Agnes shook her head. “No. You go ahead and enjoy the visit with your friend. I’ll see you later.”
Lydia nodded and kissed her aunt’s cheek. It was still too early to see Helena, so she went down to the dining room to have a leisurely breakfast. She was surprised to see her father at the table. He usually took his breakfast in his study.
“Good morning, Papa.”
Thomas looked up from his morning newspaper and merely grunted.
Lydia had hoped her father would be more amiable this morning, but from his response, it appeared he was still quite angry over yesterday’s events. She went to the sideboard and filled her plate with eggs, bacon, and kippers.
A footman poured her a cup of tea.
“Thank you, Edward,” she said, sitting at the table. She wanted to engage her father in conversation but didn’t know where to begin. Before yesterday’s stunning revelation, he’d only talked to her about business, nothing more, and that usually happened in his study. Certainly not at the dining table, so there wasn’t much she could do except eat her breakfast. “Papa, I shall be going out to see Lady Evans this morning.”
“Spending time with your fancy friends, I see,” Thomas said.
Lydia was taken aback at her father’s rude comment. She’d been friends with Helena since last Season, and her father knew that. “Lady Evans and I have been friends for quite some time now.”
“Don’t think you can throw your new status in my face. The marriage contracts haven’t yet been signed, and I can still withhold my permission.”
“Papa, I wasn’t trying to disparage you. Forgive me if you felt like I was.”
“You still have three weeks under my roof, and I expect you to pull your weight around here. Have you finished going over the ledgers?”
With all the excitement yesterday, she’d completely forgotten that she’d found discrepancies in last month’s books. She’d been bringing those to her father’s attention yesterday before she knew Lord Surry and Hutchinson were in his office. “Oh, I forgot. That’s why I was bringing the ledger to you yesterday, to show you that a couple of the numbers didn’t add up.”
“You can show me after breakfast.”
“Of course,” Lydia said, although it was the last thing she wanted to do this morning. At least it would help pass the time while she waited for a decent hour to visit Helena. She ate her breakfast quickly before following her father into his study.
He picked up the ledger from his desk. “Show me the numbers.”
Lydia had marked a couple of entries and turned to the relevant pages. “This number seems extravagant compared to last quarter’s count of cotton bales. It may be correct, but I thought I’d show you because it’s much more than the last entry.”
Thomas studied the ledger page, flipping back and forth between the current quarter and the last one. “That does seem suspicious. I’ll look into it when I go to the factory later today.”
Lydia wanted to remind him that Lord Hutchinson would be calling with his solicitor to draw up the marriage settlements today, but she didn’t want to irritate him further.
“Was there anything else?” Thomas asked.
“No, that was all I found.”
“Good eye, Lydia.”
Had her father just complimented her? “Thank you. If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave.”
Thomas nodded, and Lydia left the study, going upstairs to her bedchamber to collect her bonnet and gloves.
“Ellie, are you here?”
“Yes, Miss Weston. Are you ready to leave?”
“It’s nearly ten, so I think it would be appropriate to leave now.”
Ellie handed her the bonnet and gloves.
“Thank you. Shall we go? I’ve asked Prescott to have the carriage brought around,” Lydia said.
Ellie tied the ribbons on her bonnet and followed Lydia downstairs. Prescott opened the door, and Owen was waiting by the carriage to hand them up. Lydia could hardly contain her excitement, eager to tell Helena about everything that’d happened yesterday.
