Page 36 of The Duke and His Cinderella
“She’s no doubt thought of the fact that the scar will give her away if she allows you to see it. She’ll be guarding it from you in particular. I think the chances of you seeing it again are very slim indeed.”
“You may be right,” Nicholas said. “But that’s why I need you, Phineas, don’t you see? You can find the lady with the scar and tell me who she is.”
“I’m not certain I should, if she truly doesn’t wish to be known,” Phineas said slowly.”
“What! Phineas, you know how this has plagued me. You just told me that you would do anything you could to help me. Are you truly changing your mind so quickly? You no longer wish to be of assistance?”
“I do, of course,” Phineas said. “It’s just that I feel I must respect the wishes of the young lady as well. She wants her identity to be a secret. Don’tyouwant to respect that?”
“Of course I do,” Nicholas said. “It’s just that—I can’t help thinking her reason for wanting to be secretive must have to do with a lack of trust in me. She must fear that she can’t rely on me. Maybe she thinks I’ll reveal her identity to someone else. Maybe she simply worries that I won’t like her as well once I know who she is. And none of those are concerns she ought to have. If only I can get close to her, perhaps I can convince her that she ought to have faith in me after all.”
“You believe that if she knows you care for her as you do, you’ll be able to overcome her reasons—whatever they may be—for not wishing to reveal herself to you?”
“Yes, that’s what I think.”
“Well, you may be right,” Phineas said. “There’s nothing planned for the first part of the day today, at any rate, so I’m more than happy to help you look around. Have you any guesses as to who it might be?”
“There are a few names I can strike from my list,” Nicholas said. He quickly ran through the names of the ladies he had danced with last night, the ones he was now certain were not who he was looking for.
Phineas nodded. “All right,” he said. “It can’t be any of them. And you say we’re looking for someone with auburn hair, yes?”
“Yes,” Nicholas said. “I never dreamed so many would have hair so near the correct shade!”
“Well, I think we can safely rule out Marina,” Phineas said with a smile. Lady Marina was sitting opposite the two of them, and at present it was difficult not to notice her auburn tresses. “She’s too besotted with my brother to be out at night speaking with other gentlemen. And besides, her presence is accounted for, both last night and during the masquerade. Jacob would have noticed if she was ever anywhere other than where she was supposed to be.”
“Very true,” Nicholas agreed. “I never considered that it might be her, for those precise reasons. It simply wouldn’t make sense.”
“So that’s one we can strike from the list,” Phineas said encouragingly. “This might not be so difficult after all. Perhaps we won’t need to check everyone’s hands. Is there anyone else we can eliminate from consideration for similar reasons?”
“I suppose it couldn’t have been Lady Eleanor,” Nicholas said.
“You think not?”
“According to rumor, she never leaves her house. Her mother and father are too protective of her.”
“Yes, that does match what I know of her,” Phineas agreed.
“And besides,” Nicholas said, “she’s far too well-behaved to be the young lady who went walking alone in the garden at night—on two separate occasions, no less! Why, every time I see her, she’s the picture-perfect model of grace and decorum.”
“I thought you were distressed when you first met her because of her sharp tongue,” Phineas noted.
Nicholas had all but forgotten that. “I think that must have been an aberration, not her normal behavior,” he said. “If that were all I knew of her, I could believe she might be the one I was looking for. But she must have simply been in a foul mood at that moment. Most of the time, she’s very tranquil and compliant. She isn’t the sort to disobey or to cause a scene. And then there’s the fact that she as good as told me that she didn’t believe in love. I think the lady I’ve been meeting believes in it very strongly.”
“So you don’t think there’s any chance it could be Lady Eleanor.”
“I don’t. But you know her better than I, Phineas. Do you think it could be her?”
Phineas hesitated for a long moment—so long that Nicholas wasn’t sure he was going to answer at all.
“I think you know better than I,” he said. “I may know Lady Eleanor better than you do, but I don’t know your mystery lady at all. As far as I know, she could be anyone. All I have for consideration are your descriptions of her. And the way you describe her leaves me unsure.”
“I feel fairly confident,” Nicholas said. “Lady Eleanor simply has a different character from the lady I’ve met so often. If it was her, I think I would know it.”
“If it was her,” Phineas said, “do you think you would still want to be with her?”
“I think I would,” Nicholas said slowly. It was true that he hadn’t had an overwhelmingly positive interaction with Lady Eleanor yet. He didlikeher, he thought, and she was certainly pretty. He had no objections to getting to know her better. But would he be upset if Lady Eleanor and the lady he had developed such powerful feelings for turned out to be one and the same? Would that be a disappointment?
Phineas was watching him as if the answer to this question were of high importance, rather than simply being a hypothetical.
