“I wonder who that young lad was?” Georgie mused.
“It must be someone who works for him.” Lord St. Albans seemed to easily dismiss it all as he turned his smile back to Henrietta.
“That must be it.” Lord Bolingbroke started his horse as the coach rolled forward, and their uninvited escort moved with it.
Dorie poked Henrietta in the side, but she shook her head. This was not a subject she would discuss now. Still, it was unexpected that Lord Fotherby had been summoned by Mrs. Perriman. That was the only reason she would send Toby to Fotherby. For some reason she had needed assistance. But what impressed Henrietta was that he had not hesitated in the least to answer the call for help. She wondered if her sister knew. Well, there was only one way to find out. She would have to ask.
The rest of the ride around the carriage way and home was filled with what passed for fashionable talk, when she would much rather have been assisting in the rescue. By the time they reached her house, she was heartily sick of polite chatter. It was one thing to put up with it in snatches during a dance, but it was quite another thing to be fed a steady stream of it without respite. Goodness, what was wrong with her? Polite conversation had never irritated her before.
Lords Bolingbroke and St. Albans quibbled good naturedly about which one of them should be allowed to hand her down from the barouche. It was rather childish behavior, but when she slid a glance to Dorie and Georgie, they were laughing lightly, clearly entertained. Perhaps Henrietta should consider their behavior as lighthearted flirting. Bolingbroke won the honor of handing her down to the pavement. But he could not stop St. Albans from following them to her door.
“I hope, Miss Stern,” Lord Bolingbroke said, “that I may be allowed to call on you.”
“Yes, of course.” He bowed over her hand and kissed the air above her fingers. Despite her earlier irritation, she began to be amused. This might be a more interesting Season than she thought it would be.
“Miss Stern.” Lord St. Albans bowed as well. “I am looking forward to our ride tomorrow.”
“As am I.” Once again the air over her fingers was kissed.Much more interesting. She should not have been so out of sorts earlier.
The door had opened at some point during their farewells, and Parkin gave the gentlemen a wry look as they took themselves down the steps to their horses. “I see it is going to be a lively Season, Miss Henrietta.”
She tried not to laugh. “Apparently it is.” Poor Parkin. He was obviously not looking forward to it. “Is my sister in?”
“Yes. She is in her parlor. The weekly report from the Phoenix Society arrived not long ago.”
If Fotherby had gone to help Mrs. Perriman, Henrietta wondered who had been left to bring it around. “Thank you.”
She made her way to Dotty’s parlor, where she found her sister staring at a pile of banknotes. Had Dotty made a large withdrawal? No. If that was the case, she wouldn’t be staring at the money as if she had never seen it before.
“Good afternoon.” Henrietta strolled into the room. “Where did that come from?”
“Mrs. Perriman sent it over with the report.” Her sister raised her head, revealing a perplexed look. “It is a donation.”
Henrietta gazed down at the banknotes. “How much is it?”
Dotty took a breath. “One thousand pounds. Mrs. Perriman hired a constable to bring it over.”
“One thousand pounds?” Henrietta’s heart almost stopped, and she dropped into the chair next to the desk. They had never received such a large donation before. “Who is it from?”
Dotty shook her head. “That’s just it. I have no idea. The person wished to remain anonymous.” She smoothed out a letter that had been partially folded and picked it up. “She said a youngish gentleman brought it by on the instruction of his employer.” She glanced at Henrietta. “She also said that the gentleman who helped you came to speak to her as well. He wanted to know how the baby was doing. His name is Mr. Meadows, and he offered to be of assistance should she need help in the future.”
“That was kind of him.” She knew Fotherby would not give his true name. He was not ready for her sister or Merton to know he had met her. And she agreed with that sentiment. But she had not thought he would tell an outright lie. Then Henrietta remembered that he had been Mr. Meadows for much longer than he’d been Lord Fotherby. Therefore, not a complete falsehood, and it was for a good cause. And now she knew why he had been summoned. Could he also be the unknown benefactor? Based on what he told Mrs. Perriman, it stood to reason that he would want to help the society continue.
“Yes, it was.” Dotty placed the letter back on the desk. “I must say, I am looking forward to meeting this Mr. Meadows. He sounds like an excellent man.”
Henrietta wanted to test her hypothesis. “I believe that the money came from him as well. What do you think?”
“It very possibly could have.” Dotty’s brows drew together. “It makes sense.” She paused for a moment, making the neat pile of bills even straighter. “He must be quite well off to give such a large bestowment.”
That was something Henrietta had not considered. He had not showed off his wealth in the way she had seen other gentlemen do. In fact, even with the new garments he had acquired, he dressed rather simply. Henrietta wondered what her sister would do when she discovered Mr. Meadows was Lord Fotherby, and that Henrietta had known who he was. Well, that was a bridge she would cross when she came to it. In any event, Merton was bound to be the first member of the family to “discover” who Mr. Meadows was. From what she had heard, they had known each other since Eton, when Lord Fotherby would have been Mr. Meadows.
Dotty took out a key and unlocked one of the three drawers along the upper part of her desk. Once open, she placed the money and letter into the drawer, locked it again, and tugged the bell-pull. “I must have Merton’s secretary take this to the bank.”
Parkin arrived. “Please tell Mr. Hanwell I have an errand for him in the morning.”
“As you wish, my lady.” The butler bowed and left the parlor.
When he’d left she smiled at Henrietta. “I apologize for being so preoccupied. How did your day go?”
