Page 25 of A Lady in Name

“There is no need for us to leave the room. You are curious as to Miss Graydene’s reasons for approaching me.” He glanced at Lucy as he spoke, and spied a sudden flash of fear in her eyes. He gave her a slight smile of reassurance and turned back to Mr Waley. “You are perhaps not aware that the Reverend Graydene commended his daughter to the care of my predecessor. My uncle was indebted to the vicar for a substantial favour he made him a long time ago. Though I have no knowledge of the nature of it, I cannot in honour repudiate the debt. My uncle being dead, a duty of care towards Miss Graydene redounds upon myself.”

The curate looked more bewildered than shocked, and no wonder. What sort of indebtedness a peer might have to a lowly country vicar was hard to imagine.

“I had no knowledge of this, sir.”

Stefan paid no heed to the querulous tone. “Naturally you had not.”

There was a silence, during which Mr Waley looked to Lucy, as if for corroboration. She kept her eyes demurely lowered, but Stefan could feel an emanation of some unnamed emotion, whether anger or apprehension he could not judge.

“Do you imply, sir,” asked Mr Waley, red about the gills, “that Miss Lucy, or rather Miss Graydene, is under your guardianship?”

“No, I am not!”

Stefan stiffened. He might have known she would cut the ice from beneath his feet. He temporised. “Miss Graydene is of age. But I consider myself wholly responsible for her welfare.”

He caught Lucy’s dagger look, and quickly passed to Dion, who was gazing with mouth at half-cock, her eyes going from one to another like a spectator at battledore and shuttlecock. At least she had sense enough to refrain from adding to the mêlée.

Waley’s consternation was patent. He fidgeted for a moment or two. Then he turned to Lucy. “Miss Lucy, you must excuse me. I am so put about by this news, I must have time to think. When do you go?”

“I do not know.” Stefan watched her head come up, her eyes catching his briefly before moving swiftly away. “Tomorrow perhaps.”

“Do you remain here at the vicarage tonight?”

“No, we are staying at the Half Moon.”

“Then may I call upon you there?”

Lucy’s smile was perfunctory, her voice subdued. “Of course, you will always be welcome with me.”

The curate made a movement, as if he would go to her, and caught himself back again. He made a little bow. “You do me great honour, Miss Lucy. Until tonight.”

With a slight bow to Dion, he came towards the door, nodding at Stefan as he moved to allow the fellow to pass. Before he was through the door, Lucy spoke. “Mr Waley?”

Halting, he looked back. “Yes?”

“Have you any notion where Jenny may be? We have been here the better part of the day, but there has been no sign of her.”

The curate took a step back into the room, a frown creasing his brow. “Ah, you do not know. Jenny’s sister-in-law was taken with a seizure.”

“Oh, no!”

“She is alive, but the doctor thinks she will never manage without help.”

“Then Jenny has gone to be with her?”

Waley nodded. “I suspect she may be obliged to remain. Which was another reason why I —” He broke off, reddening. Clearing his throat, he resumed, “I may answer further when we meet, if you wish.”

And then he went quickly out, as if he was afraid of being called back once more. No one spoke until the front door was heard to close behind Mr Waley. Then Stefan looked to Lucy, expecting the worst. It did not come.

“Poor Jenny. I wish I had been here.”

Stefan was abruptly moved. “Does she live far from here? Would you like to see her? I will drive you there, if you wish it.”

Impulse had prompted the offer, just as it had made him capture the girl into his curricle on a day which was rapidly becoming imprinted on his memory as the moment his life had changed.

He was rewarded with a brief, tired smile. “Thank you, I should like that. It is a matter of four or five miles only. Tomorrow, perhaps?”

“Then it is settled.”