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“The others are nearby,” Sarah said gently. “We could join them, if you wish for company.”

“It would be nice, yes. I was going to join you all, but…”

“I understand, Sister. There has been a lot of changes of late. I have met a potential suitor, and you have made a lovely enemy for yourself.”

“Yes, Gretchen seems to loathe me entirely.”

Sarah blinked at her.

“I meant the Duke of Lupton, Emma.”

“Oh! Yes, of course.”

“Although you are right. Gretchen looked disgusted with you this morning. She has never liked me, but I did not think it was this bad.”

“It has nothing to do with you,” she explained. “I saw her doing something that she should not have been, and I believe she expects me to bury her in scandal because of it. I would never do something so dishonorable, but I don’t believe she understands that.”

“No, she would not. In any case, you shan’t feel any better about it by sitting alone. Join us!”

Sarah rose to her feet before pulling Emma to hers, and they joined her friends. They were sharing sandwiches and watching the stillness of the lake. It was precisely what Emma had been doing, but the addition of the food was welcomed and it was nice not to feel alone.

It still felt strange between herself and Cecilia, but she tried not to think too much of it. Her friend was right, and she had to be honest with herself, but she did not want to be. It frightened her, for one, to accept that she had met her match in the Duke, but it was even worse to accept that she had been wrong. She had always been able to pick out the wrong sort, and she did not want him to be the first time she had made an error, as if Sarah married the Baron and Emma left for the country, he would have been her last judgment.

It was juvenile of her, but she did not want her final one to be wrong.

After a while, a Pall Mall ball rolled their way. Sarah looked up as the Baron approached and excitedly scrambled to her feet to greet him.

“I hadn’t thought you’d lose a game just to see me,” she giggled.

“Perhaps the game was simply an excuse to find a way over here?”

“Considering your goal is in the opposite direction entirely, I would have to believe that.”

“Astute as always,” he chuckled. “You know, you could always join the next game. It is a perfectly decent sport for a young lady.”

“I have never played. I would hate for you to think my skills were so very awful that you couldn’t look me in the eye again.”

“Then perhaps I could teach you? I assure you, I do not always hit the ball perfectly away from where I intend to.”

Sarah turned to Emma, and Emma noted how wide her eyes were in hope.

“Of course,” she nodded, “But, if you are going to play, you must also win. I shall accept second, actually, as it is your first time.”

Sarah practically fizzed in excitement, clapping and thanking her profusely. Emma was not nervous for her; in spite of her sister’s memory, Sarah had played Pall Mall once, and she was brilliant at it.

When she looked up, however, she noticed that the size of the group had decreased. Looking more closely, she noticed that Gretchen had left.

As had the Duke of Lupton.

At first, she chastised herself for having searched for him again, but then she had another thought entirely, a far more frightening one. They had both disappeared, and there was no sign of them anywhere.

“I shall only be a moment,” she said quickly, leaving in the first direction she thought of.

She did not know quite where she was going, but she had to find them. Nothing would be happening that was untoward, she reasoned, but she had to find them in order to be certain of that. She wanted to trust the Duke, and so she would have to do so until he gave her proof that she couldn’t.

Then she found it.

She heard that same giggle from the first night. She followed it right to the carriages, which had been left to escort the guests back to the Duke of Pridefield’s home. There, to her shock, she found the two of them behind one, and when they saw her the Duke turned pale and Gretchen turned scarlet.