“I have my dress,” Katherine said, with a twinkle in her eye. “You must seeit.”
“Oh, yes.” Susan had been dying to ask the question but had waited as long as she could. “And have you heard from Daniel?” she asked shyly, not wanting to sound tooeager.
“We have not. But he’s only been gone a couple of months. We usually don’t expect to hear from him thatsoon.”
“I see,” Susan said,disappointed.
Katherine cast her a glance. “You’re not used to it yet—the long waiting. But you will in time. I’m sorry. I know it’s difficult,” she said, sympathetically. Then she turned to Elizabeth who was looking bored and asked, “Do you like books withdrawings?”
“Oh,yes.”
“We have one I think you’ll like. It’s got all the animals of India. Would you like to seeit?”
“Yes, please,” Elizabethbeamed.
Katherine took her to the sitting room, got down the book from the bookshelf, and gave it to her. When she came back to the kitchen, she asked Susan, “How are you holding up over there in the bighouse?”
“It’s lovely. Aunt Clarissa is wonderful, and I adore teaching Elizabeth. But it gets a bit lonely sometimes. I don’t go out shopping like I used to, and I miss all my children from my old school, but the Duke and I are preparing for his new school and I am so looking forward to getting started withthat.”
Katherine laughed. “And the guests from hell, did they finallyleave?”
Susan laughed. “They did.” Then she told Katherine about the voracious Miss Fitz and how she tried to wrangle an invitation from the Duke to come back for a visit—alone.
“What a schemer. And is he interested in her? She certainly put everything up front with him—didn’tshe?
“I have no idea. He was always very polite. But I couldn’t tell if he was interested or not.” Susan hesitated, but finally said, “But there’s somethingelse...”
“Yes?” Katherine asked with peekedinterest.
“It’s aboutSimon.”
“Simon? I thought he was out of your life forgood.”
“It seems not. He’s very ill and John has gone to London to helphim.”
“Oh, Susan… Do you know what the illness is? Have you heard anything fromLondon?”
“It’s too recent. John only left the other day. Aunt Clarissa and I have heard nothing further. At least, as of the time of my cominghome.”
“Do you think the illness isserious?”
Susan shook her head. “We just don’tknow.”
“I thought John didn’t know where Simonwas.”
“He didn’t. But, of course, Simon knew where John was when he neededhim.”
“How do you feel, about all of this? Does it bring up concerns foryou?”
“Of course, I’m concerned for Simon’s health, but not about seeing him. I already did that on my trip to London. After the initial shock of seeing him again, I realized I’d completely erased any romantic attachment to him from mylife.”
“But it must be worrying for theDuke.”
Susan nodded. “Yes, I know it pained him that they were not intouch.”
“Well, tea’s up,” Katherine announced, as she carried the tray to the sittingroom.
Elizabeth was seated on the sofa, book in her lap, her small legs dangling over theedge.
