“Come see, Rebecca. Oh, what a gift it is!” Amelia was standing by the bottom balustrade of the staircase, looking up with glee in her face. “Your sister is so happy; I do not think she has come up for air from the flowers yet.”
“Flowers?” Rebecca murmured in realization as she hurried down the stairs. When the front door came into view, she was hardly surprised to find a delivery boy was there, having handed over the largest bunch of flowers Rebecca had ever seen into the waiting hands of Eliza. “I see what you mean,” Rebecca teased, stepping forward. “Any more breathing in of that pollen, Eliza, and you will be sneezing for the rest of the day.”
Eliza giggled as she came up to breathe deeply, lifting her nose from the roses and chrysanthemums.
“Are they not stunning?” she asked, moving past their mother and presenting them to Rebecca for approval.
“Very.”
“See? Is not Lord Herberton a good man? I told you he was,” Eliza said insistently.
Rebecca didn’t reply, for she knew the truth. Bad men had a habit of presenting themselves as good men too. They just knew how to act the part.
“Of course, he is a good man!” Amelia said eagerly, clearly confused by the nature of the conversation. “And he has excellent taste in flowers. Come, dear, let us find a vase for them.”
As the two hurried off, the delivery boy still stood in the doorway, refusing to go though the butler was waving him away.
“There is something else, Sir,” the boy said, holding up a hand to the butler before he reached into a large pocket of his baggy coat and pulled out a parcel.
“I shall see it is given to Lady Eliza,” the butler tried to take it from the boy, yet the boy didn’t hand it over yet.
“It is not for Lady Eliza. It is for Lady Rebecca.”
Rebecca paused, her feet practically skidding to a halt on the marble floor as she looked round in surprise to face the boy.
“For me?”
“Yes, my Lady.” The boy hurried forward and placed the brown-papered parcel in her hand, before he bowed and hastened out of the door again.
“Who sent it?” Rebecca called after the boy, but the boy had gone too far to hear her call, leaving her standing there with the parcel in her hands. The butler closed the door, separating them for good, as Rebecca opened the parcel, spreading the paper on a crescent-moon-shaped hall table.
Inside, there was a book, entitled‘Poetry for the Lost Soul.’
Rebecca blinked, startled by the title, before she opened the cover to a contents page, finding it was an amalgamation of all her favorite poems, plus there were new titles, ones she didn’t recognize. Slipped inside this contents page was a small notecard, with just one line of writing upon it.
‘For your passion for poetry.’
Yet there was no name, no initials, no hint of who could have sent it.
“Who would send me this?” Rebecca whispered into the air.
Chapter Six
“Do you think the flowers were enough?” Alexander asked as they crossed the assembly room, heading toward the doorway through which the Birkston sisters had just arrived.
“More than enough,” Timothy said with a laugh. “Give Lady Eliza any more flowers and your hot house will be empty within the week. Best give her something else next.”
“Like what? A book of poetry?” Alexander’s tease brought Timothy up short, making him pause in the assembly room, nearly tripping over a stranger’s feet. Timothy hurried to apologize and moved past another group, trying not to get poked in the eye by some of the feathers stuffed into the ladies’ updos, before he caught up with Alexander.
“That is a secret,” Timothy whispered harshly as he reached Alexander’s side.
“I know. You have sworn me to secrecy. Yet you still haven’t told me what possessed you to send the gift to Lady Rebecca in the first place.”
“I thought she would like it. That is all.”
“Then you are not trying to make a conquest of her?” Alexander practically mouthed the words, for he spoke so quietly, but it did not stop Timothy glowering at his friend.
“Shh, for goodness’ sake,” his words made his friend laugh. “No. I would not do that to Lady Rebecca. Her name has been splashed in the gossip columns and the scandal sheets enough without me adding to her trouble. I am not completely heartless.”
