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James looked between us with resignation, and I had no doubt his wife had informed him of our plans. “Are you certain you do not wish for an escort? I will remain in the carriage if the house looks respectable.”
“The address is located in a respectable neighborhood,” Felicity said, as though reminding him of something she had already said numerous times. “I asked my mother last night about the houses on that street, and she assured me they are perfectly acceptable. I have no doubt we will be safe.”
James appeared as though he wanted to argue, but I think he must have known what Felicity guessed: I would need to do this on my own, without an audience. I rose and gave her a determined nod. “I am ready.”
* * *
The street was quiet and clean, and our carriage stopped before a blue house with greenery hanging over the terrace. It was such a friendly, comfortable looking house that I couldn’t help but be a little surprised by it. Not that I expected a mistress to live in a dark house with French gargoyles guarding the windows, but I might have expected something a little less agreeable.
“What shall we do if the solicitor wrote down the wrong street and this is not the woman we’re looking for?” I asked.
“Then we apologize for our mistake and go to Gunter’s for an ice.”
I smiled. “I like your plan. Perhaps we should obtain that ice regardless of the outcome today.” I faced the door and blew a breath out. “I think I shall need it.”
Felicity said nothing more, but stood at my side and waited for me to be ready to knock on the door. This was a necessary introduction, for if I wanted Archie in my life, achild, I needed to at least be introduced to his mother. If she was a decent, respectable mother—and according to Archie, she was a very good mama—then she would not allow him to spend the summer with a complete stranger, regardless of the fact that we shared the same father.
But then there was also the ridiculous need deep within my heart for answers only she could give.
I curled my gloved fingers around the iron knocker and tapped it three resounding times, then stepped back and waited, holding my breath and absently pressing a finger to my mother’s ring.
A maid came to the door, outfitted nicely, though plainly. “Can I help you?”
“We’ve come to call on Mrs. Danvers, if she is at home.”
Felicity proffered her card and handed it to the maid, who took it with curiosity then closed the door.
“I took the liberty of writing your name on my card as well before we left,” Felicity said quietly. “I thought we might need it.”
We only had to wait a few minutes before the maid returned and let us inside, then down a corridor toward a brightly lit room. A woman stood at the window, an embroidery project discarded on the sofa, and she turned upon our entrance.
She was older than I’d expected for a mother of someone so young. Her dark hair was very near my own color, but shot through with strands of silver, and her face, though beautiful, was lined with age. She stared at me for a minute in silence. This woman now had control over half my inheritance. I had not been angry with Archie after meeting him, for I understood my father’s desire to provide for both of his children. But this woman was a stranger and her hand in the situation irked me.
“I never believed we would have reason to meet,” she said, her voice silky and lower than I’d expected. “But when we received word of the inheritance, I had hoped.”
I stepped closer to her and met her at the window, while Felicity stood near the door. It seemed that none of us were willing to sit, for that implied the desire to remain. “I did not wish to meet you,” I said bluntly. “But Archie changed my mind.”
Her face softened with the affection of a mother. “You’ve been to see him, then? How is my boy?”
“Well. Thriving in his school.” My words were as clipped and strained as my breathing. “Though I did wonder why you chose a school in Bath for him.”
“My brother is the headmaster.”
“Oh.” Archie had not told me that.
She smiled. “So I know he is watched over. I considered living in Bath, too, but London is my home.”
“He seemed well settled. I hoped you would grant him permission to visit me on occasion as well. Perhaps in the summer.”
She hesitated, looking at Felicity, then back to me. “Perhaps it is better if we sit.”
We obeyed, taking the sofa opposite her chair.
Nerves made her fingers flutter anxiously along the edge of the sofa cushion. “Archie is all I have, you see, so I am quite protective of him.”
“That is understandable, Mrs. Danvers. But surely Mr. Danvers—”
“Does not exist,” she said quietly, her hands motionless on her lap.
