The Winter Solstice—the longest and darkest night of the year. Yes, that suited him quite well indeed.
“Ay, very curious.” Milli flashed a warning look at Emma. “I take it as a sign that we simply cannot refuse such a kind offer.”
“I thank you for the invitation, Victoria, but I cannot decline or accept until I have first spoken with my aunt and uncle.”
“Allow me.” Victoria winked conspiratorially at Milli. “I shall write such a charming letter that your uncle would not dare deny me anything.”
“No indeed,” said Milli, depositing another morsel into her waiting mouth. “I confess I should be glad to be gone from London till these infernal murders stop!”
Victoria’s lips curled into an impenetrable smile. “You shall be quite safe at Winterthurse.”
Later, when the sisters’ chariot was homeward bound, Milli turned on Emma. “What maggot has got into your head?”
“What do you mean?”
“It is one thing to dress like an old maid but quite another to act the part.”
“So I am old-maidish because I think and act with caution?”
“Decidedly!”
“You must allow that it does no harm to take a few days to consider the invitation, Milli. What of all your London suitors? Surely you cannot bear to be long away from them?”
Mill crossed her arms. “They are all of them unsuitable and uninteresting, and far too tame besides.”
“You mean none of them are rich enough to suit you.”
“In the main,” said Milli. “Mr. Valko must be very rich if his cousin is a viscount.”
“Our intimacy with the Winterlys is hardly longstanding, they are still little more than strangers to us.” If anything, after hearing that strange conversation in her head, Emma ought to be considering a stint in Bedlam, not skipping off to some country estate. “And don’t set your cap for Mr. Valko just yet, you’ve only met him once!”
“Dearest Emma! Why must you always think a thing to death?”
“And why will you never think at all!” It was a harsh thing to say and Emma instantly regretted it. She apologized immediately and Milli accepted, but the carriage ride thereafter was stilted. Emma took the opportunity to mull over the conversation she’d…what, overheard? “Vauxhall, tomorrow a week.” Had she really heard Mr. Valko’s voice or was she going mad?
“What did you say?” Milli glanced over.
Emma chewed her lip a moment. “Did you…overhear the conversation between Mr. Valko and Victoria?”
“Of course not, the door was shut.” Milli turned back to the window.
As soon as Emma alighted from the carriage she went in search of her uncle.
Robert Haywood looked up from an opened letter as Emma strode into his library. “Back so soon from calling on the nobility, eh?” This was followed by a sportive wink. “I say, it gives me pleasure to see you taking a bit more of an interest in society, it isn’t good for a young woman to keep herself cloistered away with no more company than her books.”
She kissed his cheek hello. “Uncle—”
“Although, Milli might benefit from a little less society and a little more reading.”
Emma cleared her throat. “Uncle, if you should get a letter from Miss Winterly inviting Milli and I to Yorkshire, I must insist that you decline it under some or other of your witty pretexts.”
“What the devil for?”
“We hardly know them.”
“I should think that is best remedied with a nice long visit.” He watched her face fall. “At all events, I’m afraid your request comes too late, my dear.”
Emma’s brow furrowed in confusion.
“You see, I’ve already given the lady my consent.”
Emma sank into an armchair, further confused.
“Her letter arrived only moments before you returned from Mayfair”—he gestured down to the letter he had been reading when she’d walked in—“and the post has just left to deliver my reply.” He patted her head affectionately. “There, there, I’m certain you shall bear the vexation of a holiday tolerably well.”
“But—”
“And, while you’re at it, keep your sister out of mischief, there’s a good girl. That reckless chit wouldn’t know caution if it bit her.”
Emma gave a groan and left her uncle to his letters. Who better to guard an unruly peahen than her barking mad sister.
Chapter Nineteen
A Penny For A Curse
Milli sat staring out the window, her forehead slumped against the glass. “Lord, what a tedious day.” Behind her, her uncle grumbled something about idleness being a sign of silliness. She gritted her teeth and ignored the remark. “We haven’t done anything exciting since our visit with Victoria.” And that was over a week ago.
“Uncle,” said Emma, pulling her spectacles off to rub her eyes, “shall we perhaps go to Vauxhall Gardens tomorrow night?”
Milli whirled around, all astonishment.
Uncle Haywood looked up from his book. “Vauxhall? That doesn’t seem like the sort of place you’d care to go to, Emma.”
“Is it odd for a woman to be taking a bit more of an interest in society?” Emma lifted her shoulder dispassionately, the gesture appearing a little too contrived to Milli.
Their uncle’s chest rumbled with something akin to amusement. “No, indeed.”
“And that is the first sensible idea you’ve had all season, Emma.” Milli clapped her hands and danced around the room towards her uncle. “Oh, we must take a boat across the Thames and enter by the Water Gate. I read in La Belle Assemblée that Lord Lovegrove went by boat specifically to see Madame Saqui.” Lord, Milli could already see herself arriving by boat in her yellow crape, and Mr. Valko would be there, of course, and their gazes would lock beneath the fireworks…
“Who on earth is Madame Saqui?” asked her uncle, looking helplessly at his wife.
Milli rolled her eyes. “The tight-rope dancer, of course. What if we should see a tiger! Can you only imagine?”
“I’m sure I cannot,” Emma muttered.
“Oh, Uncle,” said Milli, “we simply must go by boat.”
“Must we?”
“Ay, we must.”
“I hear,” said Emma, “that there are dead bodies and all manner of ordure floating about in the Thames at any given moment.”
“Oh, Emma,” said their aunt with a nervous laugh, “do try not to be so morbid.”
Milli paused, mid-pirouette. “Dead bodies in the Thames?” Well, that was hardly romantic. “Well, then we had better go by carriage, and I think we ought to have supper there as well.”
Uncle Haywood shook his head. “You shall not see me paying a shilling for a slice of ham thin enough to see through. No, Milli, we had much better dine early and have a far more superior supper here at home before going out.”
“And,” said Emma, speaking low so that only Milli could hear her, “we should not like to have our appetites ruined by death and ordure.”