“Time is very short, as you noted,” Adam began. “If the weather does not improve, we might need both days to travel to Blakehill, normally a journey of perhaps three or four hours. We stand ready to host you as our guests at Blakehill once you arrive. My parents, as well as I myself, are most eager for you to come. It is our way to show appreciation for the kind hospitality you have bestowed upon me.”
Lady Anne began to fan herself with the invitation, slowly, while she appeared lost in thought.
The Squire raised his eyebrows at Adam. “There’s more to it, am I right?”
“Yes.” Adam thought he felt a little bit of a flush rise into his face. Between the warmth of the fire and the warmth of the blankets wrapped around him, it was hard to be sure. Just say the words. “I have also invited Miss Tamworth and her father.” There.
Lady Anne stopped fanning and placed the invitation on top of her tea cup, balancing it there. She looked over at Adam, nodding slowly. “Mm, that is what I suspected.”
“What is?”
“You expect they will refuse, and you hope Squire and I will use our influence to change their minds.”
“You are a woman of great perception, Lady Anne. That is indeed the case.”
“Well, if we must be ready to depart tomorrow, there is certainly a very small window of time to work in. We will begin our preparations at once, but I am afraid we can do nothing about Miss Tamworth until tomorrow morning.”
“I understand. I am hoping that perhaps the lack of time will work in my favor–she won’t have time to think up all her objections.”
“Her father will refuse no matter what. Of that I am positively certain. However, I believe I can persuade him to allow Cassie to come along if the Squire and I serve as chaperones.”
“He did say he would consider the matter. I took it as a sign for hope.”
Lady Anne set aside her cup with the invitation still on top of it and rose with an air of determination. This of course meant the two gentlemen must rise as well.
“Leave this to me, Lord Forthhurst. I am very glad you sought our help! And I must say, I am delighted by the invitation and quite eager to attend. We so rarely go out into high company anymore, but there was a time when we did so quite often. My sisters, you know. I assume your friend Mr. Haslitt will also be attending?”
Adam lumbered out of his chair still wrapped in blankets. His relief over the success of his plan was so strong that Lady Anne’s question caught him by surprise. Christopher? Was the wind in Lady Anne’s bonnet blowing that way? Christopher and Miss Tamworth would never suit. But if thinking so would help keep Lady Anne engaged in the project, what could be the harm? “Yes, madam, he is expected.”
Her smile was perhaps a tad too broad. “Excellent. I shall send a note to Miss Tamworth as early as the weather permits a messenger to go out in the morning, and if the weather should improve enough, I will call on her myself.”
Apparently, even an undeserving a wretch such as himself could occasionally receive a miracle. To Adam’s utter astonishment, the following morning actually brought three. Perhaps there was still a shred of hope for his redemption. Either that, or that strange magic he had felt at work in Little Macclow when he’d first arrived was working on things here again. It was still the Christmas season, after all.
The first miracle was that the weather eased up quite early. The ice-fog turned into plain fog, and then even the fog, while not entirely dissipated, thinned enough to allow more reasonable visibility and at least a slight brightening of daylight.
The second was that before Lady Anne dispatched a servant messenger with her note to Miss Tamworth, a note from the vicarage arrived at Highfield.
The third miracle was the contents of that note. It said Miss Tamworth was honored to accept the kind invitation of Lord & Lady Grantsborough to their New Year’s Ball, if Lady Anne and Squire Hammon would accompany her and serve as chaperones. The Reverend Dr. John Tamworth declined with thanks, especially given the distance and the fact he was needed to preside over worship in Little Macclow the following morning.
“I am honestly astonished,” Lady Anne said after reading the note. “I never would have believed John Tamworth would allow Cassie to attend.” She paused, then added, “Not without a lecture from me about all the reasons why it is the right thing to do, at least.”
Adam was standing at the mahogany sideboard in the Highfield breakfast room, a piece of bacon dangling from the serving fork aimed for his plate. While he would always be convinced that Miss Tamworth’s acceptance was a miracle, he recognized that some logic might also lurk behind the good Reverend’s decision.
“Perhaps,” he said slowly, “Reverend Tamworth may have anticipated what you would have said to him, Lady Anne, and decided to save you the trouble. Not to mention time. I did explain to them the urgency of our travel.”
“Perhaps,” Lady Anne agreed. “I have certainly discussed with him many times the importance of exposing Cassie to people beyond this village, for the sake of her best future.” Pausing, she looked at Adam intently. “Miss Tamworth is the granddaughter of an earl. I expect you are surprised to hear that.”
