Page 29 of A Modest Independence

As if by magic, Mira appeared. “Good morning, madam.” She leaned over the bed, a tray in her hands. “Mr. Finchley has sent you breakfast. He’s waiting on you downstairs.”

Jenny struggled to a sitting position. “What time is it?”

“Eight o’clock.”

Good lord. She must have slept straight through. “Didn’t he come to fetch me for dinner last night?”

“Yes, madam. He said I mustn’t disturb you.” Mira set the tray on Jenny’s lap. It held a steaming pot of tea along with boiled eggs, toast, and some manner of jam. “Should I have wakened you?”

“No, no. You did the right thing. I daresay I needed the sleep.”

Jenny made short work of her breakfast and then rose to wash and dress. A half hour later she emerged from her room, garbed in an unflounced green skirt and a black caraco. The loose, thigh-length jacket nipped in at her waist and flared down over her hips. It was one of her favorite ensembles. Sensible yet absurdly flattering to her figure.

She felt the need to look her best today. It was stupid, really, but after her actions at the Dover pier, she couldn’t bear to be thought of as an unattractive old maid.

If only her departure had gone according to plan. Under different circumstances, the final words she’d said to Tom and the kiss she’d pressed to his cheek might have been romantic. A grand farewell gesture, the memory of which she could return to down the years.

Instead, such actions had to be viewed in the starkest terms.

She’d been impulsive. Immodest. And she’d made herself needlessly vulnerable in front of a gentleman who had more than once run roughshod over her feelings.

The whole of it left her feeling more than a little ridiculous.

If Tom was experiencing anything remotely similar, he gave no sign of it. She found him waiting in the hotel’s reception area with their luggage, looking as cool and composed as ever. His gaze flicked over her. “Good. I was just about to send Ahmad up to hurry you along.”

“Are we in a hurry?”

“The train to Marseilles leaves in half an hour.”

She blinked. “So soon?”

“Surely you didn’t expect us to linger in Calais? There’s nothing to see here.”

“No. I suppose not.”

Outside, Ahmad and one of the hotel porters were loading their luggage into a hired carriage. The sky was gray, the sunshine drifting through just enough to brighten, but not enough to warm.

“Thank God the rain has stopped,” Tom muttered.

It was the last thing he said to her for a long while.

When next he spoke, they were settled opposite each other in their first-class compartment on the train to Marseilles. They were absent Ahmad and Mira. Servants of first-class passengers were obliged to travel in the second-class carriage.

“We could have insisted that Mira remain with you,” Tom said. “It’s not unheard of for a lady’s maid to travel with her mistress.”

Jenny removed her wide-brimmed straw hat and lay it on the seat beside her. “To what purpose? I have no need of her at the moment. And she’d far rather travel with her cousin. That was plain enough to see.”

Doubtless the pair of them had a good deal to talk about, not the least of which would be on the subject of their new employer. Jenny prayed she hadn’t disappointed them entirely with her ramshackle ways. Servants wanted to be proud of their masters and mistresses. Helena always said it was one’s duty never to let them down.

“I trust you’re getting on,” Tom said.

“With Mira?” Jenny smoothed her gloves. Thus far, she’d had great success in avoiding Tom’s gaze. It didn’t alleviate all of the embarrassment occasioned by yesterday’s behavior, but it certainly helped make it more bearable. “As well as can be expected. She’s rather shy, isn’t she?”

“She’ll warm to you.”

Jenny hoped so. As for Ahmad, she didn’t have any inkling whether they’d suit. She’d hardly interacted with the man since boarding the steamship in Dover. That hadn’t stopped her from forming an impression, of course. If Mira was shy, her cousin was downright surly. “Were they long at Mrs. Pritchard’s establishment?”

“Since they first arrived from India, I believe. Ahmad claims that there haven’t been any prospects for more respectable employment. Not if they wish to stay together.”