But now?’ She clasped her hands and gave a mocking flutter of her eyelashes. ‘He wants everyone to be as happy as he is.’
‘That is commendable of him,’ Gregory responded.
‘Forward is what I would call it,’ Charity replied. ‘He is right to think that Hope should not wait needlessly for the coming of the Earl. She will find that for herself if we leave her alone.’
‘Of course,’ he said.
‘But it would be just like a man to try subterfuge once he realises reason will not work. A distracting flirtation, for example...’
‘What the devil are you implying?’ He regretted the curse immediately, but the words had been so blunt that he’d forgotten he was talking to a young lady. ‘I was not sent here to take advantage of your sister.’
‘You are a problem solver, are you not, Mr Drake? Why would you not think of the most direct solution?’
‘Because I am a gentleman,’ he said. And because he knew from experience just what ruin such a thing might cause.
She touched a finger to her chin. ‘You claim to be a gentleman. But I can find nothing of your past, or your parentage.’
‘If it does not matter to Mr Leggett, why should it matter to you?’
‘Because he does not know this family as well as I do,’ Charity replied. ‘And because, if I am honest, he is not as intelligent as I am. If he had thought through the implications of leaving a stranger to ferry his sister-in-law around London, you’d have already had this conversation with him.’
Gregory had not got as far in life as he had without remaining calm when faced with bigoted questions from the gentry. Normally, he would have spoken of his extensive résumé and presented references from other men of stature who had been satisfied with his performance.
But today, it did not seem to be enough. Only the whole truth would do. ‘You could find nothing of my parentage because I do not know it myself. I have been told that my mother was from a good family, but died in childbirth. My father was less so. He seduced her, then abandoned her to her fate. When she died, her family was faced with the problem of an infant whose very existence was a blot on the family honour and the good name of a lost and presumably beloved daughter. They provided for my care and education anonymously, but have never shown an interest in the child I was or the man I have become.’
‘I see,’ said Miss Charity.
Her assessment annoyed him. ‘If you truly do, then you will know that your sister’s reputation is perfectly safe with me. Since I cannot prove my honour with a pedigree, I have done it with my behaviour. I have no intention of being the man my father was and leaving a lover dead or disgraced, or a son abandoned to the care of strangers and left to field such questions as the ones you are asking me.’ He stared back at her with the same unflinching intensity she had been using on him.
It did not seem to bother her in the least. At last, she sighed in what he hoped was satisfaction. ‘Very well, then. You are honourable by choice. That is probably a better reason than those who claim their good name is enough to swear on. My apologies for pressing you to reveal so much of your past. But despite what the family sometimes thinks, I do love my sisters and will not stand by and let them be hurt.’
He answered with a respectful nod.
‘And no matter what Mr Leggett may have asked of you, do not interfere too strenuously in Hope’s future. It will sort itself once I make her aware of certain facts.’
He gave no response to this at all. Since she was not his employer, what she wanted did not signify.
She pushed her spectacles up her nose, which seemed to magnify her already large hazel eyes, and fixed him with a gaze that would have been quelling had it come from a man. ‘And most important of all, you must not meddle in my affairs, no matter what my sister may wish of you. Keep Hope occupied with restoring the entail. Come to me when you reach the inevitable impasse and I will help you. But until then, do not bother me with it, for I am occupied with more important matters.’
‘And what are these matters, Miss Charity?’ he said and followed it with his most winning smile.
She touched the side of her nose and winked. ‘All in good time, Mr Drake. But I assure you, they have nothing to do with husband-hunting at Almack’s.’ She glanced at the door. ‘Do not let me keep you from your own business.’
And thus, he was dismissed for the second time that day. He bowed to her, as he had to her sister. ‘Nor do I wish to keep you from yours, whatever it may be. Good day, Miss Charity.’
‘Until tomorrow, Mr Drake.’
As she waited for Mr Drake’s return the next morning, Hope paused to admire the candlesticks which had been polished and displayed on the dining-room sideboard. They belonged in the manor, not in London. But this would have to do until she could arrange for them to be transported.
‘So, you actually found something.’ Charity stood in the doorway, arms folded across her chest. ‘When I heard of your plans to go treasure hunting, I assumed Mr Leggett was wasting his money.’
‘On the contrary,’ Hope said, running an idle finger along the length of the pewter. ‘Mr Drake is very diligent. I have the utmost confidence in him.’
‘Grandmother said you did not like him,’ Charity said.
‘I do not claim to,’ Hope answered. ‘But I do like these candlesticks. It is nice to see them back in the family.’
‘And it was very nice of Mr Leggett to find such a handsome man to retrieve them,’ Charity said with a sly smile.
‘I had not noticed,’ Hope lied.
‘Then you are either blind or deliberately obtuse,’ Charity said.
‘Hmm,’ said Hope, turning to the window to watch for the arrival of his coach.
‘Of course, he is little better than a servant,’ Charity added.
‘It is unworthy of you to say such a thing,’ Hope said. ‘Our own father was a servant to the Lord and Mother was the daughter of Comstock’s man of business. If Papa did not have a problem...’ She turned back to continue the lecture and saw Charity grinning at her agitation. ‘You were baiting me.’
Charity shrugged. ‘I just wanted to see if you remembered our origins. Mr Drake thinks you terribly proud.’
‘When did you speak to Mr Drake?’ More importantly, why had they been discussing her? And had he really formed such a poor opinion of her in only two meetings?
‘I might have run into him as he left yesterday morning,’ Charity answered.
‘You mean you were lurking in the hall, waiting to catch a glimpse of him,’ Hope replied. ‘You are too young for him, if that is your line of thinking.’ Her little sister had shown no real interest in men thus far, which made her sudden curiosity about Mr Drake all the more alarming.
‘I am nineteen,’ Charity replied. ‘Some would say I am just the right age for marriage and at nearly twenty-one you are dangerously near to becoming a spinster.’
‘You are still not right for Mr Drake,’ Hope said, exasperated. Then she added, ‘We do not even know if he is married.’
‘Do you wish for me to ask him?’
‘Certainly not.’ Sometimes, it was convenient to have such a nosy sister, who would satisfy her curiosity without Hope having to admit she had ever wondered. ‘It is not our concern whether or not he has a wife.’ She sounded as disapproving as she was able, knowing that Charity could rarely resist the forbidden. Then she added, ‘He is a total stranger to us.’
‘As