had not been constantly flaunting herself before Albert-not that I believe he showed her anything more than a filial affection. He was always a loving boy. I never want to set eyes upon Prudence again. She is to be gone by morning. Cousin Calvin, you will see to it, if you please. You are a clergyman. You must know a suitable place where she can be taken.'
'If Prue goes, Mama,' Chastity said, 'I go too.'
'Enough now,' Joshua said, stepping forward into the middle of the room and speaking with firm authority. 'There has been mischief enough here in the past few weeks. I had hoped that the truth might never come out, but perhaps there is something in the old adage that the truth will out no matter what. Perhaps it needed to come out. But it must and will be remembered that Prue is the most innocent of innocent victims in all this. She will remain in this house-in my house-for as long as she wishes, Aunt, and she will always be welcome here even after she has left.'
'Prudence is my daughter,' his aunt cried.
'And my ward,' Joshua reminded her. 'But we will not wrangle over her as if she were an inanimate object. Prue is a woman, and she has a mind and a will of her own. She is capable of choosing her own future, her own course in life, and in fact she has already chosen. She is going to wed Ben Turner.'
The marchioness stared mutely at him and then got to her feet to confront him, her face pale and distorted with anger.
'You would wed Lady Prudence Moore to an uncouth fisherman?' she asked him.
'I will be making the announcement as soon as we have returned to the ballroom, Aunt,' he said. 'Come with me and smile and look glad. Tomorrow we may discuss all that needs discussing. Tonight we have guests to entertain, and we are neglecting them.'
But his aunt had looked beyond his shoulder and her eyes had narrowed to slits and her lips had thinned.
'You!' she said, stepping past Joshua to stand toe to toe with Freyja. 'This is all your fault! If you had not used your high-and-mighty wiles to seduce Joshua in Bath and snatch him from under Constance's very nose, he would have been betrothed to her by now and we would have been the close, happy family we have always been. And now you have come to invade Penhallow itself and to lord it over all of us with your proud, contemptuous family.'
Freyja raised her eyebrows and regarded the marchioness with cold, silent disdain.
Joshua watched, appalled, as his aunt raised one hand and slapped her palm hard across Freyja's cheek. He reached out ineffectually with one hand, but he was too late.
Freyja had drawn back her right arm and punched his aunt in the nose. She went down like a bundle of old rags.
Calvin cleared his throat. The other ladies looked on as if waiting politely for the next scene of the drama. Joshua noticed that one of his aunt's hair plumes had snapped in two.
'I was beginning to be very much afraid,' Freyja said, 'that she would never give me provocation enough to permit me to do that. I am very glad she did.'
By midnight the ball had ended and everyone had returned home, all assuring Joshua as they left that they had never enjoyed a grander evening. The drama with Hugh Garnett in the middle of the ball, Freyja guessed, had only enhanced their delight.
So had the announcement of the betrothal of Prue and Ben, and the bubbling happiness of both for the rest of the evening had brought even Freyja to the edge of tears a couple of times. She had blinked them away quite firmly each time. Lady Freyja Bedwyn was certainly not given to shedding sentimental tears.
Incredibly, the marchioness had returned to the ballroom with the rest of her family. Her nose had been rather red for a while-as had one of Freyja's cheeks-and her two remaining hair plumes had had to be rearranged, but she had pulled herself together and smiled her usual sweet martyr's smile.
Constance had danced the final three sets of the evening, Freyja had noticed with interest, with Joshua's steward, James Saunders, who had not danced at all until then. Constance, usually quiet and dignified and self- contained, suddenly made no secret of the glow of love in her eyes and her cheeks. She really had looked very pretty indeed. After the first five minutes or so, Mr. Saunders was returning look for look.
'It was a wonderful evening, Joshua,' Eve said when a few of them were alone in the empty ballroom. The marchioness and the Reverend Calvin Moore had withdrawn. Chastity and Miss Palmer had taken Prue off to bed. Constance had disappeared somewhere with Mr. Saunders. 'We have attended similar such assemblies at the village inn at home, have we not, Aidan? But tonight has made me realize that we must invite everyone to our own home, perhaps for a summer garden party or a Christmas party or-'
Aidan laughed and set an arm about her waist. 'Or both, my love,' he said. 'Did you know you were to have so many supporters here tonight, Joshua?'
'Let me just say that I was not surprised,' Joshua said with a grin.
'It was priceless,' Alleyne added. 'I just wish it had come to fisticuffs, though. I would have liked nothing better than to lay out that grinning Garnett fellow. But I suppose it would not have been quite the thing with so many ladies present, would it?'
'I at least got to plant the marchioness a facer,' Freyja said. 'I was never so pleased in my life as I was when she slapped my face.'
'You see?' Morgan threw her hands in the air. 'I miss all the fun. You do not tell me anything, Freyja. Whatever happened?'
'It is a long story,' Freyja said, 'and not mine to tell.'
'You all came here to give me your support when it seemed I was to be charged with murder,' Joshua said. 'I believe you have earned the right to know the truth. I know I can count upon your discretion.'
He gave them a brief, bare account of what had been revealed earlier in the library.
'Oh, Prue,' Eve said, closing her eyes when Joshua had finished and setting her arm about Aidan's waist. 'My sweet, innocent Prue. But she had Chastity and Miss Jewell and Joshua as her champions, and now she is to have that steady, very nice young man, Ben Turner. She will be happy, I believe. I am ready for bed.'
