Page 40 of The Redemption of the Shrew

But oh, how she wanted to know.

She returned to her first idea, that of befriending Lady Marianne Delfin, in the hope of getting a chance to search for the book herself. To avoid arousing suspicion, she must make an oblique approach rather than a direct one. And she must be patient, for it would take time.

She had Elspeth help her into a blue wool walking dress. “Another chilly day,” she said.

“Windy, too, like last night. You’d best wear your new pelisse.”

She eyed Elspeth, wondering if she’d mentioned last night on purpose. “I do hope the marquis reached home in good health.”

“I expect he did,” Elspeth said.

“I assume you served him tea.” Irritably, realizing the maid was amused, Gloriana crammed a fur-trimmed bonnet over her hair. “You took long enough to get him out the door.”

“Tea with brandy.” She held out Gloriana’s matching pelisse. “I don’t think he wanted it, but he’s a civil sort of man. He didn’t even balk when I seated myself at the table. Seemingly, he truly does believe in equality.”

“Yes, he does.” Gloriana buttoned the pelisse and picked up her gloves. “I suppose you apologized for me.”

Elspeth nodded. “Aye, but I warned him that he must have hurt your feelings.”

Gloriana groaned. “What did he say?”

“Naught. He went and changed his clothes.”

Evidently, he didn’t care. Why, oh why, was she always surprised? “I wish you hadn’t told him. It served no useful purpose.” And she didn’t want it to, she reminded herself.

But she couldn’t contain her misery. “He well-nigh accused me of being a wanton.”

“Tsk,” Elspeth said, adding gently, “but perhaps he thought he had reason.”

“I was in love with him then! How could he so misjudge me?”

“I expect misunderstandings ruin many a promising romance.” The sadness in Elspeth’s voice echoed the misery in Gloriana’s heart.

Oh! She stared at the maid. “Elspeth! Have you ever fallen in love?”

Elspeth turned quickly away and shook out Gloriana’s nightdress. “Tsk, this had best go in the wash.”

Gloriana couldn’t believe her eyes. Elspeth had had a lover? Surely not. She fumbled into an apology. “I’m sorry. That was a horrid, prying question. I know it’s none of my business. It’s just—just that I didn’t think you know how I feel, but perhaps you do.”

Elsbeth softened. “Yes, Miss Glow, I fell in love once. I had met him before, but we became better acquainted at a house party.”

“But you didn’t marry.”

“We were both in service and had no money to start a life of our own, so it would have been impossible. Anyway, it seems he wasn’t as smitten as I.”

“I know that feeling,” Gloriana said glumly.

“It was painful at the time, Miss Glow, but it was for the best.”

She couldn’t help but admire Elspeth’s stoicism. “You’re so brave and—and practical.”

“It’s easy to be practical when one has no choice.”

So why, Gloriana asked herself, couldn’t she admit that she too had no choice? “Did the marquis ask you to try to stop me from trying to find the Book of Hours?”

Elspeth smiled. “He didn’t mention the book at all. He asked if you often stoked a fire yourself, and I explained that you were the most considerate mistress ever and never woke us in the wee hours. I told him how your Mama dismissed that poor footman, and how you paid him out of your own allowance and wrote to his lordship your brother.”

It was a topsy-turvy world when a servant gave a reference for her mistress. “What a strange thing to ask. I suppose he was just making conversation.”