Page 78 of The Heir
Betty met her gaze, and Jane looked back, unblinking. Betty pocketed the coins. There was a silent agreement in her curtsy before she turned to walk away.
Betty understood, and Jane understood. This payment was for Betty’s silence, and it would not be the last.
Mr. and Mrs. Carey, the couple who ran the post office, knew Jane, of course. They also considered Father a snob and far too standoffish, so she had no fear they’d chatter awkwardly or ask him who this “Miss Kent” might be.
It’s far too soon, she told herself as she waited, shifting from foot to foot, while Mrs. Carey rifled through her pigeonholes.The princess only spoke with Dr. Maton two days ago. I should have waited. I shouldn’t have wasted the excuse. . .
“Here you are, dear.” Mrs. Carey handed Jane the letter sealed with a plain blue wafer. “Dropped off yesterday, it was.”
Jane stared. She barely remembered to thank Mrs. Carey. She practically ran the rest of the way to the palace.
When Jane reached the royal apartments, the princess was at her lessons, singing scales of increasing speed and difficulty under the careful direction of her music tutor and, of course, under the duchess’s watchful eye. Father was at his desk, reading some papers. He looked up as Jane came in, and frowned at her empty hands.
Jane just shook her head. She’d tell him that the shop owner had sold the last copy on hand but had promised to order another.
When did it become so easy to think of lying to Father?
Jane moved quietly to her corner and picked up Wordsworth’s poems. When she was sure Father’s attention was fixed on his papers, she opened it, intending to slip the letter inside.
But there was something already there. A neatly written note on a slip of paper.
C. knows nothing. Must try elsewhere.
Jane glanced up and found herself looking directly at Lehzen. Lehzen watched as Jane pulled the letter from her sleeve, tucked it into the pages, and carefully closed the book.
After that, there was nothing to do but wait.
* * *
At half ten it was time for the princess to take her exercise.
“May I walk in the garden, Mama?” she asked humbly.
Too humbly, in fact. Fear rippled through Jane.The duchess will suspect something.
But the duchess, it seemed, was involved with her own cares and simply nodded. “Lady Flora can take you.”
“Yes, Mama,” said the princess dutifully. “Come on, then, Jane.”
Jane rang for Betty to bring her bonnet. She grabbed her sketchbook and pencil box and Wordsworth’s poems.
They were well into the dog days now. The sun was bright and the day was rapidly becoming uncomfortably hot. Sweat prickled under Jane’s bonnet and trickled down the back of her neck. She was grateful that the princess decided to stick to the formal pathways between the hedges so they could walk in the shade. Dash was having a splendid time running this way and that on the grass, shoving his nose into the hedgerows and flower beds.
The real reason the princess chose to stay in the gardens, of course, was that the tall formal hedges provided a screen between them and the palace. Even if someone decided to watch from the grimy windows, they would be unlikely to see Jane pull Gerald Maton’s letter from the book or the princess’s face light up as she broke the seal and shook the page open.
Jane and the princess put their heads together until their bonnet brims touched. Together they read.
My Dear Miss Kent,
I trust this letter finds you in the very best of health and spirits.
For my own part, I scarcely know what to write or how to tell you what I have learned.
Following our consultation, I found myself so agitated that I was barely able to continue to see my patients for the day. Please do not think this was your fault! It was entirely my own doing and brought on by a rational review of all that had passed between myself and my family since my father’s death.
So often, we see our family through a kind of hopeful haze. This means that actions they take can seem quite harmless to us, even if that same action would seem deeply nefarious or ill-advised if taken by a stranger.
Victoria and Jane paused and shared a long look of mutual understanding.
