“Hal? Hello, lad!”
Hal looked up and saw a tall, dark-clad gentleman with a top hat waving.
“Logan!” he greeted him, waving expansively. He felt his cheeks lift in a grin. Logan, his prominent cheekbones lifting with a big smile, was a welcome sight on this morning.
“Hello, old boy!” Logan said, clapping him on the shoulder expansively. “Looking at those ginger whorls? I fancy one of those. You have good taste.” He leaned on the stall, indicating to the seller that they would take two large spiced pastries.
Hal, who hadn’t made his mind up yet, felt a bit nauseous at the thought of the sticky pastries – unlike Hestony, he’d eaten a hearty breakfast. All the same, he accepted the sticky swathe of brown paper as Logan passed it to him, tossing a coin to the stallholder with a smile.
“Well, then,” Logan said, patting Hal on the shoulder again. “I commend your taste both for breakfast,” he reached for a pastry, biting it and swallowing hastily, “and in dancing. That was your lady?”
“My lady?” Hal let the paper-wrapped pastry fall from his lips, staring up.
“Yes. The lovely pale-haired lady whom you danced with,” Logan said patiently. “Don’t pretend you don’t know who I mean.”
Hal blushed. “Um…the lady I danced with was the lady I mentioned to you. Yes.” He nodded. Oddly, it made him feel proud and shy at once.
Logan stared at him with big round eyes. “You fortunate soul!” he said. “My, Hal – she’s wonderful! Hang onto her, lad.” He nodded. “Hang onto her.”
Hal swallowed hard. “I will, Logan,” he informed his friend. “But…well, nobody said she would want that from me.”
“Hal!” Logan almost choked, coughing spectacularly, eyes becoming watery. He shook his head as he recovered. “Lad, I sometimes wonder if you have pastry up there, or the gray matter the rest of have there.”
Hal laughed. “Well, maybe.” He frowned. “But, why?”
“Henry Lanhurst Ellington,” his friend lectured him. “I wonder if you have a mirror…? Or, failing that, if you have any idea what a dear sort you are? Why would any lady want another?”
Hal shook his head. “I don’t know.”
He couldn’t explain it – he just had this strange idea that mayhap Lady Hestony was having second thoughts.
“Well, if you’re asking me,” Logan said patiently, “I reckon that is utter nonsense. But, the fact of the matter is, it won’t do you any much good to be asking me, in any case. The person you ought to be asking is the lady herself.”
Hal swallowed hard. “Quite frankly, Logan, I’m terrified by the merest thought. I honestly don’t think I could do it.”
Logan shook his head, smiling gently. “Hal, you know…in my opinion, you have a very low regard of yourself. You tell me the lady is having second thoughts, and you seem to think that any behavior even slightly untoward from you will make her scarper as if all the imps of Perdition were after her. I’m quite sure neither thing is true.”
Hal swallowed hard. “Well…that’s encouraging.” He smiled. “I suppose.”
Logan regarded him steadily. “Old boy, you have to trust the lady. That’s the one thing you aren’t doing.”
Hal nodded. “How is it that you have such wisdom on these matters?”
Logan raised a brow, a strange smile twisting his lip. “Well, I’m glad you think I’m wise! I reckon I’ve had and lost my fair share of loves…if anybody can tell you to hold onto what you have, and never let it go, it’s me.”
Hal felt a little silly that he’d never thought about it before. Logan always seemed so fancy-free that he’d never considered how he felt or that he might have loved.
“I’ll do my best,” Hal murmured at length. “I’m going to try and talk to her tomorrow.”
“Good lad.” Logan nodded his approval. “When you’ve finished, tell me all about it. I’ll see you at the Exley at noon.”
“I look forward to it.” Hal nodded.
All the way back to Hartfield House, Logan’s words went around his head. You have to trust her. Hold onto love. He knew now, without a doubt, that he was falling in love with Lady Hestony.
Whatever else happened, he was going to do anything he could to preserve that love. Logan was right – life was too short for any other thing.
Chapter Twelve
A Discussion of Danger
The fire crackled in the grate, warming Hestony against the unseasonable coldness that seemed to have descended from nowhere that morning. Behind her, Judy arranged things on the table and then started to curl her hair. The bottles clinked on her dressing-table as Judy put one down and then lifted the curling-tongs from the fireplace.
“Unseasonable weather out there, My Lady,” Judy commented, tugging a little on Hestony’s hair as she brushed it with a boxwood brush.
“It is,” Hestony murmured. The rain ticked against the windowpanes behind them. The view of London she could see in the mirror was gray, cold, and speckled like pewter, the rain running down the pane and blurring it into a pattern of sparkling colors. In many ways, the weather suited her mood. She felt tired and restless, though she couldn’t have said exactly why.
Because he’s interested, and I wished you to know.
Hestony shivered as the words Lady Raymonde had said to her came back to mind echoing eerily in her thoughts. What had she meant by them? That Lord Osburne, her brother, was interested in her?
But then, Hestony mused, why did she say it like a warning? In many ways, any lady would dream to have a gentleman like Lord Osburne interested in them – the heir to a duke, mannerly and polite, he seemed everything a lady should want.
“Is it too cold, My Lady?” Judy asked with concern. “I’ll put more coal on the fire, if you like?”
“It’s alright, Judy,” Hestony replied, seeing her maid’s face crease with a frown. “I’m not cold. Just thinking.”
Judy said nothing, just wrapped another length of hair around the curling-tongs and held them in place. Hestony shifted a bit with discomfort – the tongs were close to her neck and she could feel heat from them. She was still worried, and she wondered if Judy could help. The thought that worried her most was, why had Lady Raymonde been so secretive? And why did she drop such vague hints? Was there more to her interest than she was actually saying? Hestony contemplated what she was going to say, and then turned to Judy.