. Al and Javenia had ridden with him. He could rent a horse, but the thought of leaving Melior alone when he had no idea what she was up against rankled him.

If only he could split himself and be in two places at once. Spinning around, he marched back down to the parlor to tell Melior, only remembering their visitor at the last second. He stopped outside the doors when Lady Agatha spoke.

"I am sorry, Melior. I knew she disliked your pursuit of Lord Caraway, but I had no idea she would go this far."

Melior's lower tones were harder to hear, so he leaned closer. "I am only sorry that she has turned her wrath on you."

"I should never have accepted to go for a drive through Hyde Park with him. Edith warned me away, but I thought she was merely jesting. You know how cutting her humor can be."

"It is not humor, Agatha. We only thought it was. She is far more calculating than either of us realized."

"No," Lady Agatha cried.

"It is true."

A maid passed by Nathaniel with a perplexed look, pulling his attention away from the door and he missed part of what Melior said.

"…raise herself in Society. Think about it. You are the daughter of a duke; I am the niece of one. As the daughter of an earl with atrocious spending habits and even worse managerial abilities, Edith is desperate to raise her station and keep herself from ruin."

"I suppose in the back of my mind, I knew that, but why ruin the reputations of the two women who could raise her consequence in Society?"

Lady Agatha's reputation had been tarnished as well? Nathaniel balled his fist. It was good Lady Edith was nowhere in sight because it was not gentlemanly to hit a lady.

"A marriage to a marquess will do far more for her future than either of us could," Melior said.

Sniffles and a muffled sob met his ears, but no words. Which lady cried? Was it both? He could not bear the idea of Melior crying without comforting her.

He opened the door. She glanced up from where she sat on the settee holding Lady Agatha. Moisture filled her eyes, but no tears fell.

"But I actually love him," Lady Agatha sobbed into her shoulder. "And now he will never look at me again."

Melior's eyes flicked back to the doorway and he scrunched his brow. What was she trying to say? Lady Agatha's head began to rise and Melior gestured with her chin to the door.

He backed out, realizing the wisdom of not being seen by her friend. This was not a confession the lady would wish to be witnessed. But before he left he heard her say, "Mother insists we decant to the country. I am banished, and I shall never see him again."

Nathaniel's heart twisted in his chest at her agony. At least for he and Melior things had righted themselves, but Lady Agatha had not been so lucky.

He cursed under his breath, Lady Agatha's cries and Melior's tear-filled eyes swimming in his mind. Did one need to remain a gentleman when a lady was so ruthless?

Melior smoothed her cream-colored gown with its gold overlay as they exited the carriage the next night. Agatha's cries still rang in her mind as they approached the glowing entrance to Lord Brock's London home.

A long and serious discussion had ensued between her and Nathaniel as she shared how Edith had bandied it about Town that Agatha had been seen in Cheapside with Mr. Fairchild. How she'd known about his liaison, Melior could only imagine, but the fact that she had used the meeting as fuel for gossip made her suspicious.

In the end, Nathaniel had convinced her to move forward with their pursuit. It was the only thing that made sense. Who knew how many women Edith would ruin to achieve her goal?

Inside people milled about, greeting each other and slowly filing into the large music room. A refreshment table had been set up at the back of the room, lemonade and an assortment of small cakes and sandwiches spread across the flat surface.

Nathaniel offered to get her something but her nerves had stolen her appetite. Near the front of the room people took their seats. Among them was Lord Caraway, Lady Jane on his arm. He showed her to a seat and took the one next to her.

Melior frowned. Perhaps Lady Jane was not so innocent.

Javenia bumped her arm. "Smooth your face," she whispered. "She is not the enemy."

Taking a deep breath, Melior let go of her past prejudice and leaned into Javenia's words. If Lady Jane was innocent, she would know by the end of the night, but it pained her to realize how it would be done.

Edith entered behind her rotund father and began looking over the crowd. Melior shrank back not wanting to be seen, but Edith's eyes found Lord Caraway and Lady Jane first. The hatred Melior saw there was fleeting but intense.

Edith quickly smoothed her expression into the emotionless face Melior had grown to recognize as a mask.

Stepping to the lady nearest her, Edith opened her fan and whispered something behind it. The other woman's eyes widened and her eyes darted to the front of the room. Soon that woman sidled up to another lady, and Edith approached Mrs. Cline and Lady Plum.

