Her uncle and aunt were so very kind.Everybodywas very kind. She wasn’t thirsty but took the tea anyway and sipped at it.
She had been placed in a spare room beside Georgie’s, and Ruthie slept on a pallet bed on the floor. The room was too small and smelled musty, as if it had not been used much in the past few months. It most definitely had not.
It didn’t feel like home.Of course,it didn’t.
I haven’t thought this through,she thought bleakly.Where will I go? What will I do? I have nothing and nobody.
She knew that Mama and Papa would be furious if they knew that she’d left her husband. How much longer could she trespass on Georgie’s hospitality without the story making itsway to the ears of others? It would set the entire ton by the ears, especially considering Ursula’s previous history. She closed her eyes, resting her forehead against the cool glass of the window.
Could I apply for a divorce? I have no grounds. An annulment? No, it would never be granted. Perhaps a separation?
None of these prospects were appealing. Ursula had no money, few friends, and nowhere at all to go if she decided to leave Georgie’s home. And even then, her uncle and aunt’s hospitality would not last long, especially if she was known to be disgraced.
“You could always go abroad, you know,” Georgie remarked idly. “Live on the Continent. If your Papa could be convinced to pay you a small allowance, then…”
She broke off abruptly at the sound of chaos coming from downstairs. A door slammed, there was a shout, and running footsteps thundered upstairs.
Before either woman had a chance to react, the door flew open with a crash. Ursula sucked in a breath, pressing her hands to her face.
“Graham!” she gasped. “What are you doing here?”
He looked a state. His hair was dishevelled, hanging over his forehead in tangled locks. He breathed heavily, and wiped sweat from his face. His cravat was coming undone.
“Ursula,” he panted. “I’ve found you at last. I must speak to you.”
Georgie at once put herself between them. “I think not, Lord Sinclair,” she said coldly. “My cousin does not wish to speak to you.”
Graham fixed his cool grey eyes upon her. “I should step aside if I were you, Miss Worth?”
“Oh? And why is that?”
“Because I know of your involvement in all this.”
There was a heavy silence. Ursula took a step forward, frowning, and saw that the colour had drained from her cousin’s face.
“Graham? Georgie? What is the meaning of this?”
“He lies,” Georgie stated firmly.
Graham shook his head, withdrawing a crumpled piece of paper. “Here, Ursula, read this. It’s a letter from Miss Worth to my mother, requesting her help to separate you and myself. The letter you were given had been stolen by my mother. You were always meant to leave.”
Ursula took the letter rather mechanically, staring about her, wild-eyed.
“I don’t understand.”
“Read it.”
Ursula did, falling silent. The room was heavy with silence as she read. There were only a few lines in the letter.
It was certainly Georgiana’s handwriting, addressed to Lady Margaret Sinclair, Dowager.
“You say here, Georgie, that you agree with Margaret that my matrimony to Graham should never have taken place,” Ursula said, voice wobbling. “You told her that the best thing for everybody would be for Graham and I to separate and seek an annulment. I… I don’t understand. Why would you do this, Georgie?”
Georgie’s face was as white as a sheet. She glanced around, terrified, struggling for words.
“I did not write that letter,” she tried, but Ursula shook her head.
“It is your handwriting.”
