“Hmm,” Colin hummed thoughtfully.
“What?”
“Nothing, really. Just a suspicion I have.”
“Would you be so kind as to share it with your wife?”
“I would not,” he teased.
“Colin,” Lizzie said reproachfully, and he winced.
“Could you please not?”
“What?”
“Use my name in anger, reproach, or criticism? LetColinbe reserved for the more tender moments in life, and use Talbot for the rest.”
“I shall think about it,” Lizzie promised.
They were both quiet for a while.
“How are we going to survive dinner?” She asked.
“We’re leaving tomorrow after breakfast anyway, just keep reminding yourself of that fact.”
Dinner was depressing and awkward. A pale, shaken Charlotte presided over the dinner table, still exhibiting perfect manners and holding herself like a queen, which Elizabeth considered quite impressive, given the circumstances. Their host was nowhere to be seen. Lady Genevieve had left before dinner, as had cousin Andrew and Pratt and Stone. The rest of the party was leaving the next morning.
No one dared broach the subject of what had happened until breakfast the next morning. Lizzie got the chance to briefly exchange impressions with Isabella, but they decided they were going to dissect everything at Ashbury.
“I’m so glad we’re all going together, I really want to use this time with you,” Isabella said.
“Oh, come on, you’re only going to Winchester, not America,” Lizzie teased. “By the way, it’s so interesting that you’ve chosen Winchester for your confinement over one of your husband’s estates.”
“That’s where I feel most at peace, and I think that’s important to consider when bringing a child into this world,” Isabella said, and Lizzie suddenly remembered all the poor married women and the conditions in the charitable lying-in hospital.
She set her toast down, no longer hungry.
This is the first time I’ve thought of them in days,she realised guiltily.Being part of this world really does something to you; it draws you in completely.
“And Frederick loves it there too,” Isabella concluded what had probably been a much longer sentence, but this was the only part Elizabeth heard.
Luckily, Talbot walked in right then, sparing her from having to scramble for a response she didn’t have.
“Are you ready for our trip, Your Grace?” Isabella asked cheerfully, but he looked as stricken as his wife.
“I’m afraid I’m not. We have to head to Norwich,” he said as he turned to Elizabeth. “I’ve just received word that my mother has arrived.”
Chapter 32
“Your mother?” Elizabeth said happily. “Oh, I cannot wait to finally meet her!”
“You still haven’t met her?” Isabella asked with such surprise that Lizzie felt like she had done something wrong.
“She’s been in Italy all this time,” she replied defensively. “But she’s here now, so send our apologies to Sophie and my brother, because we are heading to Norwich.”
“Stevenson left on horseback last night,” Colin informed her as they headed upstairs. “He wanted me to have a good night’s rest, so he didn’t tell me anything beforehand. He left a note to be given to me in the morning, together with the housekeeper’s letter.”
Elizabeth noted that he seemed uncharacteristically agitated, and she found Stevenson’s way of relaying this news to Colin odd, but ascribed it all to the unexpected change in plans and possible excitement of seeing his mother again.
