The next day at breakfast, Phineas took a seat beside Nicholas, looking guilty and ashamed.
“I’m awfully sorry about yesterday,” he said quietly. “I know I was out of line in speaking to you the way I did. I hope you can forgive me.”
“Well, of course I can,” Nicholas said, so relieved to have his friend back that he was willing to forget all about yesterday’s incident. He wouldn’t even ask for an explanation, he decided—Phineas would offer one if he wished to, but Nicholas didn’t need to know what was to blame if Phineas didn’t wish to share it. It was clear to him that something had his friend deeply upset, and he had already indicated that he didn’t very much want to talk about it. The best thing to do would be to let it go.
Apparently, Phineas did wish to comment on it further. “The trouble is that I’m ready to marry,” he explained. “But I don’t know if I’ll ever find someone who wishes to marry me—at least,not someone I’m also interested in. Sometimes it feels hopeless. When I see you with such a lovely arrangement…well, I know Lady Hannah is not who you want. But it’s unfathomable to me that I would turn my back on such a neat arrangement.”
“I’m sorry,” Nicholas said. “I don’t mean to seem ungrateful.”
“You don’t need to accept an arrangement just becauseI’mready to marry,” Phineas assured him. “It frustrated me a little and I allowed myself to take that out on you—I was in the wrong.”
“Think no more of it, my friend.”
“I tried to find you again last night, but you were nowhere to be seen,” Phineas said. “Where did you go?”
“Phineas, you’ll never believe it,” Nicholas said, turning so that he could speak closely with his friend without the risk of being overheard. “I found her at last.”
“You found—not the lady from the masquerade?”
“That’s right.”
“But this is incredible! Who is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You found her again and you didn’t try to discover who she is?”
“Of course I tried! She didn’t want to tell me, and I couldn’t force her to reveal herself. But it’s all right. I have a clue now. I can’t believe I never thought of it before.”
“What’s the clue?”
“She has a scar on her hand.” He held up his own hand and traced a finger along the place where the mysterious lady’s scar could be found. “If I can find that scar, I can find the person I’m seeking.”
“That does seem like a good clue,” Phineas agreed. “It’s highly unlikely that two ladies would share the same scar, so you’ll know for certain that it’s her when you find it.”
“Indeed. That’s how I knew it was her last night. She had a hood covering her face, you see. I don’t think she realized thatIwas the same person she’d met before. She didn’t mention our previous encounter, and neither did I. But as soon as I noticed that scar, I knew that it must be her. There was no other possible explanation. It had to be her.”
“And yet even now you don’t know who she is—that’s rather tragic.”
“But we can discover her identity. At least, we can if you’re willing to help me.” Nicholas hesitated. “I know you’re a little angry with me for not wishing to embrace the possibility of a marriage to Lady Hannah.”
Phineas shook his head. “I’m not angry with you,” he said. “I have other complicated feelings that I allowed to affect the way I responded to you. I shouldn’t have let that happen. But of course you shouldn’t marry Lady Hannah if you’re not interested in her. It wouldn’t be fair to either one of you, and I want you both to be happy.”
That was interesting. Phineas wanted Lady Hannah to be happy? Nicholas hadn’t been aware that his friend had any feelings at all about Lady Hannah, but apparently he did. Nicholas decided to file that information away to ponder later. Right now, he wanted to discuss his own affairs of the heart.
“I’d like your help in finding the young lady with the scar on her hand,” he said. “I did search for her a bit last night after we encountered one another in the garden, but to no avail. I fear it will take me too long to find her if I continue to try on my own—but with your help, I might be successful. Will you help me?”
“Of course I’ll help you,” Phineas said. “I would be delighted to assist in any way I can—but how do you mean to find this lady if she doesn’t wish to be found?”
“By her scar, of course.” Nicholas frowned. Had he not made that perfectly clear?
“No, I understand that you mean to look for the scar,” Phineas said. “But if the lady knows she can be identified that way—and I’m sure shemustknow it, for how could anyone have a scar and not be aware of it, especially in such a prominent place?—then she will take pains to conceal it.”
“She hasn’t done that so far,” Nicholas pointed out. “Twice she has allowed me to notice her scar.”
“But on both of those occasions, you didn’t know who she was,” Phineas pointed out. “Perhaps she would be more cautious if her face were exposed. And now that she knows the Duke of Nightingale may be trying to discover who it was he met in the garden—well, you said that she wasn’t willing to reveal her identity there.”
“No, she wasn’t.” Nicholas could see where this was going.
