His mother nodded. “You do not let them win,” she said. “You pretend that their words do not have any effect on you.”
“I daresay Miss Bentley is incapable of that,” Roswell replied.
“Why do you say that?”
“She wears her emotions on her sleeve.”
His mother took another sip of her drink. “Then I shall speak to her and encourage her to put on a brave face when she is out in public.”
“You don’t intend to send her back into public, do you?” Roswell asked. “That is like sending a lamb to the slaughter.”
“It is for her own good.”
“How so?”
“She must not let the gossips win,” his mother said. “This is her life, her fight.”
Roswell rested the back of his head on the camelback settee. “You just had to host Miss Bentley this Season, didn’t you?” he asked lightly.
She laughed. “It made this Season much more interesting.”
“That it did,” Roswell replied. “Although, I do miss the quiet days around the townhouse.”
“I know you do, son, but I have noticed a difference in you since Miss Bentley arrived.”
“How so?” he asked, turning his head to look at her.
She smiled. “You have started to return to the man we once knew.”
“Is that a good thing?”
“Heavens, yes,” Charles interjected. “You are much more tolerable than you once were.”
Roswell rose from his seat. “I believe my mind has finally calmed,” he said, hoping to end this ridiculous conversation. “I think it is time that I retire.”
“Goodnight, son,” his mother responded.
He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. “Goodnight, Mother.”
“Think on what I said this evening.”
“I will.”
Ellie laid in bed as the morning sun streamed into her bedchamber. She was in no mood to leave her room today. Perhaps no one would even notice her absence. She knew that was highly improbable, but she still wished to disappear for a few days.
She had failed her mother, and now she had no idea what would become of them. No one would marry her, and she had no prospects. She would be forced to live off Lord Worthington’s good graces again, knowing that inevitably she would have to marry him.
What if she became a companion? Ellie shook her head. Then her mother would be left to fend off Lord Worthington on her own. She highly doubted that anyone would want a mother-daughter companionship, which would be the only way she could bring her mother to safety with her.
A knock came at the door before it was pushed open, and Emma stepped into the room. “Mother sent me up here to bring you down for breakfast.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“I suspected as much, but you know my mother.”
Ellie rolled over in bed. “Just tell her that I am not feeling well.”
“Then she will call for a doctor, and I highly suspect she will encourage him to put leeches on you.” Emma sat on the bed. “We both know what this is about.”
