Bradstone bowed and vanished through the door at once.
“Thank you.” Nora hugged the older woman in gratitude. “Thank you.”
She turned to Arthur, a thousand things on the tip of her tongue... and none of them she could say. In the end, she could only shake her head; a sad smile on her lips that she hoped he would understand was regret. “Thank you.”
There was no time to lose. She let her gaze sweep over the assembled guests once more, then turned and left the room, moving as quickly as the skirts would allow.
CHAPTERSEVENTEEN
Arthur stared at the dining room doors as they closed behind Nora. He could hardly think for his confusion.
She seemed to be doing well. And then the note... and now she was gone. No proper explanation. She had not even told him anything more than what she had said to his mother. He, who was her intended husband, and should have been invited to accompany her, at the least, even if circumstances would have made it unwise for both of them to leave.
She might have at least shared the note with him, as a show of courtesy and in accordance with the understanding between them.
Someone in her family needed her? It seemed so sudden. And surely... surely her family knew where she was, knew the importance of this evening? If they could spare someone to send word, could they not wait until the meal was over?
It would have been unusual, perhaps a trifle discourteous, to leave directly after dessert without staying to entertain their guests. But that was nothing compared to the slight of leaving the table directly in the middle of dinner and when she was one of the hostesses at that.
He could not doubt she knew it as well. With the manners she had displayed throughout the evening, it was impossible that she might not understand the mistake she had just made.
A loud, sneering bark of laughter broke him from his thoughts, and he turned to see Ralph, carelessly draining the last of his glass of wine, a contemptuous expression on his face. Ralph met his gaze, his eyes bleary with drink and self-satisfied smugness. “I told you.”
He swallowed back a feeling like hot knives in his throat. “Told me what?”
“The girl.” Ralph gestured with a sneer. “The way she ran out of here... come now, Arthur, surely you are not so besotted as to be blind? Clearly, she’s off to see her lover, whoever that is. What else would make a woman act so?”
He swallowed painfully. “There are many things that might cause a woman distress…”
Ralph made another derisive sound. “And the demands of a lover are one of them. For heaven’s sake, Arthur, the woman is... what, twenty-odd years? You can’t think she was celibate for all of them, and no reason she should be chaste now either.”
His stomach churned, and he shook his head. He would trust Nora. He had to. “She said one of her family is ill and needed her.”
Samuel frowned at that, and David blinked. “I thought her family resided in the country. I overheard her say so earlier when she was asked about her surname.”
“Exactly!” Ralph made an expansive gesture. “And she didn’t tell us her surname either, or not that I heard anyway.”
“Well, Arthur must know it.” Samuel shifted to look from Ralph to Arthur. “You do know it, right old chap?”
“I... I have not had the occasion…” The churning sense of bile and hot coals intensified.
“But you’ve at least met them, of course.” Samuel was blinking.
“I have not, though, if they reside in the country…”
Ralph overrode him. “Hah! But you said just yesterday that she was going to the shops with a sister. So you must have met her.”
“We were not introduced…” And that was strange, was it not? Nora had clearly been taught, or learned proper Society manners, and yet she had not introduced the young redhead he had seen accompanying her the day before.
“There. I tell you, she’s….”
“That is enough.” The stern voice of his mother cut through Ralph’s words effortlessly, like a hot knife through butter. “Gentlemen, if you have nothing to do but speculate over the private matters of my future daughter in law, and in such a crass and unflattering manner, then I suspect it would be as well for you to take your leave.”
“You are right, of course.” The Count and Countess rose at once. “There’s little point in continuing with the guest of honor absent. Perhaps we can arrange another meal at a different date.”
“Indeed.” Arthur watched as his mother rose and rang the bell. Bradstone appeared at once, his errands clearly completed. “Bradstone, I fear the rest of dinner is canceled. This evening is over. Please alert the drivers and see our guests to the door.”
“At once, Your Grace.” Bradstone withdrew, and the guests followed him.