AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“But we know you are a poor judge of people, Charlotte,” said Miss Finch.
“I may miss some things, but I’m not usually that far off!”
“Yes, you are,” said Miss Moran. “Haven’t you noticed the twinkle in his eyes?”
He had done it for her, Teresa thought. She still couldn’t quite comprehend the enormity of it. The scene kept playing in her mind—the heft of the bowl, the slosh of the punch, the utter stupefaction of the three victims. And most vividly, the earl’s look at her afterward. His expression, his gaze, said that this was a message for her. A weird sort of gift. When she’d smiled at him, he’d looked…satisfied?
“His lordship didn’t say nothing to me about tossing punch,” replied Tom. “I reckon he decided to help Miss Grandison get back at her brother in the end.” Tom grinned. “She tried ever so hard not to look pleased, but she didn’t quite manage it.”
“Ada will be furious to have missed this,” said Miss Deeping.
“I’mright furious,” said Poppy, who’d joined the workshop staff only a few days ago and was settling in admirably. “What a sight to see. Why didn’t you take me along?” she asked Tom.
“I told you, I didn’t know what his lordship was going to do. And I couldn’t just march you into a grand society ball without an invitation, could I?”
“You think I couldn’t have done as well as Molly and Kate?” Poppy glared at him.
“You ain’t an actress.”
“Yet,” muttered Poppy.
“Ada wouldn’t have liked seeing her father embarrassed,” said Miss Moran.
“After the hints about an opera dancer?” said Miss Finch. “I disagree.”
“He looked so bewildered,” said Miss Deeping. “Even after Miss Grandison spoke up. He didn’t seem to have the least notion that his sister might resent the way he treated her years ago.”
“And so perhaps he deserved a shock,” replied Miss Finch. “How could anyone fail to realize that?”
Teresa wondered if kindness had been part of Lord Macklin’s motive. No. He was kind, but this wasn’t the sort of benevolence he practiced. He’d done it to show her that he meant what he said—he didn’t care a whit about society’s opinion of him. She also wondered how he was feeling this morning in the…aftermath of his outburst? Was he full of regret? She would hate to learn that he was sorry now. She half rose, full of a need to see him.
“The bald fellow, Trask, took it the best,” Tom went on. “After the first shock, he started laughing. With punch running down his bald head and onto his shoulders. The other one, Quigley, looked like he was going to explode. Lord Macklin might want to watch out for him.”
“He has already sent me a fiery protest,” said a deep voice from the courtyard doorway. Teresa turned with all the others to find the earl approaching. She sank back into her chair. “We are exchanging…correspondence, trying to avoid a duel,” he added. “I think we shall succeed if I offer up enough abject apologies. Heisa high-court judge. He can hardly put a bullet in me.”
The earl joined them on a chorus of exclamations.
“I wouldn’t be too concerned,” he responded. “It is not exactly a matter of honor to be dowsed with rack punch. Quigley was not…impugned. Though we have not quite settled what itis.” He smiled.
Teresa could see no signs of regret in his face. He sounded much as usual. He looked as urbanely handsome and assured as ever.
“We are all wonderingthat,” said Miss Deeping. “Have you heard the wild theories racing around the ton?”
“I have not.” Lord Macklin looked merely amused.
Miss Deeping counted them off on her fingers. “One, the most convoluted—that Miss Julia Grandison knows some dark secret about you and threatened to reveal it unless you did as she asked. Two, the strangest—that opera dancers have sent you out to pay off past humiliations. In a demented kind of chivalry. Several men have lookedquiteconcerned about that one. And three, the simplest—that you’ve just gone mad. Of course.”
“Charlotte is making a chart,” said Miss Moran. “With subcolumns for what your dark secret might be and which gentlemen had best watch out for retribution.”
The earl burst out laughing. Teresa listened as if the sound might give her clues. It seemed a carefree laugh.
“Whydidyou do it?” asked Miss Finch.
“To make a point.”
“What point?” wondered Miss Moran.
Lord Macklin met Teresa’s eyes and held them as he said, “That I am quite willing to be notorious.”
