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“Tell her that it is quite urgent, and that her husband wishes to see her,” he instructed the butler yet again, his voice firmer this time, as if the gravity of his words could compel a different outcome.

The butler held a beleaguered look on his face and looked as though he wished to argue, likely tired of walking back and forth with no change in the situation. But he bowed instead and left once again, his steps slower, a sign of his dwindling patience.

He returned with the same message. “She cannot see you, My Lord. She is indisposed,” the butler declared, and his tone couldn’t be more final this time, shutting down any further attempts for an audience.

Theodore opened his mouth to argue once again, his mind racing for another way to plead his case, a desperate need to see Agnes driving his actions. However, Anthony quickly interjected, sensing his friend’s mounting frustration and the futility of the situation.

“How about we go riding?” he suggested, his voice calm and steady. He led Theodore out of the house then.

“Frances told me a little of what is happening,” Anthony confessed as they rode out.

Theodore swallowed, his throat tight. What if this was it? What if Agnes didn’t want him anymore? He had no one to blame for all of this but himself. He’d hurt her. Too much.

“I’ve made a grave mistake,” Theodore admitted bitterly, his voice rough with regret as he guided his horse toward the outskirts of Town.

“I know,” Anthony replied, his tone solemn. “But give her time,” he advised, his gaze steady on the path ahead.

“Every moment without her is agony,” Theodore confessed, the words slipping out, raw and unguarded.

“Sometimes, one must go through agony to find their salvation,” Anthony sighed. “But in the end, nothing is permanent. Not even the worst of anguish. There is nothing a bit of effort, patience, and time cannot rectify,” his friend added, trying to instill a spark of hope in the bleakness of Theodore’s situation.

If only Theodore could share in his friend’s optimism, he thought ruefully, his heart heavy with fear and longing.

The following day, he returned to the Richmond residence. He was admitted into the drawing room. This gave him a bit of hope. He’d made it a bit farther today. Still, his anxiety remained.

Some time passed and the butler did not return. Theodore began to pace, each step echoing softly on the rich carpet ofthe drawing room. He turned when he finally heard movement in the hallway, but his hopes faltered when he saw Harry and George instead.

“You’re back, Gillingham?” George asked, his voice curious and slightly surprised.

Theodore nodded. He didn’t realize the little boy knew of his earlier visit. The simplicity of the question, coming from such innocence, somehow made the weight of the situation feel even more profound.

The boys took a seat. Where Harry did not say much, George was loquacious. Despite that, the boy was not as jovial as he usually was.

“Agnes is in the conservatory, you know,” George said.

Theodore was overwhelmed by the desire to go find her but thought the better of it. He needed to remember his decorum, especially at a sensitive moment like this. It was not his place to go barging around the Richmond house as if it were his own.

“Georgie!” Harry tried to quiet his brother with a concerned glance at Theodore. George heedlessly carried on, his youthful innocence making him unaware of the weight his words carried.

“She spends most of her time in the conservatory, and she says she won’t see you. Even if you will call ten or a hundred times,”George continued, swinging his legs over his chair, his words hitting Theodore like a cold water on a winter morning.

Dejected, Theodore decided to leave, but he was very far from surrendering. He would give Agnes the time she seemed to desire right now. Perhaps Anthony’s words would prove their wisdom. Eventually, a bit of that time he would give her, and patience on his part, might help him rectify the damage he’d done.

No matter what, letting her go is not an option,he promised himself as he walked out of the Richmond house. Each step was heavy, but he carried a resolve that he had never carried before.

Two long and miserable days passed since Theodore’s last visit. Agnes sat in her usual place in the conservatory, surrounded by lush greenery and vibrant flowers, trying to concentrate on the book she was supposed to be reading, but to no avail. Her eyes scanned the same sentence repeatedly without registering the words.

She wondered if he had finally resigned after three fruitless visits. For some reason, this notion made her stomach knot unpleasantly. The thought of him no longer attempting to reconcile felt like a heavy stone on her chest.

You refused to see him, Agnes.She winced. What was she to do with her broken heart? Continue serving it to him on a golden platter?

“Agnes.”

She looked up to the sight of Caroline before her. She’d been so lost in her thoughts, she didn’t hear her entrance. Caroline's presence was always a comforting one, yet today it felt different, more charged.

“Yes, Mother?”

“Gillingham has called again. He’s in the drawing room,” she announced, her expression giving nothing away of her own feelings about the matter. Agnes was still yet to tell her family that Theodore was going to annul their marriage.