Tossing an alarmed glance at Lord Stephen, Penelope ran forward to help Lady Winthrop. “Unpleasant news, ma’am?” she gently inquired.
“He could not serve me so. I cannot believe this.” Her voice was cracked and weak. All power and force seemed to have seeped from her upon reading the letter. Thrusting it at Penelope, she commanded, “Read it for yourself.”
Penelope scanned the contents with growing amazement. She glanced up at Lord Stephen, hardly knowing how to phrase her words. At last she said, “Lord Everton has eloped with Miss Dunston. He politely informs his mother that she may remove herself to the dower house at Everton. She is not to be here when they return from their wedding trip.” Turning to her aunt she added, “At least he gives you a month."
“A mere month, and I must be removed. Cast aside! I do not know how to bear this insult.” She turned and hobbled back into the house.
Penelope watched her leave. It seemed her aunt wanted no comfort from her niece, for before the door closed she could be heard calling for her abigail.
Turning to Lord Stephen, Penelope tried to keep a straight face and failed. She grinned as she entered the phaeton. Glancing down at him, she said, “The Mouse has turned into a fearsome tiger. One never knows, does one?”
And then Penelope realized that her menace was gone. All need to marry had vanished. She was free, and so was Jonathan.
Chapter 16
After bidding Lord Stephen good-bye in the entry, Penelope ran lightly up the stairs, nearly bumping into Mrs. Flint as she rounded the corner on the second floor.
“Forgive me, my lady,” the flustered housekeeper said, looking most curiously at Penelope’s laughing face.
Bubbling with relief, for Ernest’s elopement had removed her greatest fears, Penelope said happily, “Can you credit that my cousin Ernest has eloped, Mrs. Flint? He marries Miss Dunston. And he has ordered my aunt to the country. She will hate the dower house, for it is small and not at all what she had planned for her future.”
Penelope continued, deciding to rush ahead with her plans, “Mrs. Flint, I shall need someone to take Miss Nilsson’s place, now that lady is to be married.”
“You will wish to request one of the agencies to send you suitable applicants, my lady. Shall I notify the establishment Miss Letty uses?”
“Please,” Penelope replied with relief. She hurried into her room, hoping she had turned the housekeeper’s thoughts to something else other than what Penelope intended to do once the new abigail appeared.
Within an hour a young woman presented herself for Penelope’s inspection. Named Betsy, she appeared to be neat and modest, claiming skill at dressing hair and offering good references. She was hired on the spot.
Upon discovering that the abigail could commence work immediately, Penelope motioned her to follow up the stairs.
Once inside her room, Penelope pointed to the trunks she had ordered brought down from the attic. “I wish to have all my things packed. I find it necessary to return to the country. I trust you have no aversion to a pleasant stay in a rather nice country house?”
Betsy cautiously smiled. “No, my lady. I’ve never been to the country, being a city girl. But I’m willin’.”
That was all Penelope required. Watching a few moments, she observed the girl worked quickly and neatly in her packing of Penelope’s things. Once she realized that effort was well in hand, Penelope walked down to Letty’s little study.
She owed Jonathan an explanation. After thinking about what Lord Stephen had said respecting gifts, she knew it was rude and ungrateful of her to simply disappear from London without a word to the man with whom she had been so intimately involved the past weeks. After all, for a dashing bachelor to offer marriage was no small thing.
She couldn’t tell him she had stooped to reading his mail; that would be disgraceful. Embarrassing as well, she admitted. She had never done such a thing in her life, but she was glad she had now, she fiercely insisted. A man so devotedly, tenderly loved ought not marry anyone else. It was plain that the unknown woman had felt loved in return, sure of total regard. Oh, to be adored, loved so totally. Penelope sighed and turned to her difficult task.
At last she managed to pen a few lines. The letter was inadequate at best, for how could she reveal to him that she had come to love him, that he had taught her how to trust in others? It was an impossibility. But she thought it conveyed her polite regard, her sincere recognition of his willingness to sacrifice on her behalf.
Next she penned a heartfelt letter of appreciation to Lady Harford. She wrote that the threat of marriage to Ernest had now disappeared, what with the elopement of the Toad and the Mouse, who really was a tiger in disguise, and now Lord Harford was free. She added a line regarding the removal of Aunt Winthrop to the dower house at Everton Hall. Lady Harford would have a fair idea how ill the Crow would receive such instructions.
Penelope smiled wistfully as she then wrote an additional message to Lady Charis, explaining that with the peril of marriage to Ernest gone, she would return to Fountains. While there might possibly be another Winthrop cousin that Penelope had never heard about, she felt confident her solicitor and guardian would not compel her to marry if she chose to remain single. The instructions regarding the future disposal of her estate ought to cover everything. She begged Lady Charis to ask Letty to attend her, for the honeymooners should be home by then.
The task completed, Penelope returned to her room. It had been stripped bare of all her belongings. How swiftly Betsy had worked.
Glancing at her timepiece, Penelope noted
