‘And I quite agree that it should be you who gives Charlotte your sister’s artifacts,’ Emily continued.
As Mrs Wilmott had not taken her gaze from his, he saw the sheen of tears appear in her eyes at Emily’s words. ‘Thank you, Emily. You have been very kind.’
The implication being that he had not been—which was true. He would be a lot worse if it turned out this woman was playing them for fools.
‘There is no time like the present,’ said Emily. ‘Unless I can interest you in some refreshments.’
Tobias glanced at the table, which was covered in untouched sandwiches.
‘I do apologise,’ said Mrs Wilmott, pressing a hand to her stomach. ‘I do not feel as if I could eat at present.’
‘Indeed,’ said Emily. ‘It has been a trying afternoon. Freddie, be a dear and take Arabella.’ She handed her daughter to her husband, the ribbons of a pretty hat clutched tightly in her hands. ‘Let us go andfind you a replacement bonnet, Mrs Wilmott, and then we can be on our way.’
The women all stood, which meant the gentlemen did too. Mrs Wilmott did not look in Tobias’ direction again, although she was all smiles when she took her leave of baby Arabella. Tobias could not pinpoint exactly what he found so annoying about that.
Chapter Six
Since he was standing as the ladies left the room, Tobias made to follow them. He had that report he needed to read and, although it was doubtful he would take in a word until the ladies returned with the artifacts, it was better than pacing up and down the Blue Lounge waiting to see what possessions of Sebastian’s Mrs Wilmott had.
He had barely made it a step before Christopher flung himself in his path. ‘No. Please do not go. There is so much we need to discuss. This revelation is huge. Sebastian’s sister-in-law was just sitting in our room. We might get to see letters… It is so fantastical, it is as if I am caught up in a dream.’
Tobias glared at his youngest brother, a look which normally got all his brothers to comply. Not this time.
Christopher shook his head. ‘I have so many… there are so many…’ He glanced at Freddie and Edward, who were behind Tobias. ‘I cannot be the only one.’
Arabella chose that moment to let out a squawk.
‘See,’ said Christopher. ‘Even Arabella agrees that this—’ Christopher swept his arms around ‘—is monumental. We cannot just leave it there as if nothing has happened and return to what we were doing before.’
‘Sebastian’s things,’ said Freddie, awe in his voice. ‘To think we might have them before the afternoon is out.’
‘If it is true,’ Tobias managed to grind out. Now that he wasn’t arguing with Mrs Wilmott, his words were fading away from him. How strange that they didn’t get stuck when she was around. Maybe it was because she kept him in a near constant state of outrage. He’d longed to speak freely his whole life, but being in this much inner turmoil was unsustainable. So was having her around all the time. Quite aside from the fact that she was a termagant, she would expect him to talk to her, and that was not going to happen.
‘I think it is true.’ Christopher folded his arms across his chest as if bracing for an argument.
‘I do not see what Mrs Wilmott would gain from lying to us,’ said Edward, and Freddie murmured in agreement.
Tobias was tempted to argue that people always wanted something from him, but he didn’t wish to appear even more of a conceited fool than he had already shown himself to be this afternoon. ‘There is nothing we can do until we see what Mrs Wilmott has. If she produces nothing, or if the writing in these supposed letters is not like Sebastian’s, we will know for sure that she is lying.’
Edward rubbed his forehead; Tobias noticed he did that when frustrated, but Tobias had said nothing controversial. Mrs Wilmott was a stranger and her claims were outlandish. Still, his brother sounded pained when he said, ‘Why would she lie, Tobias?’
‘We are a wealthy family. Perhaps she wants money.’
His brothers were sending incredulous looks towards one another, as if they thought his words ridiculous. If that’s the way they wanted to be, that was fine by him. They would know before the afternoon was out whether or not Mrs Wilmott had told them the truth, or whether her words were a bag of moonshine. Thankfully, no oneasked him which outcome he would prefer as he could not decide in his own mind whether he wanted to be proved right or wrong. Deciding he’d had enough for now, he edged towards the door, hoping he’d satisfied his brothers for now. As he’d spoken more in one morning than he normally did in a week, he thought they would not expect more from him.
He had barely made it two steps when Christopher said, ‘I think you are wrong.’ Tobias stopped in his tracks, surprised that his youngest brother was countering him; he didn’t think it had ever happened before. ‘She seemed to be a very genuine lady.’
Edward and Freddie nodded solemnly.
‘Thoughtful and kind.’
Again with the nodding, as if all three of them had become marionettes.
‘Well-spoken, well-educated, well-dressed.’
‘There was something odd though,’ said Edward.
Finally, someone agreed with him that there was something different about her. She was odd. Or rathershewasn’t but his reaction to her was. Tobias found it hard to talk to anyone, was always polite and was not typically given to staring at women. He was the exact opposite on all of those things with Mrs Wilmott.
