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E mma had awakened early and dressed, but she had waited until she heard Lords Beaufort and Graham leave their rooms to go below before she followed them. Lord Graham must have trailed behind Lord Beaufort, for the man waited for her at the bottom of the steps.

“Good morning, my lady,” he said with a bow. “Hopefully, you slept well.”

“Better than I expected,” she said with a brief curtsey. “I had not considered how quiet the country nights might be. Generally, on the Continent, my parents resided in governmental houses, and since my return to England, I have dwelled in London.”

“Another memory?” he asked.

She paused to think upon what he had suggested. “I suppose it is. At this point, I often do not know whether what I speak is something I have simply never considered or a return of a memory.”

Lord Graham smiled, though the scar made it appear a bit crooked.

However, Emma thought his countenance was endearing.

“Whether it is the first time you have arrived at an opinion on a subject or the hundredth, is it not wonderful finally to be done with it so you might consider a new subject, one equally as profound as the silence found in nature?”

Emma broke into laughter, for the gentleman spoke as if her simple observation was earth-shattering. “You are extraordinary, my lord,” she announced. “Whoever claims your affection shall be blessed indeed, and, if you require a champion, I shall carry your banner forward.”

Uncharacteristically, the man halted their steps. “Orson requires a woman as devoted to him as he is to you.”

Emma knew she teared up, but she did not look away from Lord Graham’s steady gaze. “What if I never know who attacked me? I cannot imagine Lord Orson would wish to tend my nerves for the remainder of his days.”

“Our Richard was always the one to protect each of us. You have no idea how often he placed himself between me and someone set on teaching me a lesson. Yet, it is not just me. Many wished to have their fun with Marksman, whose father was such a complete failure that he sold his wife and daughter in order to have enough coins to pay his rents in a slum tenement. You can imagine how difficult it was for Alexander Dutton to know acceptance at school and, later, in the House of Lords; yet, Orson dared any and all to snub Dutton.”

“It sounds as if each of you had a tough row to hoe,” Emma observed.

“There you go,” his lordship said, again turning their steps in the direction of the small room set aside for their meals. “Every farmer will tell you the sweetest apple can be found on the highest limbs. Everything worth having has its obstacles.”

“Are you prepared?” Richard asked as he assisted Theodora from his coach.

Early this morning, he had called upon Duncan to tell his lordship what Richard had and had not discovered at Lady Emma’s house last night.

He had handed the letter from Graham over, first to Duncan and then to Theodora to read, so Richard might know their thoughts on the matter.

For some reason, he could not quite give voice to the situation, for he still thought someone on Duncan’s staff was not what he or she pretended to be.

“What did you learn from the maid who assisted your Winston on Lady Emma’s first night in the household? ”

“The girl never returned to her post,” Duncan confided.

“That was three days ago,” Richard observed. “Did she request her pay so she might accept another posting?”

Theodora shared, “Mrs. Chester said the girl walked away with the others just as she generally does. The maid, according to Mrs. Braylon, has an ill relation with whom she visits. Father’s nurse says the girl has asked her for medical advice.

Yet, no one seems to know whether the situation exists or not, but all assume the girl could not leave the person, so she did not return. ”

“Yet, she has more than two months’ wages due her,” Richard argued.

“We will not know until we know,” Duncan said with a frown, which was a typical way of warning both Richard and Theodora that enough had been said before the servants.

Now, as Theodora looked up at the building, she asked, “How do you know Lady Emma’s friends meet within on a Saturday afternoon?”

“If I told you...” he said with a smile.

“If you mean to keep me from learning of your sources, please recall that a challenge means I have a choice of weapons,” Theodora countered in a teasing manner.

“Later, my girl. A round with swords would do me well. For now, I must learn of Lady Emma’s life before her attack.”

“Permit me to lead,” Dora instructed.

They entered the building which appeared to house several small businesses, but the one they sought was a female-run weekly newsprint. Everything and everyone went perfectly still when he followed Theodora into the outer part of the establishment.

“May I assist you, sir? Ma’am?” the elder of the three women within the facility asked.

Theodora casually stepped up to the counter, resting her gloved hand on the top. “My friend and I are hoping you might assist us with an important matter.”

