Page 59 of The Heir (A Young Queen Victoria Mystery #1)

I t was a full week before Jane was allowed back into the princess’s room.

Thankfully, Father was too busy running about to pay her much attention.

He was grimly, constantly busy—dispatching messages to St. James’s, to the newspapers, to the prominent families in the area, to friends.

All of them were briskly reassuring and said that the princess had been ill, but the fever had now broken, and she was perfectly well now.

Her physician, Dr. Clarke, was in constant attendance and advised that she should stay in the healthy seaside air for just a while longer before returning to Kensington Palace.

With all this to do, he took only passing notice of Jane’s story that she and Liza had come to Ramsgate because she planned to apologize to the princess for their quarrel.

Neither one of them spoke about her having brought Dr. Clarke, apparently against Father’s and the duchess’s standing orders.

“He thinks you managed it,” said Jane to Lehzen. Which you did, really. “When he has a moment to spare, he’s going to be terribly angry.”

“And we will let him,” she replied. “My appointment is from Their Majesties. He cannot dismiss me, a fact which, as you know, very much gets under his skin.”

The duchess was the one now meeting with Dr. Clarke. Their conversation seemed to involve her alternating between quizzing him and berating him, with an occasional sprinkling of lamenting over her own suffering and mistakes while Lady Flora held her hand.

So, it happened that Lehzen was the only person in the boudoir with the princess when Jane slipped inside.

“Hullo, Jane.” The princess’s voice was a light, rasping sound.

“Hullo.”

The princess was pale. The bones of her face pressed against her skin. Blue veins stood out clearly on the back of her hands.

Jane’s heart squeezed tight. “How . . . how do you feel?”

“A little better, I think. Dr. Clarke says my convalescence is likely to be a long one.” She rolled her eyes, and Jane suddenly did not think she could be happier. The princess was ill, she was weak, but she was still herself, and Jane had missed her.

“Did . . . What does the doctor say?” Jane asked.

Lehzen was the one who answered. “Dr. Clarke is quite certain it was typhoid fever.”

“Then it wasn’t . . . ,” began Jane.

“Poison?” whispered Victoria. “I thought it might be, too, but no.”

Jane knew it was not truly possible to melt from relief, but at that moment she believed she might.

“Jane,” breathed the princess. “Lehzen says you probably saved my life.”

Jane felt herself blush. “You should rest now.”

“I could have died, Jane. He . . . he was ready to let me die.” She turned her face away, but Jane saw what she did not say: Mama was ready to let me die .

“No.” Jane shook her head. “With you dead, what power does he have? Who will keep him at court?”

“Unless he was more afraid of what we might know than he was of being powerless. What did you find out from Mr. Rea?”

Lehzen looked ready to panic at this, and honestly, Jane could not blame her. She took the princess’s hand and pressed it gently.

“Get better,” Jane said. “Then I’ll tell you.”

“No, tell me.”

“Get better,” Jane said. “If you don’t, you’ll never find out, will you?”

The princess frowned, but there was a light in her eyes. Jane grinned.

“Miss,” said Lehzen, “the doctor said it could only be a few minutes.”

But Victoria clung to her hand. “Don’t leave me, Jane.”

“I won’t.” She covered Victoria’s hand with her own. “I promise.”

* * *

After that, Jane rejoined the household. Liza took Betty, Hornsby, and the hired carriage and returned home.

“I’m sorry to abandon you,” Liza had said. “But it’s that or start borrowing. Betty doesn’t trust me, and she won’t go a day without her sweetener.”

It was another two weeks before Dr. Clarke declared the princess was fit to travel.

The journey that had taken Liza and Jane two days took the household five.

The carriages crawled at a snail’s pace to minimize how much the princess would be jolted.

They stopped at every coaching inn on the road to allow her to rest.

Jane didn’t think it possible she could be so glad to see the gates of Kensington Palace. The only thing that seemed more welcome was watching how Victoria beamed when she settled onto the sofa and Dash leapt into her arms.

“Yes, yes, Dash!” the princess croaked as the spaniel alternately barked and joyfully licked her face. “I have missed you so much! Yes, you are my very best friend.” But she lifted her bright eyes and looked at Jane where she stood next to Lehzen. “Well, almost.”

* * *

That evening Jane climbed into the carriage with Father. He banged on the roof and sat back, staring out the window. Jane looked from him to the passing lawn, the gates, the cobbled streets.

The world should have changed , she thought idly. He should have changed. I should be able to see it.

But study Father’s face as she might, there was nothing new there.

Or perhaps there was. “Jane. Did the princess say anything to you about poison?” he asked.

“No,” said Jane. “Why would she do that?”

He made no answer, and Jane was happy to let him have his silence.

Mother received them home with a declaration that they all looked as exhausted as she felt, and promptly decided she would take her dinner on a tray. At the table Father scowled at Ned, and after the meal concluded, he called him into the study and slammed the door.

He need not have bothered. His voice was clearly audible in the corridor. Jane knew because she stood outside the door to listen.

“What have you done, you bleating young fool!”

Father was still enumerating the various unfavorable aspects of Ned’s personality when Liza came up the stairs.

“He found out about the banknotes Ned took,” she told Jane. “And about the gambling debts.” Jane raised her brows. Liza shrugged. “Ned talks when he’s in his cups, and I may have mentioned one or two things I learned where Father could hear.”

“Remind me not to tell you secrets,” muttered Jane.

“Too late, Jane.”

That was, of course, true. “Does Father know about the duel?” she asked. “That Dr. Maton was there?”

“Oh, he’s known about all that for quite some time,” said Liza. “I rather think he respects Ned more for it than otherwise.”

“Yes,” murmured Jane. “He would, wouldn’t he?”

Liza threaded her arm through her sister’s. “Come away, Jane. Get some rest. There’s nothing new for you to learn here tonight.”

“And tomorrow?”

Liza shook her head. “That I don’t know.”