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Lily tucked her chin. “I’m walking home, and you are obviously distracted. I called your name when I was there.” She gestured behind her. “Are you coming from town?”
Pippa nodded. “I left a basket of pears on your step.” She was tempted to ask if Lily knew anything about Ainsworth.
“Mama wasn’t home?” Lily’s brows scrunched together. “I thought she told me she had enough laundry to keep her busy all day. I’m surprised if she went with Papa to Upper Mowstead.”
“More laundry?” Pippa dropped her bonnet in her surprise and bent to retrieve it. “Is that typical?”
“No, but Mama has been taking in extra work when she can. The Blakemores have begun sending theirs to her as well. She wants to take Tommy to see another doctor in Melbury.”
“Can I not persuade you to allow Mabel to send for Dr. Mason?”
“It hardly matters what I permit. My papa will never allow it, and you know that.”
Pippa blew out a frustrated breath. “It isn’t charity, Lily.”
Lily screwed up her eyes. “We see it differently, I suppose.”
“Then I suppose I ought to walk home with you and retrieve those pears I left on your step. You won’t be wanting them, surely.”
Lily’s lips flattened. “You know that is different. An offering from a friend and sharing of your bounty is not the same as paying for medical help. It would be too much a blow to my father’s pride.”
Pippa tried to gentle her tone. “We don’t need to pay Dr. Mason, either. He is a dear friend to the family. We merely need to invite him to visit us. He is far more capable than any man in Melbury, even Dr. Garvey.”
Lily’s eyes tightened. “Say no more, please. We will not see eye to eye on this.”
Pippa suppressed the temptation to stomp her foot in agitation. It wasn’t Lily’s fault, and Pippa couldn’t expect everyone to agree with her, even if she was correct in this matter.
“Besides, if you take the pears home with you, how will I make pear tarts for the Blakemore men?”
“Save your pears for your own family, Lily.”
Lily looked irritated. “That isn’t very charitable of you.”
Pippa wanted to scoff at the irony folded into that statement. “I only meant that they would be wasted otherwise. Mr. Blakemore doesn’t like pears. He didn’t like Mabel’s tarts at the feast.”
“Oh.” Lily looked out over the sea. “I see.”
The air between them was heavy and tense. “Have I done something to upset you?”
Lily shook her head. A blonde tendril came loose from her low knot and she tucked it back behind her ear. “No. I just...I do not wish to speak prematurely. I best not say anything at all.”
“What has happened, Lily?”
She bit her bottom lip, indecision ripe on her face. “I think I may be falling in love, is all. And I dare to hope he might love me back.”
“Love, Lily? That is...” Pippa swallowed her initial disappointment. Lily had to be speaking of William still. “Are you certain he is not merely a flirt? Have you even known the man long enough to love him?”
Lily scoffed. “A man does not look at me in that way or speak such flowery words without intent. He must mean it.” She narrowed her blue eyes. “You are the one who told me to hope.”
“Surely he does have intent, but is it worthy? Are you certain it is of a good nature?” Pippa wanted to have faith that Lily was not being taken advantage of. But if that were the case and the relationship was legitimate, then William was drawing two women under his spell, and that was a frightening prospect.
Lily sighed. “I should be on my way home.” She gave a long-suffering chuckle. “I finished the Blakemores’ dinner, and now it seems I ought to be getting started on my own.”
“Of course.” Pippa pulled her friend in for a hug. Lily walked the pathway toward Collacott, and Pippa watched her go, running the conversation over in her mind. She hadn’t meant to give Lily false hope when she’d said that she should know her own worth. If Lily got hurt, it would be Pippa’s fault entirely.
A dark mood followed her on the remainder of her walk, matching the gray clouds clinging above the ocean and rolling over the beach. The closer Pippa drew to Camden Court, the more her irritation mounted and grew. Lily was not a silly creature. If she believed herself in love, that a man could possibly love her in return, she must have just cause for thinking so.
Lily would not make herself up to a man she deemed above her station. No, if anything, she would do the opposite for fear of stepping out of line and losing the money she knew her family relied on. She was his servant, for heaven’s sake.