The three women exchanged odd looks and reached for what could easily be considered weapons, evidently expecting to protect themselves and their equipment. “That depends on what you wish to know.”

“We are friends of Lady Emma Donoghue,” Dora explained.

“None of us have seen her ladyship since some time last week,” the woman declared.

Theodora continued to speak for them, “Such is understandable. Our Emma was attacked on Monday evening of this week. She was badly injured.”

“Where?” the woman asked. “Shall she live?” The other two women took a step closer, as if to hear what Theodora would say.

“She shall live,” Dora explained. “My friend here,” Theodora gestured to him, “found Lady Emma on a side street in Covent Garden. Bloody. Bruised. Alone. An apparent robbery.”

“Lady Emma would not go to Covent Garden alone,” the shorter of the three said.

“I swear there was no one else around,” Richard said calmly, though he studied the women carefully. He had seen all three with Emma previously.

“Lady Emma said a man has asked her to the theatre,” the youngest of the three shared. “She did not say when. That was a little over a week ago yesterday.”

“But there are no performances on Monday,” Dora reminded them. “What we were wondering was whether Lady Emma was frightened of any of her acquaintances?”

“Should not her ladyship be speaking to her fears rather than any of us?” the older woman asked suspiciously.

Dora kept control of the conversation. “Lady Emma was struck about the head several times and is having difficulty keeping the facts straight.”

“Oh, my!” the youngest gasped. Richard was beginning to see the similarity in the countenances of the eldest and this girl. Mother and daughter perhaps. “Could it be that awful Lord Davidson? Lady Emma was afraid his lordship might attempt to force himself on her to demand a marriage.”

“We have considered Lord Davidson,” Theodora explained, “but his lordship claims an agreement with Lord Donoghue. Lord Davidson would not be required to beat Lady Emma into submission if her father had signed a marriage settlement.”

The older of the three said, “My money is on the man sending her messages.”

“What type of messages?” Richard asked, though he should have permitted Dora to continue to lead.

“Just... just bizarre. We all thought it was some former friend of her father’s, for the person sending her the notes knew what Lady Emma had done when her cat died and who was her best friend when her ladyship was five.

Those sorts of details that the average person would not know.

None of us knew those facts, did we?” she asked the others, and both women shook their heads in the negative.

“And we have known Lady Emma for several years.”

“Since her governess left her?” Richard asked, though he already knew the answer.

“Yes. One day she came into this office and offered to assist us. We were suspicious at first, but she was so young and full of hope that I could not resist permitting her to stay and assist in rolling up the flyers we distribute around the city. After that, she came regularly. I suspected she was more lonely than she was ready to fight for the rights of women, but, eventually, she came to listen more than she spoke and took up the cause herself.”

Dora asked, “Has Lady Emma ever spoken of the yellow lilies in her garden?”

“Her mother sent them to England with Lady Emma,” the elder woman said. “Her ladyship tended them herself. She would rarely permit anyone even to hoe around them.”

“They have been ripped from the ground,” Richard explained. “The garden has been altered to disguise their absence.”

“Are you assured?” the youngest asked.

“Absolutely. I have viewed their absence myself.”

“We could ask around?” the eldest offered.

Richard placed a sack of coins on the counter. “Discreetly.”

Meanwhile, Lady Theodora placed her card beside the bag. “Send word of even the slightest bit of information, and I will come immediately.”

The three women nodded their assent. “We protect each other. Provide Lady Emma our best wishes. You shall hear from us soon.”

“If you hold no objection, my lady,” Lord Beaufort stated, “Graham and I thought to do some hunting—shooting, actually. A few birds. It would make our story of coming to hunt more believable if we are viewed by the locals in the fields.”

Emma looked from one man to the other. “I do not understand. You surely do not require my permission.”

Lord Graham explained, “We did not wish you to feel as if we had deserted you. I suppose what Beaufort means for us to know is whether being alone for a few hours will be too daunting of a task for you at this point in your healing.”

“No one else is in the house?” she asked, looking about her. Emma’s breathing quickly became more labored.

“The cleaning ladies will remain, along with the cook and her helper,” Lord Beaufort explained.

“No men?” she asked.