When she descended the staircase that separated the boarding rooms of the inn from the dining hall below, she was surprised to be greeted by a flush-faced Miss Nora who was questioning a confused looking Mr. Banning and several of his companions as they sat for their morning meal.
Miss Nora caught Peggy’s eye and waved before making her farewell to the men and joining Peggy at the base of the stair.
“Honestly,” Miss Nora huffed. “Men are the most insufferable creatures when they wish to keep a secret. Either that or it is as if they know nothing at all about those traveling within their own number.”
Peggy furrowed her brow in confusion. What secret would Miss Nora feel the need to discover that the travelers had guarded so dearly?
“It’s Nash, really,” the lady griped as she led Peggy to a table in the corner and signaled for two cups of tea. “He finds a gem and then lets it slip right through his fingers as if it is no matter at all. Then, he has the gall to refuse me even the slightest hint so that I might retrieve it on my own.”
“I am afraid that I do not follow.” Peggy laughed. Miss Nora was practically spitting with frustration, and Peggy could make no sense of what upset her.
Miss Nora sank further into her chair, her shoulders bent in defeat. She took a sip of her tea before placing the cup back upon its saucer and pushing it away, too flustered to drink.
“My brother has spent days talking about a plan to bring a merchant into the old haberdashery and to convert one corner to a small tearoom where ladies can gather to talk without having to settle here in the chaos of the inn,” Miss Nora began to explain as Peggy felt a knot grow in her stomach. “He said that the proper merchant, with the proper contacts, could get the store running before winter and even draw in other marketable services by offering access to catalogs and an increased inventory of supplies for dressmakers and the like.”
“That sounds like a fine plan…” Peggy replied with a tentative murmur.
“Of course, it’s a fine plan!” Miss Nora threw her hands up in frustration. “It is a brilliant plan. A teahouse! I wish I had thought of it myself.”
“Then what seems to be the problem?” Peggy replied. She was glad that Lord Belton had taken her advice to heart, for it truly was an excellent prospect for such a remote town. Her father had once told her that in the colonies they have such stores that sell all manner of general items, and she had often wondered why the more rural areas of the English countryside had maintained their relegation of many small shops, often falling short, rather than maximizing the availability of goods through one larger merchant’s organization. Tradition, she supposed. The haberdashery was the closest thing she had ever seen with its odds and ends, but still, they were often limited to smaller items or trifles. Her own father had thought along those lines as he had expanded his empire, though rather than offering his goods in one building he had chosen to own many small shops of a variety of wares that functioned under one identifiable name.
“The problem is that he did not come up with this plan on his own.” Miss Nora sighed. “He admits as much but will not reveal from whom he got the inspiration. I’ve begged and needled. I have coaxed and even tried to trick him up. To no avail. He will not budge.”
“I see,” Peggy mused. She was impressed and, admittedly, grateful that Lord Belton had left her name out of his plan. She was glad to see him make use of her knowledge but wanted neither a part in its makeup nor the recognition that might come along with having a strange woman suddenly far too aware of the ways of trade. For all her father knew, she had long been dead. She did not wish for any word to make its way south to Hampshire that there was a woman with the mind of a merchant in the north who resembled his long-lost child. She had abandoned that life, or rather it had abandoned her, and she had no intention of going down that route. No intention at all. “Well, you need not unravel the mystery of this person,” she added for good measure. “Your brother has his plan and that ought to be enough.”
“It would be enough if we might find someone who would take on such a task in a very short time,” Miss Nora replied. “He thinks it can be done by winter and… Oh, how nice that would be for both villages through the rainy months when supplies are hard enough to come by. But that seems nigh on impossible, and…” She pouted. “Why should we have to find another diamond in the rough when there must be one so near already?” She leaned forward and whispered to Peggy as if sharing a great confidence. “Nash told me to stay out of it, but I cannot. I am determined that the source of his knowledge came from one of the traders and tinkers in your wagons. Who better than they to have seen how it can be done? Perhaps, they met such a merchant in another town. Or perhaps it is how they themselves procure their wares, though that seems unlikely, as a delivery would only be lost in chasing their trail from town to town. Nash told me not to pester, but I am sure that is only because he was refused.” Her eyes grew bright with excitement. “If I could but locate the individual, I am confident that I could convince them to stay and set up shop here in Riversbend or, at the very least, recommend a contact who could do the job.”
“Perhaps, you ought to listen to your brother and leave the matter to him.” Peggy hoped that the suggestion would stick, but she could see that it rolled right off Miss Nora without the slightest consideration. Her friend would be chasing her tail for days if she kept this up. The men at the far table had not been keeping a secret; they had been truly unaware. Mrs. Banning would be the only soul who might know that Peggy was the object of Miss Nora’s obsession, and the bard’s wife would no sooner share Peggy’s secret than offer herself up for the job.
“Oh, he shall be cross if he finds out how mettlesome I am being,” Miss Nora admitted with a grimace. “He warned me against it and threatened to lock me in the great house until Sunday if I could not behave myself.”
“He wouldn’t!” Peggy said appalled.
“No. He wouldn’t,” Nora agreed as she winked. “That was how I deduced it to be one of your group. You shall all have gone by then, so he meant to keep me away, but I slipped out while he was back at the dam with Mr. Finch and the boys.” She reached forward to grab Peggy’s hand and clasped it between her own. “Please tell me that you know of whom I speak. I am sure that I can make a convincing argument, and if I succeed, then Nash cannot possibly be cross.”
Oh, he’ll be cross… Peggy wanted to say. His entire purpose of keeping his sister away from her meddling was to protect Peggy’s own privacy, which had been a clear cause of distress that early evening when they had gone for a stroll through town. She was grateful for his protection but knew not how to put her friend off. She wished she were better at lying.
