Page 111 of A Well-Trained Lady

My heart was thudding in my chest, and I stopped on the top step to draw in a calming breath. I looked down at my dusty, wrinkled day dress and wished I’d had the patience to have changed into my traveling dress. After shaking my skirts and running my hands through my curls—which had been dried by the wind into a mess of tangles—I lifted a hand and rested it on the knocker. “I can do this,” I repeated under my breath, clenching the heavy, circular handle.

But could I? What if Augustus couldn’t forgive me? Or Ruth? Was it worth the risk if they would simply tell me to leave? I dropped my hand, and the metal knocker gave a muted clank.

The door creaked open, and the butler’s gaze locked on me, his eyes widening. “Miss Godwin?”

My apprehension grew. If he was this shocked to see me, I wondered what welcome I would receive from the others. “Hello, Branson. Is Mr. Brundage at home?” I needed to tell him of Mrs. Seton’s letter to Papa. Then I would know how to proceed with Ruth.

He stepped back and opened the door to let me in. “He is. If you’ll wait here.”

I was listening to his fading footsteps when Ruth’s excited voice floated out the open drawing room door. “And to think I hadn’t realized they’d grown to love one another.”

Unable to resist my curiosity, I tiptoed closer, peeking inside.

Ruth and Sarah giggled, their backs to me and their attention out the drawing room window. Mrs. Brundage stood a few steps behind them, facing the same direction.

“Girls, we really should give them privacy.” Mrs. Brundage peered over their shoulders, with no apparent determination to heed her own advice.

I thought to announce myself, but my interest to discover who they were urged me forward.

Ruth shook her head. “I can hardly believe it. Mr. Treynor will tease me mercilessly when he discovers he has won our wager. I was so adamant that there would not be a marriage this summer.”

My feet grew heavy beneath me, and it was then I caught sight of who they were observing. Not twenty paces from the window Miss Whitmore and Augustus were locked in an embrace. I blinked, but they were still there. I could not convince my eyes to look away, my heart breaking with every lingering moment they spent in one another’s arms. Suddenly, it felt as though I was living my nightmare; though Augustus stood right there outside the window, he would never come. Not for me. I would wait forever.

My legs swayed beneath me, and I reached out a hand to steady myself on a nearby chair. But why should I be surprised? I had done this. I had told Augustus to offer for Miss Whitmore. Was I cursed to ruin everything?

“Bella?” I lifted my gaze to find Ruth watching me with an awestruck expression. “What are you doing here?”

Sarah and Mrs. Brundage spun toward me.

I tried to force the rehearsed words from my mouth. Any words. “I … I came to beg your forgiveness.”

Ruth’s head tilted to one side, and she raised an eyebrow. “You came all the way here from Branbury for that? Could you not have written with an apology?”

I drew in a breath, reminding myself that Augustus was not the only reason I had come. Ruth was my dearest friend, and I could not lose her. “I needed to tell you, in person, how sorry I am. I should never have shared the untruth about your inheritance. And I certainly should not have encouraged you toward a match whose only observable merits were a handsome face and good connections. You deserve someone infinitely better than that wretched man who does not even warrant having his name uttered.”

The corner of Ruth’s lips twitched, giving me hope.

“I have been so foolish. Could you ever forgive me?”

Ruth pursed her lips before a smile lit her face. “Of course I shall. I cannot stay angry at you. And I do not blame you for what happened. You offered me sound advice countless times, and I did not heed you. I only hope I’ve learned from my errors, for I know Augustus cannot always be there to stop every”—Ruth quirked her head—“what did he call Mr. Green again?”

“Scoundrel?”

“Not that one.”

“Liar?”

Ruth shook her head again.

“Degenerate?”

“That’s it.” Ruth smiled. “Degenerate. Augustus cannot be there to stop every degenerate I encounter. Though I’m glad he managed to stop this one before anything scandalous happened.”

Relief flooded over me at her light-hearted confirmation that nothing too detrimental had occurred. “As am I.”

Mrs. Brundage and Sarah both nodded in agreement, and I turned to them. “I also need to apologize to you both. I gave you false hope, placed you in an uncomfortable situation, and left after breaking my agreement to Augustus. But I need you to know that I should have very much adored being a part of this family.”

Sarah offered a timid smile. “I should have liked that also.”