The two older ladies welcomed her with a smile and listened intently as Edith divulged something Melior was sure was detrimental to Lady Jane's reputation.

She glanced at Lady Jane and saw her face losing its color as her eyes darted about the room. It seemed she had expected chatter, but did she know who the source was?

A lady Melior did not know approached Javenia. "Have you heard, Miss Harris?"

"It is nice to see you too, Mrs. Williams." Javenia's dry remark did not even stop the lady.

"It seems Lady Jane is not as worthy of being among us as we thought."

"I do not see why not."

"That is because you do not know that she's"—the woman raised her hand to her mouth as if not wanting others to hear— "illegitimate."

And there was the blow Edith had used to clear the playing field. Melior's eyes sought out Lady Jane who had risen to her feet and was rushing from the room. Melior let go of Nathaniel's arm to follow her, noticing the Duke of Rothland's angry expression as his daughter fled.

Melior pitied Edith if the man ever found out that she'd started the lie. Everyone knew how hard the man was and how fiercely he defended his family. It was said that he would fire servants for uttering even one word of gossip.

In the hall, Melior whipped her head both ways trying to find where Lady Jane had retreated. A flash of white near the door caught her attention as the woman flew past the butler without retrieving her coat. Melior dashed after her catching up when Lady Jane rounded the edge of the house and collapsed on the muddy ground of the small garden.

Huge sobs escaped her, and Melior hesitantly bent to lay a gentle hand on her back, not knowing if it would be accepted or not. Lady Jane flinched at the contact and her tear-filled brown eyes blinked.

"Come to plunge the last dagger, Melior?" she choked.

"No… I come to give comfort and perhaps apologize for all the years of hurt between us."

A bitter laugh escaped through Lady Jane's tears. "I can hardly believe that. Was it you who started the rumors?"

"It was not, but I know who did."

"Who?"

"Lady Edith."

"I should have known. I never saw so much of that lady until Lord Caraway began coming around for regular visits. Since then she has been everywhere I turn."

"Yes. Well her lies have hurt more than one person. It started with me, and then moved to Lady Agatha, and now on to you. We have all been caught in her web of deceit."

Lady Jane rolled her lips inward, but a whimper escaped. "Only…" she said and hiccupped on a sob, "it is not a lie. I am not the Duke of Rothland's daughter."

Melior's mouth fell open. Then she bent down, heedless of the mud that stained her dress, and wrapped her arms about Lady Jane. She sniffed and Lady Jane sobbed. Melior would recover, and Agatha would eventually recover, but Lady Jane would be ruined forever.

She did not know where Edith had found such information, but if not for her, Lady Jane could have lived out her life with no one knowing any differently. No wonder the duke had been so careful with his staff.

Lady Jane began to shiver in Melior's arms. "Come, we need to get you out of this cold."

"Why? I might as well die here. My life is over. Completely over."

Melior grabbed her chin and made her look at her. "It is not over, Jane. You still have so many things to live for."

Lady Jane searched her face. "But I have nothing."

"I know your father. He would never leave you with nothing. That he accepted you all these years knowing you were not his own speaks volumes of his character. You will find a way."

A tear slipped down Lady Jane's cheek. "Why are you being so kind to me?"

"Because I am just as fallen as you. I have learned much these last few weeks, and one of them is that we are more alike than we are different. You and I were shaped and molded by mothers who encouraged us to compete, to bite at one another, and find fault with each other. But we are not them."

A little snort escaped Lady Jane, something between a laugh and a sob. "They do hate each other, don't they?"

Melior smiled. "Yes." She helped Lady Jane to her feet and peered at her. "I am sorry for all the times I made your life harder."

Lady Jane grasped her hand. "As am I."

Footsteps pounded on the walkway and the Duke of Rothland rounded the corner, bumping into Melior's back. She stumbled into Jane who held her upright.

"My apologies," the duke said, then frowned. "Miss Kendall?"

"It is Lady Stanford now, Papa."

The older man looked his daughter over from head to foot. "Let's get you out of here."

He reached out and pulled her away from Melior.

"Just a moment," Lady Jane said. She stepped forward and embraced Melior. "Thank you for coming after me."

Melior squeezed her shoulders, hoping the pressure would infuse the hope Lady Jane would need to make it through the ensuing storm. "Thank you for not pushing me away."