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.Exchanging the quivering Alice for Lady Victoria turned out better than Charlotte hoped.With his aunt in the carriage, Nathaniel mostly kept to his own side, although his knees still rubbed against hers more frequently than seemed quite necessary.“I am so relieved you are allowing us to assist you, Your Grace,” Lady Victoria announced after rearranging her skirts in the cramped seat.“We have been so worried.What is it we are to do?”One look at Nathaniel’s wry expression madeCharlotte answer hastily, “We are going to pay calls on the guests who were present the night Lady Anne died.While the duke interviews the gentlemen, we will speak to the ladies.”Lady Victoria nodded.“Very good.An excellent plan.”Although it sounded reasonable, it turned into more of an ordeal than any of them imagined.Everyone was pleased to have a duke visit, but no one had any new information.Most had not even known about the murder until they read about it in the newspaper or heard the gossip from their lady’s maid while getting their hair brushed and pinned the next morning.After the third call, they climbed wearily back into their carriage.Lady Victoria smoothed a stray curl straggling over Charlotte’s forehead and remarked, “This has not been terribly effective, has it? It is simply too bad no one seems to have seen anything.”“If you’d listened when I indicated it would be useless—” Nathaniel replied, the clenched muscles in his jaw showing his exasperation.“One more, just one more interview today,” Charlotte said.There had to be someone who had seen something.Someone who was watching Nathaniel and knew he had not killed anyone.“What about Miss Mooreland?” Nathaniel groaned.“I am not sure,” Lady Victoria said, eyeing her nephew.“I am inclined to think this is not the proper way to go about this.”“I refuse to visit the Moorelands.Her father will think I’ve come to make an offer for her,” he said.“I’ve no wish to go through that again after what happened at the Howard residence.”“How was I to know they would believe that your desire to speak with Mr.Howard indicated you were considering offering for his daughter? It was a natural mistake—”“Very natural.I warn you, I have no intention of calling on any more families with unmarried daughters above the age of thirteen!”“But Miss Mooreland—”“Miss Mooreland already entertains ideas about me which I have no wish to encourage.”“What I was going to say, if you would allow me, is that Lady Victoria and I can call on Miss Mooreland.There is no need for you to accompany us.”“Must we?” Lady Victoria replied, leaning back in the corner of the carriage with her eyes closed.“I cannot believe she would be of any help to His Grace.”“I can go alone if you are tired, but I honestly believe she might help us.She is in love with—” Charlotte paused when Nathaniel scowled at her.“She has set her cap at His Grace and watched him closely that night.It is just as valuable to find someone who can say he did not do it as it is to find whoever did do it.”Nathaniel smiled grimly.“That does, unfortunately, make sense.However, my aunt is tired.I have already stated I have no intention of visiting any more fathers of marriageable daughters.So if you insist, we will let you out at the Mooreland’s door.”“Splendid,” Charlotte said.A few minutes later, she was sitting in a lovely sitting room filled with chintz-covered chairs and small tables overflowing with bits of sewing, novels from the lending library, penny dreadfuls and several La Belle Assemblée fashion magazines.Miss Mooreland was struggling with a lapful of ribbons, corded trim and scraps of silk.“Oh, Miss Haywood! How lovely to see you again! I beg your pardon, but I was attempting to straighten out my sewing kit.” She broke off when a handful of pearl buttons slipped out of her lap and scattered across the floor.“Oh, no!”Charlotte laughed and ran after the buttons, stooping to pick them up.“Here are your buttons, are you planning a sewing project?”Miss Mooreland shook her head, her brown eyes merry.“I start many projects and finish very few.My mother says I am quite hopeless and like a magpie, I am too easily distracted by the newest bright thing.” Her eyes flicked to the open magazines.They showed several illustrations of the summer styles with their line of trim down the front and along the hem.“I understand completely, I am precisely the same way.” It wasn’t strictly the truth since Charlotte felt duty-bound to finish anything she started, but she did like Miss Mooreland and her cheerful, if messy, morning room.“Oh, I beg your pardon, do have a seat,” Miss Mooreland indicated the chair opposite her.“I have not seen you since Lady Beatrice’s ball, such a dreadful thing.”“Did you know Lady Anne?”Miss Mooreland nodded, tears filling her eyes.“Yes.We were good friends, despite our both falling in love with the same man.”“The Duke of Peckham?”“Yes,” she said, daubing at her eyes with a scrap of blue silk [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]