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Diana stuck out her chin. “Running away from my grandmother. Where is she? I don’t want to have to go to her house like she said.”
Jack smiled. “I think you’re safe enough since Lady Hale is having lunch at Lord Quamby’s residence, and we are a good one and a half hours away from London.”
“What on earth are we going to do with the child?” Odette threw up her hands before rounding on Diana. “Do you know what an inconvenience you’ve created? We’re exactly halfway between London and where we’re going. Now what do we do with you?”
Katherine had just put her knife and fork together and was listening to Derry waxing lyrical on the state of the sharemarket when Lady Hale reentered the room with a look of great consternation. The fact that Besty, Diana’s nursemaid, was right behind her looking flustered was what made her own fears rise up in a way that Lady Hale’s ill temper alone could not have done.
“My granddaughter has completely disappeared. Are you hiding her from me?” Lady Hale demanded as Betsy corroborated, “We bin lookin’ this past ’our, ma’am and I canna find ‘er anywhere.” She looked on the verge of tears, whereas Lady Hale looked as if she were about to spit out a cobra of the variety Katherine had often wished lately had done its worst with regard to Odette Worthington when she’d been in India. Uncharitable, and not reflecting well on her, she knew. But true.
Now, every mother’s fear rose to the fore as she pushed back her chair and stood, saying with as much control as she could, “Have you looked inside the kist at the end of the bed in the blue room. She usually hides there when she doesn’t wish to be found.”
“I went into the blue room and called loudly,” declared Lady Hale.
Katherine nodded. “That would have had little effect.” With a sigh, she dropped her napkin onto her plate and turned. “She can’t be far. I’ll look for her.”
“She’ll be punished for her naughtiness!” declared Lady Hale, turning, but her words caused Katherine to swing round and say between gritted teeth, “Diana is a child who, like all of us, responds favourably to those who treat her well. And I decide upon her punishment.”
She was aware of her mother watching tensely at what appeared to be a growing public altercation. Derry looked horrified while Aunt Antoinette, Uncle Bertram, and Lord Quamby simply looked enthralled.
“My late son was Diana’s father, if you recall, and he conveyed to me his express wish that his daughter’s propensity to develop the wild, hoydenish ways of her mother be properly reined in.” Lady Hale’s bosom rose impressively. “You are proving unfit for the role of custodian, Katherine. I’m sorry to say it so publicly, but it’s the truth.” She sent a venomous look at the assembled company. “Freddy invested in me the power to make decisions that would be in the best interests of his child, and I’m fast coming to the conclusion that you, alone, Katherine, are completely unequal to the task of ensuring Diana grows into the well-behaved young lady of which he’d be proud.”
“How dare you!”
Katherine felt a surge of gratitude at her mother for defending her with all the fierceness of a mother wolf defending her cub. She’d always looked to Aunt Antoinette for advice on the personal matters she felt uncomfortable discussing with her mother, but when it came down to it, when she needed her unconditional support, her darling, beloved mother was there to give it.
“Get out of this house, Lady Hale. If you feel you can slander my daughter and her abilities as a mother, you are not welcome here again.”
Lady Hale’s nostrils flared as she rounded on Lady Fenton. “This is not your house, Lady Fenton, just as I remind you again that I have the authority through my son’s wishes from the dead, conveyed to a solicitor, that I have equal say in Diana’s welfare.” She swung round to Katherine. “You’ve courted scandal since my dear son died, yet you’ve done nothing to put an end to the gossip surrounding you and Lord Derry. Of course, there are more than just whispers about your reputation, since Lord Derry has been on the scene since before you married Freddy. Lord knows, but it was a scandal you should entice my son to elope! Now you’ve whipped up the gossips with all your carryings-on with his lordship.” She shot him a fierce look.
Katherine noticed one of the servants bending to whisper in Lord Quamby’s ear before her loyal uncle interjected in his usual, affable manner, “I believe your carriage is waiting for you round the front, Lady Hale. We will inform you when Diana has been found, and she and Katherine can pay you a visit in the next couple of days. I’m so sorry for the inconvenience.”
Lady Hale’s eyes flashed at the subtle dismissal. She gathered her mantle around her and said, dignified, “I trust the child will be punished when she is found. Her lack of deference to her grandmother should not be tolerated.”
“Have no qualms, Lady Hale,” said Lord Quamby. “I’m sure we all concur that discipline should be meted out appropriate to the crime.”
As soon as she’d gone, Katherine sank into her chair and put her hands to her face a moment before looking up at the assembled company. “I don’t blame Diana for hiding. The woman is poison,” she muttered. Lady Hale’s threats were deeply troubling, but her propensity for vitriol had become well known to Katherine after her years of marriage to Freddy. Son and mother had never got along, and Katherine was surprised at the sudden interest Lady Hale was showing in Diana when she’d not been too troubled by whether or not she saw her granddaughter when Freddy had been alive. She did, after all, have three grandsons by her other sons, Freddy’s brothers.
“Would you like me to help you look for her?” her mother offered, but Katherine declined. “I know where she is. I’ll have a talk to her.”
She rose and left to go to the blue room, calling along the way and surprised to find the kist where she’d thought to find her daughter, empty.
“Katherine.”
She looked up to find Derry standing in the doorway. He closed the door behind him and took a few strides towards her, something in his expression sending a lurch of foreboding to her stomach.
“Please, Derry, I think you know my feelings—”
He cut her off. “Katherine, I think you have not accorded Lady Hale the power she has over Diana’s future.”
She shook her head. “No, Derry, it’s not true. I am Diana’s mother. Lady Hale has no power.”
“Indeed she has. She’s visited the solicitor and discussed her legal standing.”
Katherine stared. “And why would she tell you that?”
He shrugged. “Her sensibilities are offended by what she terms your carrying-on with me, and she’s afraid Diana may be tainted if you don’t legalise our union.”
“That’s outrageous!”
