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There was a deep, unsettling sadness in his mien It made Claudia want to co sip of le for?" she asked, wiping herfor, Claudia It’s worth living and dying and killing for It’s everything"
"Ah!"
Pain, sudden and excruciating, clamped down on her womb like a vise It robbed her of breath for a ht it would ebb, it returned with even greater force, wrenching a screae and red, the color of alar She instantly rued every instance in which she’d disregarded the doctor’s orders or ignored Amelia’s advice Perhaps she shouldn’t have cli Perhaps she shouldn’t have eaten that rich pudding last night …
Please, she silently prayed Please let the bothersome lump be unhare of pain She gritted her teeth "So I need help"
But Mr Faraday--injured, hobbled Mr Faraday--was already out of his chair …
And striding quickly from the room
"Give it here, if you will" Lily took the paper frorasp and scanned it quickly A half-hour’s cajoling and several dozen nuts "It’s all the usual," she noted with disappointuilty Thank you, that will be all
Endless permutations of the above, interspersed histles and squawks
Then, toward the botto new
"‘Mr Ja I wonder how he picked that up"
"An acquaintance of yours?" Meredith asked
"In a way"
Lily was momentarily transported back to that darkened theater pit, seated on a cushioned bench aside her bookish, bespectacled beau She’d been so amazed at his ability to transform his appearance and seee, it anized Julian Bellamy as a collection of wild hair and wilder clothes and loud, brash behavior, never taking note of the man beneath A quietly handsome man, with sincere blue eyes and a passion for fairness Keen intelligence, and a thoughtful, tender way
That man was her husband
The plain truth of it is, I have always been unworthy of you You don’t know the half of what I’ve done
"I think," Lily said slowly, "Mr James Bell may be more than a mere acquaintance"
A new Just now" She beckoned for the paper, and Lily gave it quickly
Craning her neck, she watched over Ale word
"Jericho," Lily read aloud "Well, that’s not terribly helpful Is it?"
"Could reed "Perhaps one of his previous owners was fond of scripture It could be a servant’s name, or even the bird’s name"
"Or a ship," An written him so many letters that year He sailed from Plymouth on the HMS Jericho The vessel’s been retired now I remerabbed Lily’s arm, and her eyes ide "To Greenwich The Jericho is now moored in the Thames, near Woolwich It’s a prison hulk"
"A prison hulk?" Lily’s heart ju leap," Meredith warned "And we could bedirection entirely"
"I know I know you’re right," Lily replied, the gears of herat a furious whir "But it’s the only direction we have" How many miles was it to Woolwich? Ten? Fifteen? How fast could the carriage take her there? "We must leave immediately There’s not a moment to waste"
But before she could even rise fro butler extended a salver, on which lay a haphazardly folded note
He bowed deeply "Forgive the interruption, e has just arrived for Her Grace"
Amelia took the note and opened it Her blue eyes shuttled back and forth as she scanned the lines of text "Oh, no It’s Claudia She’s in labor I o to her at once"
Lily was surprised indeed to learn of the note’s contents But she was stunned immobile by the envelope’s reverse, where the words "Her Grace, the Duchess of Morland" had been hastily inscribed in black ink
Lily knew that penmanship Knew it as well as she knew her own
"Oh , she leapt froht froaze to receive a reply Rather, she read the brief missive for herself
Your Grace,
Lady Claudia has entered her labor pains I have taken the liberty of sending for the doctor
--PF
"PF? Who is PF?"
Aloves Lily couldn’t catch it
"Write it down," she insisted, urging the quill and inkpot toward her friend