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Robert seemed very pleased with this decision but pulled away much sooner than Anne thought he would. “Does that ... does that mean that you love me as well?”
Anne couldn’t help chuckling. She took Robert’s hand in her own and placed it against her heart. “Yes. Yes, with every ounce of my being, I love you, Robert Graham. Can’t you hear my heart beating your name? Rob-ert. Rob-ert. Rob-ert!”
The young man smiled at her as though she was the most beautiful thing in the world to him, which she supposed she was. “You’re absolutely right. Now tell me why your name doesn’t have two syllables so that I might say the same thing about my heart?”
Anne took her hand and pressed it against Robert’s chest. “It doesn’t need to because I hear it in your voice every time that you speak to me.”
The look he gave Anne next made her think that either she’d done something terribly wrong or entirely right. It ended up being the latter, and she knew this because the next moment, Robert moved from the settee onto the floor and kneeled in front of her. Anne gasped quietly.
“Anne Watkins, I wasn’t expecting to do this right now, but I feel that the moment is too good to pass up. Since the moment I met you …” Robert tried to begin his proposal, but there was a sudden urgent pounding coming from the door.
Both Anne and Robert froze. They looked at each other in confusion and then glanced towards the door at the same time.
“Mr Aus – ahem, Lord Robert, you have a visitor,” came the voice from behind the door, and Anne immediately recognized it as Alfred’s.
“Thank you, Alfred, but I am rather in the middle of something; might you tell them to wait for me in my room?” Robert called to Alfred.
“I’m sorry sir, but I do believe that this guest might have something that you may require before you continue with tonight’s proceedings,” Alfred called back. Anne could tell there was a bit of excitement in his voice. She knew that meant that he understood precisely what was happening behind the door.
“I’m not sure that it could, my good man. I do believe that I have everything that I require to go ahead with what I had planned on for this evening,” Robert called back and looked to Anne as if to say ‘Alfred doesn’t know what he is talking about’.
“Is that right?” Alfred’s voice was now taking on a teasing quality. “Then I suppose that you certainly don’t need what I am currently wearing around my littlest finger?”
Robert looked utterly baffled, bemused, and then entirely panicked. He felt his breast pocket, and his eyes widened. He looked to Anne.
“Do excuse me for a moment. I promise that I shall continue with what I wished to say upon my return!” he said apologetically, and then ran to the door and opened it.
Anne was so curious about what exactly was happening beyond the door that she decided to follow Robert and use her expert eavesdropping skills to see what was afoot. She got to the right side of the door and stood against the wall so that no one would see her.
“Where did you find that?” she heard Robert ask Alfred. “Did you find it in the suit that I left in Lord George’s private bath?”
“Goodness me,” Alfred said in a tone that Anne knew meant he was scandalized. “No. Your visitor found it, and here he is right now to explain everything, even though I very clearly told him to wait in the …”
“Evening, master,” came a voice that Anne did not recognize. “I don’t know if you recognize me from this morning’s, but I’m …”
“Yes, yes, of course, I remember you – you were the driver of the carriage I took that broke down,” Robert replied.
His carriage broke down? How on earth did he get here?
“Right you are; you’re a good one. Well, I ended up walking back to the town we’d just passed before we broke down and getting a bit of help for me and my horses. While I was there, I sat down at the pub for a bit of a drink. Then, I got to chatting with …”
“I don’t mean to interrupt you,” Robert interjected, “but I have something rather important that I must return to. Is there no way that you might get to the point with greater speed?”
“Too right, then. The fellow at the pub helped me with my carriage, got me back to town, but when I’s was cleaning the cabin, I saw something gleaming on the floor. I got down on me hands and knees and right there sitting beneath the seat was that little chap. Couldn’t hardly believe it, myself. Must’ve come out of yer pocket when we went over the hump. What do you think about that?” the driver asked Robert in a delighted tone.
“I can hardly believe it,” he whispered. “I owe you a great debt of gratitude, sir, especially for coming all the way out here. Might I repay you in some way?”
“The only thing I’d care for is a bit of supper if you have any,” the driver said.
“Gladly. Alfred, might I ask you …”
“I was already thinking that myself, Lord Robert,” Alfred said in a curtly but not unkind manner. Anne heard Robert pat Alfred on the shoulder, and then footsteps began to retreat from the hall, and she knew she had to scurry back to the settee so that Robert wouldn’t think she was eavesdropping on them. She got herself comfortably seated once more just as Robert re-entered the room. He was slipping the ring in his pocket as he walked in, which Anne thought was very cute, but she did not say anything to bring his attention to the fact that she noticed.
“Everything all right?” Anne asked him nonchalantly.
Robert gave her a bit of an embarrassed smile. “Oh yes, just fine. I just ... forgot my handkerchief, and Alfred was returning it to me.”
Anne arched an eyebrow in his direction. “And he was wearing your handkerchief around his little finger?”
