“I wish you had brought your own dinner up,” Valeria said. “I didn’t think I wanted company, but now that you’re here, Charlotte, I find that I do.”
“You’re very kind,” Charlotte said. “You always have been, My Lady. I don’t know how you can possibly think that you’re vain. I don’t know how anybody can see you that way. A lady who’s willing to befriend her maid doesn’t have a scrap of vanity in her.”
“You’re the best friend anyone could ever ask for,” Valeria said. “Your station in life, who you were born to—those things don’t matter at all.”
“You’re a good friend to me as well,” Charlotte said. “I’m very fortunate to have you in my life.”
Valeria broke her bread in half and handed a piece to her lady’s maid. Charlotte shook her head, but Valeria pressed it on her until at last she accepted.
“Are they feeding you well here?” Valeria asked. “I was so horrified when I learned that Richard hadn’t been. I wish you had told me sooner.”
“In truth, I thought your brother’s treatment of his servants might be normal,” Charlotte said. “Your parents were uncommonly kind when they were alive. I knew that I couldn’t expect everyone for whom I worked to be the way they were. That would be too much to hope for.”
“But everyone should be!” Valeria said firmly. “Everyone should treat you with kindness and decency, as though you matter. No one is any better than anyone else just because of who their parents might be, or what title they might hold. Richard was proof enough of that. He was a Viscount, and just look at how awful he was. And Lord Woodsford is only a Baron, and—”
She cut herself off, but Charlotte was looking at her knowingly.
“You still have feelings for the gentleman,” Charlotte said. “You know that you do.”
Valeria sighed. “I wish I could say otherwise,” she said. “I wish I hadn’t invested my whole heart so quickly. But yes, Charlotte, you’re right. I have very strong feelings for him, and I would be heartbroken if our courtship were over before it had even begun. It was so hard for me to open myself up to this. Now that I have, I very badly want things to go well. I want it to work out.”
“That is understandable,” Charlotte said. “But you must keep faith, Valeria. You must believe that things will turn out for the best. What happened with Lord Woodsford today will soon be just one day, one memory, in a long history that the two of you will share. I firmly believe that one day you will even be able to laugh about the things you are feeling tonight. I know that is not the case right now. But if you keep faith, that day will come.”
Valeria sighed. “You’re very wise, Charlotte,” she said. “And listening to you has never steered me wrong. But I certainly hope you’re right this time. My heart is on the line.”
Chapter 24
The knock on the door made Thomas jolt with unpleasant nervous anticipation. He had expected this today, of course. How could he not, after the events of a few days ago? The caller had promised that he would return.
But a part of Thomas had hoped that he would be forgotten. After all, it had been years since anyone had actively pursued his father’s debts, and hehadbegun to allow himself to believe that no one cared anymore. That perhaps the matter had died when his father had after all.
His butler was moving toward the door, but Thomas hurried forward. “Don’t,” he said quickly. “I’ll answer it.”
“Are you sure, My Lord?”
Thomas nodded. He knew there was nothing to be gained by answering the door himself, and yet, somehow, he was embarrassed to have his butler involved in this. He was ashamed.
He had felt nothing but shame for the past several days. How had he allowed himself to get into such a terrible fix?
He waited until the butler had retreated from the foyer, then opened the door to reveal the short, rugged figure of Simon Crowle. The debt collector was backed, as he had been last time he’d visited Thomas at his home, by the tall, muscular man whom Thomas did not know by name. What he did know, however, was that this man was the one he really had to fear. If he didn’t comply with what Crowle said, this man would be unleashed upon him.
He would have liked nothing better than to shut the door in their faces and ignore this problem. But that would have been inadvisable. If he refused to speak to them, he knew, then one day he would meet them down a dark alley. They could deal with this in the bright light of his home, where he was relatively safe, or he would live in fear.
“Welcome, Crowle,” he said stiffly, although no one had ever been less welcome in his home. “Would you like to come into the sitting room?”
“That would be much appreciated,” Crowle said smoothly. He had the charming bearing of a gentleman, which Thomas supposed was probably because he spent so much of his time in the company of gentlemen. He must be accustomed to behaving himself in ways that would make his clientele more comfortable.
But he was also well-practiced in making peopleuncomfortable. That was clear in the way he entered Thomas’s sitting room. He moved here and there, touching things, picking up the ornaments and putting them down not quite in the same places they had been, before at last moving to one of the armchairs and taking a seat.
“So,” Crowle said. “I told you that you would be hearing from me very soon.”
“You did,” Thomas agreed slowly.
“Have you had time to think about the matter we discussed?”
“I’ve thought about it,” Thomas said. “But I’m afraid nothing has changed, Mr. Crowle. The reason I haven’t settled my father’s debts—myfather’sdebts, I’ll remind you, not my own—is simply that I haven’t the money to do so.”
“But surely you have enough money to make a preliminary payment,” Crowle said. “I refuse to believe you have nothing at all.”
