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Esme looked at Carola, who turned to Mr. Barret-Ducrorq and sweetly plucked the sheet from his stubby fingers. “I think this sounds precisely like the kind of note that my dear, dear husband would send me,” she said, her tone as smooth as honey and her eyes resolutely fixed on the page, rather than on her husband. “In fact, I’m quite certain that he wrote me this note, and it simply went astray.”

Esme could see that Mrs. Cable was about to burst out of her stays. Henrietta was deadly pale but hadn’t run from the room. Tuppy Perwinkle was torn between laughter and dismay. Darby looked mildly interested and Rees not interested at all.

Helene raised her head. She had spent most of the meal staring at her plate. “Do read your husband’s letter, Carola,”

she said. “I think it’s always so interesting to learn that there are husbands who acknowledge their wives’ existence.”

210 Eloisa

James

Esme winced, but Rees just shoveled another forkful of beef into his mouth.

Carola obediently read, “I shall never meet anotherwoman with starlit hair like your own, my dearest Henri—”

She broke off.

All eyes turned to Henrietta.

“I’m sorry! It just slipped out!” Carola squealed. “I truly thought the letter must be from my husband.”

Henrietta maintained an admirable calm, although a hectic rose-colored flush had replaced the chilly white of her skin. To her enormous satisfaction, Esme saw that Darby was looking absolutely livid.

Mrs. Cable said, “Who signed that letter?”

Carola didn’t say anything.

Mrs. Cable repeated, “Who signed that letter?”

There was an icy moment of silence.

Esme said gently, “I’m afraid it’s too late for prevarication, Carola. We must look to dearest Henrietta’s future now.”

Mrs. Cable nodded.

“It is signed ‘Simon,’ ” Carola said, looking straight at him. “Simon Darby, of course. It’s a quite poetic letter, Mr. Darby. I particularly like the ending, if you’ll forgive me for saying so.”

“Read it,” Lady Holkham said in an implacable voice.

“Without you, I will never marry. Since you cannot marryme, darling Henrietta, I shall never marry. Children meannothing to me; I have a superfluity as it is. All I want is you.For this life and beyond.” Carola sighed. “How romantic!”

Then Henrietta did something that Esme had not anticipated, and which was absolutely the best of all possible actions. She slid slowly to the right and collapsed directly into Darby’s arms.

She fainted.

< 29 =

The Fruits of Sin

In the years that followed, Darby was never able to think of the ensuing half hour without shivering.

Henrietta’s faint was immediately accepted as a sign of guilt. The fact that she fainted to the right—in other words, directly into Darby’s lap—was another signifier, obviously. Darby barely got his mouth shut when Henrietta’s stepmother turned to him and smacked him on the cheek so hard that his head snapped back.

“That’s because my husband isn’t here to do it for me!”

Millicent shouted.

Darby privately doubted that her husband could have done much better. His entire jaw ached.