As they walked towards the manor, Winston couldn’t seem to let the matter drop. “Russian? Truly?” he asked incredulously.
“Elodie speaks a little Russian as well,” Melody revealed. “Perhaps if you came out of your room more often you would have learned that about us.”
“Does Father know?”
Melody shook her head. “Good heavens, no!” she exclaimed. “He would lecture us about how it isn’t proper to know such an uncouth language.”
“It is not an uncouth language,” Winston said.
“Not according to Father,” Melody pointed out.
A footman opened the door and they stepped inside. Once they reached the study, Winston said, “Enjoy reading.”
“I always do,” Melody replied before she continued down the corridor.
Winston stepped into the study and saw his father was hunched over his desk, reviewing a ledger. “You wished to see me, Father?”
His father looked up and adjusted the spectacles on his nose. “Yes, do come in,” he encouraged, gesturing to a chair in front of the desk. “I spoke to Mr. Halverson about Isaac.”
Now his father had his attention. “What did he say?” he asked, walking closer to the desk.
“Isaac is indeed one of our tenants,” his father began, tapping a finger on the open page of the ledger, “and it is within our rights to evict him.”
“How did he manage such a feat?”
His father leaned back in his seat, his expression grim. “Isaac approached Mr. Halverson about renting the Stewarts’ old cottage and he drew up a contract. It was all aboveboard,” he replied. He paused and let out a heavy sigh. “Which is whyMr. Halverson does not recommend evicting Isaac just yet, citing the same issues that I had brought up previously.”
Winston felt frustration whirling within him. “So that’s it?” he asked, clenching his fists at his sides. “We just sit back and let Isaac remain underfoot.”
“It is only a matter of time until Isaac gives up and goes home,” his father replied calmly.
“But he is harassing Miss Bawden,” Winston shouted, his voice cracking with emotion.
His father removed his spectacles off his nose and looked at Winston with a steely gaze. “Isaac is making a nuisance of himself, but that is all he is. A nuisance. He holds no power over us. It is a game that he will lose, especially since I have no intention of handing my sister or her son over to him.”
Winston’s frustration turned to worry as he paced back and forth in front of the desk. “And what if he gets desperate?” he asked, his voice strained.
“What is Isaac going to do?” his father asked, his voice laced with confidence. “He can’t get to us, not with all of our servants here, and you have a Bow Street Runner watching over Miss Bawden and her family.”
Despite his father’s reassurances, Winston couldn’t shake off a feeling of unease that had settled deep within him. Something about Isaac’s relentless pursuit of Miss Bawden unnerved him, and as a barrister, he knew all too well the lengths people would go for wealth and power.
“It will be all right, Son,” his father said.
Winston stopped pacing and turned to face his father. “I do not share the same confidences as you do.”
With that, Winston left the study, determined to do whatever it would take to keep Mattie safe from Isaac. But at that precise moment, he was unsure of what exactly thatwould entail.
Mattie sat in the drawing room as she listened to Lady Dallington’s words of comfort. She knew her ladyship meant well, but her thoughts kept drifting towards her last conversation with Winston. He had called her beautiful, which was something no one else had ever said to her before.
And she had believed him.
Good heavens, what was she thinking? She couldn’t be fooled by him again. He was the one who had kissed her and then treated her with only contempt afterwards. It was evident that he had regretted their kiss.
But she hadn’t.
Interrupting her thoughts, Lady Dallington’s gentle voice brought her back to the present. “Are you even listening to me, Dear?” she asked.
Mattie lowered the teacup and saucer to her lap. “I apologize but I was woolgathering.”
