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It was a revelation She didn’t knohere it had come from She only knew that it meant he couldn’t walk away He’d look over and see her, and then he’d realize that he loved her, too

But in the end, that wasn’t what happened He didn’t look up He didn’t see her He didn’t love her He simply offered Freddy his arm They turned, and the two of theone

Chapter Ten

IN THE DAYS THAT FOLLOWED Serena’s departure, Hugo struggled to find normalcy He failed It was almost impossible to care about the details of the duke’s finances Food lost its savor And all too often, he found hi, not thinking, just staring at the empty iron bench in the square

On the third day, he decided that speculation over how she was doing was likely distracting him, and he resolved to write her a simple letter But when he started, he found that his pen did not obey

Miss Barton, he wrote

I spentsuppliers, bullying those who are not in line withhavoc in the lives of others The square across the street is e the Too friendly Anderror he’d made in the salutation He crumpled it up and tossed it into the waste bin and started over

Mrs Marshall, he started, and found a gri her with his na into your new home, and that all is to your satisfaction Do please let ned this, sealed it, and before he could think better of it, had it posted

He tried not to think of her in the co not to think of an elephant: One couldn’t tell oneself not to think of elephants without bringing to ray creatures

Her reply came a few days later

Mr Marshall, she wrote My new ho is tois amiss Thank you very much for your concern

He stared at those words in frustration There was absolutely nothing to respond to there--nothing he could say without volunteering his own unsettled thoughts or asking questions that

They’d ht co for all would be to keep this perfunctory--an occasional letter, from month to month, just to see how she fared

And yet when he left work that evening, he didn’t go directly to his ho about the streets Everywhere he looked, he saw couples together Husbands and wives, seated next to each other in open barouches; young courting couples, sending one another flirtatious glances Everyone was pairing up like turtledoves in the autumn chill Only he was alone

He’d never cared about such a thing before He wasn’t the sort to dwell on asn’t But truthfully, it was easier to think of Serena--as no longer in his life--than to contemplate the Duke of Cler in front of a shop, staring at a sky-blue silk shaondering hoould look against her skin And then, to his great a it He watched himself in bemusement Had he really come to this?

When he finally made his way ho at his desk and dipping his steel nib in the ink once again

Mrs Marshall, he inscribed I ahted that your new ho is as you’ve hoped Please accept my best wishes for your happiness

He didn’t send the shawl He couldn’t think of a way to do it--what, adht of foolishness The last thing he needed was tothat he would make a proper husband It wouldn’t be kind to raise false hopes--not in her, and certainly not in himself