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“No, you aren’t,” Peggy argued. “You are never out of sorts.” Her gaze was searching as she stared at Connie once more. “This troubles you for some reason. I know you couldn’t possibly be involved, so I’m not sure why it would. Have you some of your funds invested in cotton or something? Is that why this bothers you?”
Connie laughed, surprising them both. “I hadn’t actually given that side of things a single thought, but I think you might actually be right. I have even more reason to be disturbed than I thought.”
“Then tell me what it was before I brought that up. How can I assist you if I don’t know?”
Connie sighed but she leaned her head closer to Peggy’s ear to ensure there was no way she would be overheard. “I don’t have any evidence of any wrongdoing, but I have a terrible suspicion this is why Wagner is here.”
Peggy was suitably silenced before the implications came home to her. “And you fear you’ll be tainted by your faint association with the bounder. But no one has connected you here, have they? I mean, aside from your suspicion that it is because of you that he was even invited, that is.”
“He acted proprietarily toward me last night after I shared a dance with Mr. Alcott.”
“Oh dear. I am sorry, Constance.”
Connie lifted a shoulder in a brief shrug. “What can you do? If the man is so staid and straight that he cannot consider another side to his own suspicions, I have no interest in him anyway.”
“That is brave of you to say, but I’m sure it still hurts your feelings if anyone would have a suspicion about you.”
“Nothing has been said so perhaps I am reading overmuch into a single glance.”
“Your hunches are nearly always correct, I’m sad to say in this instance.”
“I know,” Connie agreed with a soft sigh. “But on a much happier note, I cannot think there is anything to be suspicious about your Lord Merton. He seems quite delightful.”
Peggy took the bait of changing the subject and a grin bloomed on her face. “He is, isn’t he? No, I cannot think there is a single suspicious thing about him.”
“Aside from what he is seeing in you, though, right?”
Connie had meant it as a teasing jest, but her poor companion took it straight to her heart. “I know exactly what you mean, I have been wondering the same myself these past two days.”
“Do not be a ninnyhammer. You are the loveliest creature, and he would be lucky to have you to wife. I was merely funning and well you ought to know it.”
Peggy’s grin belied the reaction she had made Connie think she was having. “And I was funning you in return. That should teach you a lesson not to mock others in their time of high emotions.”
Connie laughed immediately. “Lesson duly noted. And I thank you for the moments of levity. They were exactly what I needed.” They shared a fond glance. “Which is exactly why you did it,” she concluded with another affectionate smile.
“Now, tell me, what do you suppose the household is going to do about all these goings on?”
“I have no idea about that, but I do know that we’re going to have to do something.”
“We? What could we possibly do?” Peggy was aghast at the very thought, and Connie saw her gaze flicker toward Lord Merton, which caused a strange twist in her gut. Already Peggy’s loyalties were drifting elsewhere, which was, of course, as it should be, but it still left Connie feeling sadly isolated.
“If you’d like to involve him, you are free to do so,” she offered in a low voice, watching as Peggy blushed and glanced in his direction again.
“To whom do you refer?” Peggy asked with a sly smile and a light giggle. “Besides, until we decide what exactly we’re doing, involving him might just scare him off. As I’m sure you’re aware, nothing official has been said or asked or declared.”
Connie’s smile felt sad. It was all so melancholy. Even Peggy’s life was left up in the air at this point. She needed to be rid of Henry Wagner, then she needed to see Peggy settled, and then she would go home to her parents for a little rest while she figured out the direction of the rest of her life. Perhaps her life of wandering was a little too unsettled even for her at this stage of life. She couldn’t prevent her eyes from flickering toward Florent Alcott where he stood congratulating his sister. She wasn’t certain she wanted to be that very settled, but steadiness would be nice right about now.
Suddenly she felt as though her existence were tremulous and insecure. It had always felt like an adventure before, but now she had begun to wonder why she had ever wanted to wander the globe in the first place. Perhaps she just needed a nap.
Connie sat a little straighter in her seat and pulled back her shoulders even more than they already had been with her usual proper stature.
“We are going to help with the investigation. Or at least offer our hostess some help with the visiting agents. That might afford us a little bit of access to the information, don’t you suppose?”
Peggy appeared skeptical even as she nodded. “I can see that it might. But do you think we ought to involve ourselves? It sounds like it might be dangerous.”
“With the agents here, it ought to be nearly as safe as a walk in the park. Besides, I don’t think we need to involve ourselves to the point of danger. Just to the point of gleaning information,” she concluded with a grin.
Peggy’s eyes flickered once more toward the tall gentleman who was still standing beside the fireplace.