“Do you?” Miss Nora begged. “Do you know the man I seek?”
Peggy swallowed deeply. She pulled her hand from the lady’s and picked up her teacup, drinking deeply while she gave herself a moment to think.
“I know of whom you speak,” she said after a long while, realizing that there was no way around it, “but it is no man.”
“A woman!” Miss Nora’s mouth dropped open in a mix of shock and pleasure. “All the better, for that only increases my chance of success. Of course, Nash would have bumbled it with a woman. Men just don’t have the touch when it comes to us females. Particularly not ones with a solid head upon their shoulders as this one must. Pray tell.” She leaned in expectantly with her hands clasped before her and her eyes alight with hope.
“I am sorry to tell you that she cannot be convinced,” Peggy said, giving the chance of ending Miss Nora’s pursuit one last go. “She loathes that life and will have no part in it save the advice that she has already given.”
Nora shook her head. “I just want a chance. If she could only be made to see how wonderful it is here, how much good she could do—”
Peggy held up a hand to stop her friend before she went any further.
“’Tis I,” she said abruptly.
Miss Nora chuffed, and her face scrunched in a look of comical disbelief as if she thought that Peggy was toying with her. Then, Peggy watched as Miss Nora began to think on the prospect. As if she were witness to the wheels turning in the young lady’s mind, Peggy saw that she believed. Peggy was too well-spoken and well-mannered. It was clear that she was educated. She dressed well and carried herself like one of a moderate, if not upper class. Her father had insisted upon it, and with the duchess’ clothing, the ruse was complete.
Miss Nora herself had on first glance thought her a well-bred lady. Daughters of merchants were often mistaken for such, as they were known to live a lavish life even if they were not born to generations of fortune and lineage. The upper class thought that their breeding would tell, but all too often it did not.
“Well, that settles it,” Miss Nora grinned. “You have to stay.” She explained that Peggy was an additional mark on her list of people to convince to remain in the small village. “How I have dreaded the thought of putting distance between our friendship and had planned to work on you as soon as I had settled my mystery. Knowing that you are one and the same makes it all more fated that you were meant to come to us.”
Peggy had been meant to come to this place, she thought, but not for the reasons that Miss Nora thought.
“Why on earth would Nash not have told me?” his sister grumbled. “He needn’t have kept it a secret, and he has been quite a bear about it. In fact, he told me it was none of my business and would not discuss it at all. I don’t know when I’ve seen him so out of sorts.”
So it was that Peggy decided that she ought to at least explain herself, if only so that Lord Belton did not suffer his sister’s wrath for Peggy’s protection.
“It was my doing,” Peggy began. She explained that her father had been a merchant and that she had given the advice unbidden and quite unintentionally.
Miss Nora’s eyes widened as she continued the story.
“The memory of my father, of my previous life…” She wondered how she might put it that gave proper weight to her feeling without revealing more than she ought. “It is painful for me to recall.” There, that ought to do, she thought. Let Miss Nora assume what she will, that it was pain for the loss or a tragedy of some sort, since certainly it was a tragedy and the loss of her innocence and her joy.
“It is a part of my life that I no longer live. I try not to think about every day of that past nor dwell upon it. So, when your brother praised my speech, I…” She closed her eyes, still embarrassed that she had been so rude. “I froze. I froze, and I was hurting. And so I behaved abominably. I ran away in such a manner that he must have thought me very angry or perhaps a little daft.” Peggy gave a small humorless laugh. “That is why he knew that I would not wish to be pressed. That is why he kept my identity a secret. Because he saw that the issue upset me and that I did not wish to speak on it again. I have avoided him ever since, which must have only reinforced his thought that I was cross with him.”
Miss Nora pursed her lips. “Well,” she huffed, “I suppose I cannot be annoyed with him for that. I really did think he was just being obstinate because he had failed at making a convincing offer and did not wish me to best him at his own game.”
“No,” Peggy agreed. “He was doing me a kindness.”
Miss Nora’s eyes rose to her friend’s as if weighing whether or not Peggy really could be turned to her purpose. “All right,” she said after a time. “I see, and respect, your desire not to suffer at the hands of painful memories. If not for the shop, can you not still be convinced to stay for some other purpose? I could match you with a lord of a local estate and we could be neighbors for all time! Lord Abernathy is handsome enough, if you can stomach his character.” She ended her speech with a wrinkle of her nose, letting Peggy know full well how she felt about the prospect of marriage, particularly to the lord in question.
“I think not,” Peggy laughed.
“But, Peggy,” she began.
“You are the one who has espoused spinsterhood. How dare you pressure me,” Peggy said with mock outrage.
“Fine, marriage is out of the question, but what about taking up residence in one of the houses in town?” Miss Nora was all but pleading.
Peggy clasped the young beauty’s hand and smiled at her. “I cannot stay, but I promise to write.”
“You cannot leave me in the company of all of these men,” Miss Nora complained, stomping a slippered foot. “It has been so nice to have another lady to lunch with and talk to whenever I wish.” She gave a dramatic sigh and a wink that promised she was only teasing and that there were no hard feelings. A moment later, she embraced Peggy in a warm hug. “In all honesty, I wish you only the best. And I do require that you write, and often.”
They finished their tea while Miss Nora waited for her carriage to be called. She wanted to get back to Whitefall Hall before her brother returned home. Lord Belton would be unhappy if he found out that she had disobeyed his direct order.
“If you are found out, I’ll be sure to tell him that you were no bother,” Peggy had promised as Miss Nora took up the reins of her brother’s gig. “Besides, I owe him an apology before I make my departure.” She had blown out a long breath while she had watched the horses pull away. It seemed she had more than one difficult conversation to address. She straightened her skirts and decided that it was well past time for the first.