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It seemed that the viscount was aware of the impropriety of such behaviour in broad daylight even if his paramour was not. In an instant he was propelling Celia by the elbow towards her vehicle. A moment later they disappeared from sight behind its coachwork.
Edith turned saucer-wide eyes on her friend. ‘Well...what do you make of that, Dolly?’ she gasped.
‘Nothing good,’ Dolly muttered. ‘Nothing good at all.’
‘It seems we are witnessing an assignation. Shall we turn about and go home?’ Edith ventured. ‘Perhaps there might be no wedding, after all...’
‘Indeed we shall not!’ Dolly pulled herself up in her chair. ‘There will be a wedding.’ She pursed her lips. ‘We must not let them know...or anybody else know, for that matter...what we have seen. That hussy is sure to report this secret tryst to all and sundry in an attempt to break my niece’s heart. She’ll have no corroboration from me, or you, to help her do it.’ Dolly sighed in deep disappointment. ‘Perhaps it is a farewell meeting between them—who knows? Even so I can tell you that that fine gentleman has plummeted in my estimation.’
‘Should we let the viscount know we are aware of his true colours?’ Edith suggested.
A forceful shake of the head answered her.
‘We shall let him know nothing of our opinions on his character till after he’s put a ring on Elise’s finger,’ Dolly said firmly. ‘Come...it is time to get back on the coach.’
‘It seems he was not as smitten by Elise as you thought,’ Edith said, following her friend to the exit, oblivious to the glower Dolly sent over a shoulder at the mournful remark. ‘The viscount might be doing the right thing by your niece, Dolly, but you’d have thought he would have kept his chère amie at home in London at least till after the honeymoon.’
Chapter Twenty-Two
Walter had been taken aback by his sister’s uninvited visit, but had nevertheless welcomed her and her friend cordially, as befitted a gentleman of good breeding.
Now he wished he’d turned them away and had stayed in blissful ignorance of the news they’d brought with them; because of it he had a harrowing task ahead of him. With the aid of his cane he proceeded along the passageway towards his study, his sister’s reluctant footfalls dogging his steps. Walter swallowed down wrathful tears, rallying his courage. Once he’d done questioning Dolly he would wait for his daughters to return home from their shopping trip, then speak to his beloved Elise. His report was sure to make her inconsolable. But do it he must...
In his daughters’ absence Walter had slowly busied himself in going to the kitchen to arrange refreshment for their guests. After speaking to Betty, he had gone back to his sanctuary to fortify himself with a nip of something stronger than tea before belatedly joining the ladies in the back parlour. He had been on the point of entering the room when he’d sensed, from a sibilant whispering from within, that he might be intruding on a delicate female conversation. Out of respect he had hesitated behind the door, awaiting an appropriate pause.
What he’d overheard next had not embarrassed him, but wounded him like a blow to the guts. The dreadful spectacle the ladies had encountered on their journey, and were picking over in scandalised murmurs, had precipitated Walter across the threshold. No amount of flummery from Dolly would convince him that his ears had deceived him. The ladies’ dismay at knowing he’d learned of the tale was proof enough of its authenticity.
Walter was not a prig; of course, he knew wealthy fellows kept mistresses and bastards, as well as wives and heirs, and considered it a matter for their own consciences. What he could not abide was the hypocrisy and lies concocted by the wretches as a smokescreen to their sordid carryings-on. Had he the legs and energy to carry him he would have called for a pistol and a carriage pointed towards Enfield, and gone after the scoundrel.
Lord Blackthorne had vowed to remain a faithful husband to Elise, just as he’d promised to cherish and honour her till the end of his days. Walter had had those statements from the man himself on the afternoon the couple had come to see him to announce they were in love and wanted to be married. But now it seemed that the fellow was a callous fraudster, after all, who had no intention of giving up his paramour. If he could keep an appointment to sleep with another woman on the eve of his wedding, Walter knew he would certainly be tempted to do so again when the honeymoon was over. So...it was his duty to make Elise aware of Blackthorne’s deceitful character before she tied herself to him. After that, her future was hers to decide...
