Page 70 of The Lady Makes Her Mark

Edwina drew in a sharp breath. “Why, then? Why did you do it?”

“You.” He nodded toward Constantia. “Her.”

“I believe he mistook you for me,” Constantia explained. “Our cloaks are very similar in color.” She turned to the mysterious man. “But then, why me?”

“You . . . lost. So many years. But I . . . find.”

“Can’t you speak proper English?” Lady Posenby demanded. “At this rate, we shall be sitting here all night waiting for answers. You must have some explanation.” She looked sharply at Constantia.

“Miss Cooper has been concerned for some time that someone was following her,” Alistair said, stepping in to explain. “It spurred her decision to leave London, in fact. And this fellow lurking about”—he jerked his head toward the stranger—“would appear to be the proof she was right. But I agree with you on one thing. These one-word answers won’t get us far.”

Harriet had been wending her way around the edge of the circle and came to stand beside her brother. “I believe I can help. Sprechen sie Deutsch?” she asked the man.

Relief surged into his face. “Deutsch! Ja!” And followed those giddy exclamations with a stream of words that made Harriet blink.

“Langsam, bitte,” she said to him, and from the gesture she made as she spoke, Constantia gathered she had asked him to slow down.

He obliged, or tried to. Harriet had to stop him frequently to ask for clarification.

“Well?” Lady Posenby snapped.

“Wait,” Alistair said, before his youngest sister could speak. “We should consider that whatever this man has to say may be full of untruths. It may also concern matters of a deeply personal nature—”

A combination of gratitude and relief made Constantia’s shoulders sag. But of course, having heard most of her story already, he understood how reluctant she would be to share it with the rest of them.

Several members of the assembled company immediately took his meaning. “We should be only too glad to go and grant you privacy,” said the rector, “but I fear the storm prevents us from safely traveling home anytime soon.”

“If you will follow me, sir, ma’am,” said Edwina with one of her usual gracious smiles, “I will be only too happy to see that you are made comfortable for the night.” And then, a bit more sharply, she added, “Freddie, Georgie,” and jerked her chin to indicate that they were to follow too.

They protested vociferously, but eventually did as they’d been bid.

Forster moved as if intending to go with the rector and his wife, but Alistair motioned for him to stay. “I may yet have need of your help.”

Alistair’s gaze then swiveled to his aunt, a none too gentle hint that, as Constantia’s situation concerned her not at all, she certainly had no cause to stay.

But Lady Posenby was the sort of woman who believed everything was her concern. She lifted her chin and met her nephew’s eye with a haughty stare, then motioned Danielle to her side with a snap of her fingers, as one might bring a dog to heel. Constantia saw a muscle in Alistair’s jaw twitch.

At last, he looked at her, lifting one shoulder and tipping his head as if to say, I’ve done my best. The rest is up to you. She turned to Harriet and nodded for her to continue.

“He says that he has been watching you,” Harriet translated. “No, watching over you for years. He—he claims you are a daughter of the Royal House of Friedensfeld, and that he can prove it, if we will but untie his hands.”

A chorus of scoffing noises rose.

“The drawing master? Royal? Ridiculous,” declared Lady Posenby.

“A nice trick,” said Forster. “Asking to be untied. He must think us fools.”

Alistair looked again at Constantia. “Well?”

She hesitated. How could she trust a stranger? Trust this man who had been the cause of so many waking nightmares and sleepless nights?

“Ask him, please, about this proof he claims to have,” she told Harriet. “Find out what it is.”

“A piece of jewelry,” Harriet translated a moment later. “And a . . . well, I’m not sure. A paper of some kind?”

“The jewelry . . . is it an earring?” Constantia asked, tugging on her bare earlobe.

The man, who apparently understood the gesture if not the English words she had spoken, nodded eagerly. “Sie waren ein Geschenk—uh, uh, a geeft.”