The slice of bacon slid off the fork and dropped abruptly onto Adam’s plate as his hand remained motionless. “You say she is what?”
“I believe you heard me correctly. She is the granddaughter of the 4th Earl of Brinton, not the current one of course. Sadly, that side of her family is estranged. She has never met any of them. Taking her cue from her father, she claims to have no interest in doing so, but that does not invalidate the connection.”
“No indeed, it does not.” Adam suddenly felt an urgent need to sit down. He took his plate, empty except for the single bacon strip, and returned to his chair.
Miss Tamworth had connections to nobility. Not just any nobility, but to Lord Brinton, a very respectable man Adam knew. He could scarcely credit it. That changed so much! A relationship between them was not as unthinkable as he had supposed. If his parents were going to rush him to the altar, why not with her?
For a moment, he actually considered it. Couldn’t the strong attraction between them serve as a foundation for something more? Sharing a bed, waking up beside her in the mornings, every morning–he could picture all that.
He pushed the bacon strip around on his plate. Yes, marriage to Miss Tamworth could be a pleasant solution to his scandal. Unfortunately, the benefit would be all his. Marriage to him would be no prize for Miss Tamworth, despite his social rank and family wealth. She would not care about those. She saw through him, knew what he was. Was it any wonder she disliked him? If only he was worthy! How sad that he had spent a lifetime shaping himself into a man exactly wrong for her.
For once in his life, he could do the right thing, for her. He could help her to find someone who would be suitable. Not Christopher, but someone. Someone besides her self-righteous suitor, the curate David Pratt. The thought of her married to him nearly made him cast up his accounts.
“Are you unwell, Lord Forthhurst?”
“I do apologize–please take no note of me. I believe I put too much salt on the eggs I ate earlier, or perhaps it is some effect of the chill I had yesterday. I am not certain I ever fully thawed out.”
He ought to eat something more. Despite the improvement in the weather, they should still depart today, if possible. They might soon be on the road, traveling to Blakehill, and inn food was notoriously bad. Not enough of those had proprietors like the Salsbys.
He knew he should also respond more fully to Lady Anne’s revelation. “You are correct, Lady Anne. I was unaware of Miss Tamworth’s aristocratic connections. As it happens, I know the current Lord Brinton. Please rest assured I will make every attempt to introduce her to people at Blakehill. I believe she will be a great success at my parents’ ball.”
The dear lady beamed. “Thank you, Lord Forthhurst.”
“We should leave today. Can you do so? I don’t trust the weather to stay favorable, and you will be less tired, not to mention less frozen, if we make the trip in two short segments rather than one long one on the same day as the ball.”
“It is hard for me to imagine spending New Year’s Eve at an inn instead of at home, but I am sure many people must do so. I’ll send a reply to Cassie right away.”
Cassie’s maid, Mary, laid an armful of clothing on the bed and began to fold each item Cassie had chosen to bring to Blakehill. Cassie eyed the pile, wondering if it all could possibly fit into the valise her father had lent her. Would she truly need to bring so much?
“You might be there for several days, depending on good or bad weather, miss,” the young maid said, as if she had read Cassie’s thoughts. “’Tis best to be prepared.”
“You are right, of course, Mary. And no doubt all those fine ladies will have trunks so full of dresses they won’t wear anything twice.”
Cassie sighed. Was she foolish to attempt this? Last night when Papa had asked if she wanted to go, she had gaped at him, slack jawed and speechless in astonishment. Her heart had given a little leap, and she wondered if his asking meant he didn’t favor Mr. Pratt’s suit after all. In Papa’s view, she would be entering a den of wolves.
Her heart pounded now as if she had run a mile, rather than simply agreed to attend a ball. Truth be told, she was as close to panic as she could ever remember feeling. How would she possibly fit in at a glittering assemblage of highly-ranked, titled people? The possibility of disgracing herself was terrifying, and that was not her only fear. Could she hide the disregard for them she had been taught all of her life?
“Don’t you worry, miss. You’re as fine as any of them. Finer, I dare say. If they don’t see it, ‘twill mean they’re blind.”
“Thank you, Mary.” Cassie thought her maid’s loyalty might be more blind, but she was touched by it all the same.
Going to the ball would allow her to test Papa’s opinion of such people. If Lord Forthhurst were any example, most of them should be too complicated to paint with such a broad brush as her father had used all of her life. Could they all be selfish and shallow? Lord Forthhurst kept surprising her each time she dismissed him as being so.
