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“If that is the case, then why would he try to poison your grandmother?” Mr. Stewart questioned.
“I know not,” she replied.
“Have you spoken to the constable?” Lord Hawthorne asked.
Daphne shook her head. “Frankly, I thought Mr. Stewart might be better able to help me.”
“In what way?” Lord Hawthorne inquired.
“He is an investigator, is he not?” she asked.
Mr. Stewart smiled. “That I am.”
“Would you mind coming to the manor and speaking to Phineas?” she asked. “Perhaps rough him up some?”
“You wish for me to hit your cousin?”
Daphne shrugged. “If the situation warrants it.”
Mr. Stewart glanced over at Lord Hawthorne, then said, “I suppose we could delay our departure until later today.”
Daphne blinked, fearing she’d misheard him. “You are leaving today?”
“I am.”
“Were you at least going to say goodbye?” she asked.
Mr. Stewart had the decency to look ashamed. “I thought it would be best if I just left.”
“Oh,” she replied, rising. “I thought we were friends.”
Mr. Stewart rose. “We are.”
“Friends just don’t leave without saying goodbye, Mr. Stewart,” Daphne said, attempting to keep the hurt out of her voice.
As she turned to leave, Mr. Stewart reached for her arm. “Don’t go, Miss Locke,” he said. “Please let me explain.”
Daphne jerked her arm back. “I wish you safe travels, Mr. Stewart.”
“Miss Locke—”
She raised her hand, stilling his words. “You do not need to explain yourself to me, Mr. Stewart.”
“I am sorry for hurting you,” he said, his eyes strangely vulnerable. “That was never my intention.”
Tears pricked the back of her eyes. “Then what was?”
“I came to Anmore to do a job, nothing more.”
Daphne blinked back her tears. “I understand.” She spun on her heel and rushed out of the coaching inn before she did something foolish like cry in front of him.
The boy handed her reins back to her and a groom walked over to assist her onto her horse. Once she was situated, she raced back to the manor. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she chided herself for being so stupid, for falling in love with Mr. Stewart.
He was just going to leave, without saying goodbye. Did she mean so little to him that he would do such a thing? She deserved better treatment than that. They had been friends, or at least, she thought they had. She had trusted him, revealing personal information about herself.
What a fool she was. She had given her heart to a man, and he’d just tossed it aside, as if it meant nothing.
Daphne arrived at the stable and dismounted. She could see a few of the grooms offering her sympathetic looks as she wiped the tears off her cheeks. She didn’t need their pity.
