Page 61 of Honor Unbound

She continued, “Tragedy has a way of exciting our worst passions. Perhaps I can call on you, Mrs. Trent, when tempers have cooled.”

“You certainly may not.” Mrs. Trent took her brother’s arm and squeezed her daughter to her other side. “We’re leaving.” The trio formed a rigid wall, stomping for the exit.

Marie jumped back to avoid getting knocked over, and stepped right into the path of two young men who were trying to get a better view of a naked figure on a frieze. She trod on one of their feet. “I’m so sorry,” she apologized, hopping back again. Her entrance ticket drifted down to the stone floor.

Brett started forward to retrieve it, but Mr. Randall beat him to it. He tucked the slip of paper into his pocket.

Brett cleared his throat. “I believe the lady will want that.”

“Will she?” Randall pulled it free and passed it to Marie, holding it between his thumb and forefinger as though it were diseased. “What a silly thing to want to hold onto.”

Marie flushed as she took the ticket.

“There’s nothing silly about holding onto mementos,” Brett said, scowling at the man.

“As you say.” Randall strolled after his group, flicking the tail of his gauzy tippet over his shoulder.

“Thank you,” Marie said, “but I didn’t need to keep it.”

“But you wanted to keep it, and that is enough.” Brett cocked his elbow for Marie to take. “Well, did we learn anything?” he asked Lady Mary.

The older woman gazed after the group until they disappeared from the room. “Nothing of substance.” She drew her shoulders back. “But if we keep poking at the nest, eventually a hornet will emerge.”

That was very likely true. It only remained to be seen if one of them would get stung in the process.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Marie

“Isn’t it toosoon to be intruding like this?” Marie chewed on her bottom lip. It was a familiar front door, but with the master of the house now dead, it held a somber air. “And you’ve never met Mrs. Hicks. Paying a condolence call on a stranger can’t be the done thing, especially as you only found her husband’s body earlier today.”

Lady Mary rapped on the door. “Two men are dead. We can no longer afford to observe the rules of proper etiquette.”

“But it’s so late.” Marie looked back at the carriage. Ernest sat on the driver’s seat and Brett stood by the closed door. Her stomach erupted in butterflies. If she was being honest, imposing on a new widow was only a small reason for her nerves. Brett winked at her, only making her feel a little better about the situation. “She might be eating dinner.”

“The sun is still up. Barely.” Lady Mary grimaced. “Besides, I’ve already knocked.” And as if to emphasize the point, she knocked again.

The door creaked open. The servant Marie and Brett had previously questioned stood in the entryway. “Yes?”

“Lady Mary and companion here to see Mrs. Hicks,” Lady Mary said.

The man shook his head. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but the missus isn’t seeing anyone.” He leaned forward and looked both ways. “Her husband was just killed.”

“I know that, young man.” Lady Mary pressed past him. “That is the reason why we are here. Now which way is your sitting room? Through here?” And she wandered down the hall and into the room on the left.

Surprisingly, she had picked the right room. Lady Mary settled herself as though she owned the building. “Please tell Mrs. Hicks we’re here and that the matter is of the utmost importance. We’ll wait.”

Marie’s eyes rounded at her mistress’s audacity. When the manservant had left them, presumably to fetch the grieving Mrs. Hicks, she loosed a low whistle. “You truly aren’t larking about now, are you?”

“I’ve neverlarked about,” Lady Mary said, frowning. “But if you mean I’ve become more serious about this investigation, you are correct. The time for niceties has passed.” Lady Mary rested her chin on the knob of her walking stick. “Besides, I know what it is to lose a husband. Sitting in one’s room crying doesn’t help the matter.”

Marie thought of Brett, and her heart ached. Poor Mrs. Hicks. Poor Lady Mary.

It took a couple minutes, but eventually Mrs. Hicks joined them. Her eyes were red-rimmed, and her hair looked as though it had been hastily pinned up.

Lady Mary introduced herself and Marie. She patted the spot on the settee next to her. “Come. Sit here,” she told the new widow. “I was very sorry to have found your husband dead.”

Mrs. Hicks lowered herself next to Lady Mary. “You found him?”