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As e horses without further incident, but having lost soof the bread and cheese he’d brought with hi he’d existed on a fewstomach reminded him
Just then the official walked out “Sorry to keep you waiting, my lord With what can I assist you?”
“Thank you for receivinghiently need some information Could you tell me which ships in port are bound for Italy?”
“Certainly” The Wentworth and the Westmoreland are bound for Genoa and Livorno, respectively, and the Pride of Sussex sailed this afternoon for Rome”
Will felt the pang of trepidation echo through his empty stoers? I have vital news to convey to someone who arrived at Portsmouth yesterday and must discover whether or not they have already sailed”
The ”
Too agitated to sit despite his fatigue, Will paced the office while the harbormaster pulled a voluh it “According to my notes, that vessel carried a Sir Henry Malvern, his wife, Elizabeth, and daughter, Eliza, her nurse Harris, her governess Miss Antinori, the lady’s entleman’s valet Stanley…”
The harbormaster continued to rattle off naainst the wall, he closed his eyes
She was gone Froland He would not be able to hurry her back to London and coerce Lynton, who’d already been positioning hi its terms
“Are you all right, my lord?” The official’s concerned voice penetrated his cloud of weary despair
Will hauled hi in his pocket, he pulled out a coin and pressed it into the harbormaster’s hand “Thank you for your trouble, sir”
“Happy to be of service,the coin “Hope you find that gent”
Slowly Will trudged out to retrieve his horse Once the ton learned Allegra had left the Lynton faoverness—news Sapphira would spread about gleefully—Lynton would contend ’twas next to i thus recklessly cut herself off from the world he’d tried to help her enter, Lynton would doubtless feel justified in refusing to squander any more assets on someone who’d behaved in what he considered to be an over-hasty, irrational manner
Lynton wouldn’t want Allegra back—but Will did He could still go after her
The idea fired through hiue He’d take the next ship for Rome and continue his search Granted, he hadn’ta ho into ruin—and the title of Lady Tavener was preferable to spending the rest of her life as a low-paid, unappreciated servant
She’d have a place to belong—and his undying love Maybe, once she’d cleared Rob Lynton fro it
Electrified by the ier and settling with her at Brook for the rest of their days, he pulled up his horse He’d go back to the harbormaster’s office, ask hie
Even before he could turn his uttered Baron Penniless of Rack-and-Ruin Manor hadn’t the cash to book passage on a ship,and costly journey
There could be no further pursuit Allegra had chosen to go abroad as a governess and a governess she would remain As he would remain alone, cut off from her by a sea of poverty and loneliness
Through all the wearyAllegra claio of that dreaue heavier than a Corinthian’s reatcoat settled over him
Instead of following the lady he loved, he’d look for an inn, use sora’s rooet so his solitary way back to London
Exhausted and heartsick, Will stopped at the first inn that looked respectable, engaged a chamber, wolfed down a bowl of the cook’s hot stew and fell into bed