'But she'd be stealing from her own father's church,' Grenville said.
Marianne gave him a pitying look. 'Vicars' daughters are not necessarily the pious beings you imagine. They mostly do not give a toss about Sunday services, and she might have reasoned that a country church did not need extravagant candlesticks. Mr. Braxton likely convinced her, if she worried about hurting dear papa, that Protestant modesty would be assisted by the loss of glittering silver on the altar. These gentlemen think of everything, believe me.'
Grenville eyed her in curiosity, his motion sickness momentarily forgotten. 'Have you had wide experience of this?'
'I have watched others have wide experience of it,' Marianne said. 'You'd think girls in a theatre company would have more wisdom, but no. They cling to the belief that a fine gentleman will sweep them off to riches and comfort.'
As Grenville had done with Marianne. I deliberately did not look at him. 'Innocent country girls would be even more susceptible,' I said.
'Precisely,' Marianne said.
'How do we find this man?' I asked. 'I'd like a word with him.'
Marianne shook her head. 'You do not. They take what they came for, and they vanish, turning up elsewhere with a new name to fleece a new flock of sheep. The best ones are never found.'
'Well, this Edward Braxton could not have been terribly good at being a trickster,' I said. 'He told Mrs. Landon and Lady Southwick slightly different versions of his story, which was why Mrs. Landon swore he was a solicitor, and Lady Southwick swore he was a banker's clerk. He left the silver plate in my chimney, and Miss Quinn never married him.'
'Yes,' Grenville said. 'Odd that. And so, a visit to Miss Quinn is in order.' He took out his handkerchief again and patted his damp forehead. 'I beg your pardons, my friends, but I am afraid I must.. '
Both Marianne and I knew what he needed. She vacated the seat, and the two of us helped him pull it out into the special bed he'd had made. Grenville collapsed onto it and closed his eyes. Marianne sat down next to me and pulled out a newspaper, not seeming to think a thing of it. I leaned my head against the wall and let my fatigue overcome me.
We traveled the rest of that day, put up in a coaching inn for the night, and resumed the journey the next day. Grenville's money ensured that we had a private parlor and bedrooms, and Marianne assumed the role of Grenville's respectable wife so that the innkeeper did not questioned her presence.
She played the part astonishingly well, never overdoing it or behaving awkwardly. Grenville raised his brows at me once or twice but did not remark upon it. Theatre companies had done poorly to keep Marianne buried in the chorus.
By noon on the second day, we rolled into Market Sutton, a fairly large town a few miles from the coast, and found another inn. Marianne was surprisingly understanding about staying behind, while Grenville and I made our way to the house of Mrs. Edgerton.
Mrs. Edgerton proved to be a lady of large girth, who had to be pushed about in a Bath chair. She met us alone in her parlor, bade us to sit, and then looked us over, seeming in no hurry to summon Miss Quinn. Grenville explained that he'd written ahead, and Mrs. Edgerton acknowledged this, but I had to assure the lady that I was a friend of Miss Quinn's family.
'She does not wish to return to her family,' Mrs. Edgerton said. 'And if she does not wish it, she will not go. I have charge of her now.'
'Then she will not go,' Grenville said smoothly. 'We wish only to speak to her. Her family is worried about her well-being.'
'You can not accept my word that she is well?'
'Please,' I said, sitting forward. 'They would want to hear that I actually saw her. I promise you, if it turns out that Miss Quinn does not want me to tell her family where she is, I will not.'
Mrs. Edgerton ran a hard gaze up and down me and let it linger on my walking stick. The fact that I was lame seemed to reassure her for some reason. She summoned her maid who was instructed to fetch Miss Quinn, and we all waited.
When Helena entered the room, I was struck by how little she'd changed. I'd left Norfolk at age twenty, when Helena had been twelve. She'd been tall for her age, and robust-not an ethereal beauty but a sturdy and pretty girl.
She was twenty-two when she'd disappeared from home, and now she was in her thirties. Though still robust and still pretty, Helena wore a resigned look. This was her lot in life, the look said, her dreams of marriage and a family of her own now dust.
I rose, as did Grenville. When Helena saw me, she halted, the color draining from her face. I stepped forward, thinking her faint, but she waved me off.
'I beg your pardon,' she said. 'I did not mean to… It is just that you look so like your father.'
I supposed it inevitable. 'My father passed away a few years after you left.'
'My condolences,' she said, quickly and politely. She did not mean them.
I introduced Grenville and told Helena the briefest bit of my changed circumstances since she'd last seen me.
'Your cousin Terrance is worried about you,' I finished. 'He returned from Waterloo to find you gone. He tried hunting for you in Cambridge.'
Miss Quinn flushed. 'Yes, well, I was long gone by then. I came to stay with Mrs. Edgerton, who has been so kind to me.'
Kind Mrs. Edgerton intended to sit there, I saw, her cane planted on the carpet, keeping me from asking the questions I needed to ask. Miss Quinn also understood this, because she turned to Mrs. Edgerton. 'May Captain Lacey take a turn with me in the garden? I wish to ask him about my family.'
Mrs. Edgerton did not like the idea, but she gave a conceding nod. She lifted her cane and pointed the end of it at Grenville. ' You will remain.'
Grenville bowed with his practiced aplomb. 'As you wish, my lady.'
'I do wish it,' Mrs. Edgerton said. 'That is why I said so.'
'She really is quite generous,' Miss Quinn told me as we walked through the small garden. Mrs. Edgerton's house was square and brick, large but not ostentatious. Everything about it shouted extreme respectability, money spent wisely, a vivid contrast to Lady Southwick's monstrosity.
'She must be very generous,' I said. 'To take you in-alone, away from your family, running from… from Mr. Braxton?'
Helena's flush deepened. 'As you no doubt have discovered, given that you have found me, I was once a great fool.'
'You were young,' I said. 'And I have it from a good source that gentlemen like Braxton can be very persuasive.'
'I was twenty-two.' Helena spoke with a severity directed at her younger self. 'Old enough to be wiser than I was. I was on the shelf but still wearing debutante's clothing. Still hoping.'
'As is natural.'
'You are kind, but I know you also think me a fool. Miss Austen's novels were a great favorite of mine, and I should have paid better attention to the lessons in them. The dashing gentleman usually turns out to be the scoundrel, while the friend one has known all one's life proves to be steadfast and true.' She sighed. 'Poor Terrance.'
'He is still concerned about you,' I said.
'And I am ashamed of what I did to him. But I am pleased he returned from the fighting, safe and sound.'
I stopped. We'd reached a fountain in the middle of the garden, the fountain not running. Mrs. Edgerton did not strike me as a woman who would condone wasting water on something as frivolous as a fountain on a brisk September day.
