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Chapter Thirty-Five
Evelina at long last managed to return her father’s ledger to its rightful spot in his study.
She’d had to sneak out at night again to do it, of course, but by now, she fancied herself quite an expert at that…with the exception of where Matilda was concerned.
Even so, as she placed the ledger back on its place within the massive mahogany bookshelves, she could not help but think Matilda would not be such a problem.
Why Matilda was so willing to cover for Evelina, of course, was a different matter, and one which she did not entirely understand. She wanted to ask, but worried that to do so would break the silent understanding that had formed between them. And who knew when she would need Matilda’s good graces again in the future?
“Hopefully it will be later rather than sooner,” Evelina murmured beneath her breath, as she surveyed the handiwork of the newly re-filled bookshelves.
Everything was back in place. Everything, on the surface, was back as it should be.
Yet as Evelina retreated back toward the study door, she found her feet dragging, as a new thought latched hold of her brain. In the conversation that she’d overheard between her parents, Father had mentioned that their overall financial situation was beginning to look rather grim, apparently because of losses they’d undertaken due to the fallout with the late Duke of Elvington.
In for a penny, in for a pound, Evelina thought. She sighed, and turned back toward her father’s desk. She lit herself a candle, then dove into the current ledger headlong.
Five minutes turned to ten. Ten turned to twenty.
Evelina lost track of time entirely after that, lost in the numbers. Father wasn’t lying when he said they’d suffered a loss at whatever had transpired between himself and the late Duke of Elvington—which, Evelina thought grimly for the first time, may have been a transaction deliberately kept off the books for some reason.
And now, with the drought in the Far East crippling the most in demand of their imports…
It was no wonder Father was resigned to marrying Evelina off to Jerome. If his business was as booming as he constantly implied, their union may very well be the saving grace of Evelina’s family as a whole.
She sat back, and gave all of this new knowledge some thought.
“Do you remember when we used to run from our governess and hide beneath Father’s desk?” Diana asked, voice low and fond, from the doorway.
Evelina nearly jumped right out of her skin. Her wrist sent an ink bottle teetering as she jerked back, and she hastened to grab ahold of it before it spilt everywhere, leaving behind devastating evidence of her visit.
“What are you doing up?” Evelina managed once the ink bottle had been steadied, ignoring the hypocrisy of her question.
Diana came further into the room, closing the door quietly behind her. She took a seat across from Evelina in one of the large, cushier chairs used for guests, and drew her legs up under her.
“Couldn’t sleep,” said Diana with a shrug. “I was trying to walk off some of this excess agitation when I heard rustling in here, and thought to see what it was about.”
A memory surfaced from childhood—Diana used to always sit that way, with her legs tucked, before the behavior was scolded out of her. Now, she only did it when it was just the two of them, visiting with one another in the evenings, curled up on each other’s beds.
Except…they didn’t really do that anymore, did they? Evelina had been so wrapped up in her own concerns as of late, she’d hardly given Diana a passing glance.
“Do you mean to tell on me?” Evelina asked, then internally kicked herself. She ought to have asked after Diana, and why she could not sleep.
Have I truly grown so self-absorbed as of late?
“Tell on you?” Diana looked surprised, then suspicious. “Are you up to something that would merit such action?”
Evelina opened her mouth to offer some sort of explanation, then closed it, not at all certain how to explain the situation with Thomas and his late father.
Diana sighed and waved her away. “Never mind. I should not ask after any of your…plans…further.”
Evelina recalled telling Diana about the feelings she had for Thomas, and her plan to delay the announcement of her engagement to Jerome. Diana had been suspicious and unsure of the situation then, cautioning Evelina against foolish risks.
“Evelina?” Diana pressed, giving her a scrutinizing look.
Evelina’s eyes itched. She wasn’t really crying, just tearing up a bit. “It’s nothing,” she said, waving Diana off.
“It doesn’t look like nothing.”
