Diana opened her mouth to protest, but there was no need. A firm knock sounded at the door. Both girls exchanged worried glances before Marjorie stepped back and Diana hurried to answer.
“My Lord!” Diana said in surprise. “It is early, and my mistress is not yet finished dressing.”
“Tis an important matter. Tell her to hurry and put on something decent, I must speak with her at once—” Charles said in an urgent voice, a scowl fixed on his face.
“I’m here, Father,” Marjorie answered, stepping nearer as she tied the belt of a long, heavy robe. “What is it? Have you received word of Valiant?”
“Valiant?” he demanded. “What do you know of that?”
“Harriet saw a man stealing him last night.” Marjorie ignored the news of Harriet’s near disappearance. “She was at her window and chanced to see this man.”
“What? But how? Nay, tell me what she saw. Would she recognize him if she saw him again?” Charles pressed, his eyes going wild with worry but not for the reasons Marjorie suspected.
“I know not, but I dare think she wouldn’t. It would have been almost dark by then.” Marjorie watched her father’s face, aware that he wasn’t being truthful about something.
“This ruins everything,” Charles muttered under his breath. Marjorie and Diana both watched him, waiting for him to explain, but he didn’t. He only continued to mumble for a moment longer, his eyes darting about wildly as he thought this through.
“Daughter,” he said instead, raising his head and looking directly at Marjorie, “I’ve come to tell you that your wedding will be tomorrow.”
“What?” Marjorie cried in an astonished whisper. She held out her hand for comfort and Diana instinctively clung to her arm, supporting her lest she faint. “So soon? And with no announcement or festivities, not so much as a small dinner to show the ton that you’re pleased with this match? I’ll be a laughingstock! How will I show my face in society again with a hastened wedding to an old man, and you not even sharing the good news with our peers?”
“Nonsense, you’re letting your flights of fancy get the better of you,” he replied, waving off her concerns. “This is a marriage arrangement, for heaven’s sake, not a coronation! At your advanced age, no one will think anything of it. It’s a marriage that simply makes sense, nothing more.”
“But it isn’t done! Father, I do not even have a dress befitting a ceremony. Should I go knocking on doors, asking to borrow a gown so that I can be married? And what will we eat afterwards, day-old bread and mackerel? Or are we not to even have a meal with our families? Is that too much of an expense for you?”
“Watch your tongue, daughter!” Charles cautioned her sharply, stepping towards her angrily. Marjorie pushed Diana behind her protectively, almost defiantly. “You know nothing of these affairs—”
“Only because you’ve not told me anything! I enter to find you already signing away my fate, and now you inform me that my wedding is tomorrow. I have no time to share the ‘happy news’ with my own friends, let alone celebrate the occasion, and you won’t even have the care to follow the most basic of manners and protocols?” Marjorie said, horrified. Behind her, Diana simply wanted to be gone from the room, too overcome with discomfort at witnessing such a personal family discussion.
“Daughter, there are things you know nothing of. I expect you to do your duty and do so willingly, even if doing it gladly is apparently too much to ask of you!” her father shouted, but Marjorie—emboldened by her recent adventures out of the house—returned his anger.
“Then tell me these things. What is it that I do not know? What are you hiding from Harriet and me that is so awful, so terrible that you have to sell your oldest daughter like a goat in the market square?” she cried.
“It is not for you to worry about—”
“I demand to know,” she pleaded, her tears betraying her anger.
“You demandnothing! Know your place and hold your tongue!” Charles roared. “Next that I see your face, it will be in the chapel in front of the vicar tomorrow!”
Her father turned on his heel and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind me. His shouts could be heard echoing down the hall, shaking the walls in much the same way that Marjorie herself trembled.
“Diana? What am I to do?” she cried softly. “Tell me there’s something that can be done.”
Her maid didn’t answer. It wasn’t right that Diana had had to witness such a shameful scene, and Marjorie didn’t press her for a reply. She knew too well what that reply would be: there was nothing that could save her from this match.
Chapter 21
“My Lady, you mustn’t!” Diana cried, following closely behind Marjorie as she hurried about the room, dressing to leave for the stable.
“I have to! Another of our horses is at the Earl’s estate, I still have to tend to Hermia, and… Diana, I did not tell you everything.” Marjorie stopped her frantic movements and took Diana’s hands. “There is some scheme afoot, a plot against the Earl.”
“What? Whatever do you mean?” the maid whispered, pressing her hand to her mouth.
“I know not, but someone is determined to ruin him. That is how I ended up falling yesterday, I know it. Someone will be killed if this person is not stopped.”
“But, My Lady! How is this your responsibility?” Diana cried. “You cannot take this risk upon yourself. What if you are that person who is killed?”
“Then what of it?” Marjorie asked, her voice thin. “There’s nothing left for me in the world, at least nothing of my own choosing. If I am to marry tomorrow, I will spend my last day as Lady Marjorie of Mortham helping someone who has become rather dear to me.”
