Page 31 of A Baron's Disguised Lady
Lavinia looked up to find Wilhelmina looking at her pointedly.
“Were you friends with Gwendolene? Or was it before your… elevation,” she said, raising her eyebrows.
Lavinia, too, rose to her feet.
“Sadly, I never had the pleasure of meeting Gwendolene. But I truly wish I had done so,” she said, and Wilhelmina smiled.
“Dear Gwendolene. We were the best of friends,” she said.
Lavinia glanced at Archie, who grimaced.
“Yes… I’m sure she took great comfort in that fact. What a shame you didn’t visit her in her last few days, or weeks, or months,” Archie replied.
Wilhelmina paled.
“Well… It’s quite a journey from Salisbury to Sarum Lacy House. I didn’t want to trouble you with the bother of hosting me,” she said, and Archie smiled.
“No, I’m sure you didn’t want anyone to be inconvenienced. Not least yourself,” he said.
Lavinia now intervened. She did not want Archie to be upset by Wilhelmina, who had been seeking a reaction the whole evening.
“I think I’ve got a megrim coming on, I get such terrible headaches. They can leave me in bed for a week,” she said, raising her hand to her head.
“Then we must get you home,” Archie said, looking at her with concern.
“If my maid took to her bed for a week, I’d see to it she was dismissed,” Wilhelmina said, and Lavinia smiled, despite the pretense she was displaying.
“Then how fortunate I’m no longer a maid,” she said, as Archie led her away.
There was still no sign of Lord Bath in the ballroom, and Lavinia hoped they could slip away without being seen. Her mother and Horatia were still talking to one another, reminiscing as to past days of glory, but Archie—who, it seemed, believed the story of the megrim—now interrupted them.
“We’re leaving now,” he said, and Horatia looked up in surprise.
“So soon?” she asked, and Archie nodded.
“Yes, Lavinia has a megrim, and I’ll have one, too, if I have to listen to another word from Wilhelmina Tipping,” he said, the expression on his face now one of anger.
Lavinia’s mother looked at her with concern.
“Oh, Lavinia—you don’t normally suffer from such things. Perhaps your corset’s too tight,” she said, and Lavinia nodded.
She was glad to have an excuse to leave. But she felt sorry for Archie, too. For a short while, he had appeared as perhaps he had before cruel fate changed his life forever. But Wilhelmina’s words—her obvious insincerity towards his sister—had returnedhim to his previous sorry disposition. He looked angry, and now he sank into a brooding melancholy as they returned to Sarum Lacy House in the carriage.
“Oh, wasn’t that fun? It reminded me of days gone by. Of grand balls and soirees. Oh, the way things used to be,” Horatia said, oblivious, it seemed, to Archie’s sorrow.
“I felt like a young person again. Oh, Lavinia—how happy I am to see you experience the same joy I knew, too. I was quite certain you’d never know of such things. But fortune had other things in mind,” Lavinia’s mother said—she, too, oblivious, it seemed, to the cloud of melancholy hanging over the baron.
But Lavinia had seen the change come over him. She felt terribly sorry for him, and when they arrived back at Sarum Lacy House, she lingered for a moment in the candlelit hallway, hoping to talk to him before going to bed.
“Thank you for what you did for me tonight,” she said, and he gave a weak smile.
“I should apologize to you—for the way I behaved previously, and for the appalling way you were treated, too. It was terrible,” he said, but Lavinia shook her head.
“No… it doesn’t matter. You rescued me from Lord Bath. I’ll be forever grateful for that. But… I’m sorry for what Wilhelminasaid to you, and… well, I know you don’t think your sister’s death was natural,” she said.
Lavinia had seen enough of the notebook, with the details surrounding Gwendolene’s death, to guess why Archie should be interested in it. Gwendolene’s death had been a tragedy, but a young woman, in the prime of her life, did not simply drop dead.
“You… you do?” he asked, looking at her in surprise, and she nodded.
