Page 91 of The Duke’s Hidden Duchess

“You expect this room to take a duke’s solicitor at his word?”

“No,” Petherick said. “That is why I brought the records.”

A few people smiled. Giles did not.

Selina stepped forward.

“There is one part of the account Mr Dunmore’s figures cannot explain by themselves. They show where the money came from. They do not tell you why I sent it.”

Her eyes moved towards the side door.

“Mrs Loxley.”

The door opened.

Mrs Loxley stood upon the threshold.

For four years, Selina had known her only as a name in Mr Dunmore’s accounts and a destination for money sent every quarter. The woman herself was a stranger.

For a moment they looked at one another across the ballroom.

Selina did not beckon.

Mrs Loxley hesitated, then crossed the floor of her own accord and came to stand beside her.

“This is Mrs Anne Loxley,” Selina said. “Widow of Mr Thomas Loxley, the man my father was convicted of murdering.”

Recognition moved slowly through the room.

“The money my cousin finds so suspicious was sent to her. Every quarter, through Mr Dunmore, from funds that were lawfully mine.”

She turned towards the widow.

“Mrs Loxley, will you tell them only what you wish them to know?”

Mrs Loxley looked around the ballroom. Her hands closed upon one another.

“My husband was a good man,” she said.

The room quieted further.

“I should like that said first. Thomas Loxley was a good husband to me, and whatever else is spoken of tonight, I will not have him reduced to the man somebody was hanged for killing.”

Selina lowered her eyes.

“The money came,” Mrs Loxley continued. “Every quarter, as Her Grace has said. When I first received it, I did not know who had sent it. I asked Mr Dunmore, and after a time I learnt the name.” Her gaze moved briefly to Selina. “I nearly sent it back.”

A few heads lifted.

“I did not. I needed it. There were quarters when it kept my rooms, and winters when it bought coal, and I will not pretend pride would have served me better.”

Her voice shook, but she went on.

“I knew whose daughter she was. I knew what her father had done to my family. I also knew that she was seventeen when it happened and had done none of it herself.”

Selina’s composure tightened.

Mrs Loxley looked at Giles.