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“Perhaps, one day.”
“Tomorrow?” Margaret asked humorously. “This very moment?”
Just then, John turned grave. “I wish that it could be so, for your sake. But, sadly, I think that the situation that you find yourself in shall require a great deal of… cunning, dare I say.”
“What do you mean by cunning?”
“Don’t lose your wits and be diligent. There is a way out of this.”
Margaret’s voice became hushed. “Do you think so?”
“Indeed. There is a way out of everything. Don’t lose sight of that, even when all seems grim.”
Margaret felt the breath taken from her chest. What John said was stunning, but was it true? Could she really believe that there was a way out of her circumstances? Oh, she felt positively light as air at that moment! John made her feel safe, and what’s more, she felt at home in his company. It was so odd to have that feeling for someone so instantly.
“I admitted to Jane that I… am fond of being in your company. Unfortunately, she seemed none too pleased.”
John tensed his jaw. “I fear that she gave me the same admonishment.”
“But it’s innocent enough! We merely enjoy conversing.”
John fell silent, as though there was something else that he wished to say, but he didn’t know how to convey it properly. “Yes, we merely enjoy conversing.”
“So, why does Jane make such a scene about it? Perhaps it is all in my imagination. I’m unsure.”
“It is not. I sometimes think that my sister doubts me greatly. This is, of course, because of the problem that I once had with drink, but she also doesn’t trust that I enjoy wandering. If you ask me, she should do a bit of wandering herself.”
Margaret laughed to herself. “Yes, maybe it would be good for her.” She gazed at Pelham Downs. “This is the only life that she has ever known. This is the only life that I have ever known. It would be good for both of us to get away.”
“We shall go one day…to France.”
From the tone of John’s voice and the look in his eyes, Margaret was led to believe him keenly. But how could that be? She might be married to Lord Darkmoor. If that were the case, she and John perhaps would never see one another again.
“I like the way that you think.”
“I don’t always like the way that I think,” John countered.
“Why is that?” Margaret cocked her head in confusion.
John inhaled deeply. “I have dark thoughts from time to time.”
“Why is that?”
“For the very same reason that you have dark thoughts.” His lips broke into a smile. “Because life can be a challenge, and none of us are satisfied with the positions we’ve been placed in.”
Margaret looked down at her hands. “Do you think that there’s a reason behind it all? I often wonder about that.”
“Ah.” John waved his hand in the air. “This comes back to the conversation of fate, and I do not believe in it. We create our own destiny, Margaret.”
She felt the flush return to her cheek. From the way John had just said that it sounded as though he implied that they shared the same destiny. Oh, but that was nonsense. It was impossible.