He was the source of her other fear. What if her feelings for him could not be contained, or what if they grew stronger after more time with him? She could not seem to help enjoying his company even when she knew she should not. If that did not support his devilish claims, she knew not what temptation was. She had to hope seeing him in his own element would cure her.
Her hands trembled now as she sorted through her mother’s jewelry. Were any of the pieces fine enough to wear amidst a ballroom full of nobility?
She had to do this. Even at the risk to her foolish heart. She was not certain why Lord Forthhurst had wanted her to come, but she had written her acceptance note quickly this morning, before she could change her mind. Going to the home of his parents might be her one opportunity to break free of her present life. Mr. Pratt’s proposal loomed over her like the shadow of a gallows, or a door to a prison where she would serve a life sentence.
Now was not the time to examine her multi-layered fears or try to disarm them. She needed to be ready when Lady Anne and Squire came to fetch her.
Adam had a great deal to do in a very short time. Considering the bitter cold as well as the fact that the travelers all planned to return as soon as possible after the ball, the group had decided Adam should share the trip to Blakehill in the closed coach with the Hammons and Miss Tamworth. The Hammons had agreed to depart in late morning once the Lord of Misrule had outlined the day’s special activities to the villagers.
The prospect of all that time on the road with Miss Tamworth filled Adam with the strangest mixture of feelings–eager anticipation, yet a dampening sense of frustration, since they could not be alone. His newly resolved intentions toward her did not sit easily with him. He was not accustomed to caring about propriety, or the future, or most especially someone else’s future. The fact that he did care added annoyance to the mix of his feelings. For once in his life, he felt he was more bedeviled than devil.
A barrage of snowballs pelted him on his way across the street, driving him to abandon such thoughts and concentrate on his errands. The break in the weather was obviously not lost on the village children. He paid the smithy for the repairs to his carriage, now ready, and made a payment on the bill for the boarding and care of his horses at the livery stable. Then he crossed the main road to the Four Feathers, ducking a few more missiles.
Mr. Salsby greeted him from behind the bar in the empty taproom. “In between the spells of frost, there’s been a bit of traffic to and from your room, my lord.”
“Is that so?” Adam rubbed his chin. “I suspect the weather has made it quite difficult for people to engage in the activities I scheduled for them.”
“Yes, quite so, sir. Even the Christmas Assembly, which would have been last night, has had to be put off. The plan is to make it into a New Year’s assembly on Saturday evening instead.”
“That seems a worthy notion. Unfortunately we will be dancing at Blakehill at the same time. I am sorry for taking the Squire and Lady Anne, and Miss Tamworth, away.”
The innkeeper shrugged. “Well, them and yourself, if I may say so. The Lord of Misrule would normally serve as the Master of Ceremonies.”
Adam felt a tug of guilt. He looked at Mr. Salsby, but did not detect any trace of disapproval in his expression. “I see. So I should designate a deputy to carry out that role in my absence?”
“Yes, my lord.”
Adam had grown rather fond of the innkeeper. He smiled. “What about you? I think you would do an admirable job of overseeing the festivities.”
“Me, my lord? Oh.” The look of surprise on the man’s face was almost comical. “I would have to check with Mrs. Salsby, my lord. Doing it would take me from her side, and she might object.”
“Ah, you are the soul of chivalry, my good man. If she does not agree, may I assign you the task to choose someone else? I am too pressed for time to scour the village for another candidate.”
The innkeeper’s face lit at that idea. “That I would do gladly, my lord. Pleased to be of service.”
“All right, then. Greatly appreciated.”
Adam bounded up the stairs, heading for his room and glad there was no one to get in his way.
His door didn’t open easily after he unlocked it. Just how many notes had been slipped through the narrow crack beneath it? He pushed with a firmer hand and discovered a score of notes piled behind the threshold. By heaven, the Lord of Misrule would be busy in the days after his parents’ ball.
He scooped up the scraps of paper and deposited them all on his bed. He would bring them with him. Perhaps he could share them during the drive to Blakehill and receive the benefit of perspective from his companions who should know the note authors.
In the meantime, he still needed to repack the bag he had brought from Blakehill and change his clothes before meeting the gathered villagers and then traveling again. He quickly doffed his outerwear, dropping his greatcoat and scarf onto a chair, and busied himself with the tasks at hand. He didn’t know how long the Hammons would be at the vicarage picking up Miss Tamworth, but he had urged them not to be long.