Jess nodded, offered a curtsey, and vanished back into the hall. Her echoing footsteps carried off down the hall, towards the servant's stairs.
Elmore hardly waited until he sat before tearing open the letter. The letter opener clattered to the floor as he eagerly unfolded the letter.
Lord Winters,
You propose an interesting idea, and I am intrigued. You say that these poisonous plants can be used for good? A strange concept indeed; yet I trust Mr. Washam's judgement, as he has been a loyal employee of mine for several decades now, and has proven himself worthy of my interest.
If you and Mr. Washam are able to provide for me a presentation of some kind, I will listen to everything you have to say. Outline what you plan to do, and a timescale for what you can achieve. If your argument is convincing, I will allow you to continue with this project of yours.
Please be ready to submit your presentation by the end of September at the latest. I will write you once more to finalize a proper date.
Sincerely,
Lord Edward Ayles, Duke of Stonehull.
A presentation? Yes, that was certainly possible. With three minds behind such a project, Elmore was sure that they could come up with something convincing.
It wasn't quite the overwhelming success that he had hoped for, but it was a start. That was better than nothing, certainly, and Elmore was more than happy to take it in his stride.
He set the letter down carefully, smoothing out the page. It was a crisp white parchment, even better quality than what Elmore himself favored. It was smooth beneath his fingertips too, unlike the cheaper stuff that Mr. Washam often used.
He hastily made his reply, almost spilling ink across his desk in his eagerness. At the last minute, Elmore managed to grab the ink bottle, cursing himself for the clumsiness.
Father would have laughed, if he had seen his son become so excited overbotany.Embarrassing, he would have called it.
Well, Elmore wouldn't be embarrassed, because the Duke really did wish to see his and Washam's idea. There wasn't much better than that, except perhaps for explicitpraisefrom the Duke himself.
More carefully this time, wary of the proximity of the ink bottle to his limbs, Elmore wrote his reply. It went simply as followed; that he was grateful for the opportunity, of course, and that he, Mr. Washam, and Miss Aurora would love to present their idea to him and the Duchess, should she choose to be there also. Elmore also added that he was happy to provide a timescale for this project, once they knew more.
He sounded overly enthusiastic, perhaps, but in truth he didn't even care. Was it wrong to be excited? Father would have said so, but Elmore rarely ascribed to his father's ideals.
Now that he had finally received a reply, Elmore found himself relaxing. It was a weight off his shoulders, that was certain; enough so that he actuallybreathedlighter.
He left the study with a hop in his step, a pleasant smile spread across his features.Wait until Mr. Washam and Aurora heard about this. Oh, they would be delighted;especially Aurora, who had put so much love and care into this project. He could imagine the smile on her face now, the delight in her voice as she exclaimed her happiness.
They were one step closer to making this a success, and one step closer to Aurora's admiration. That, perhaps most of all, was a reason to strive for this. He had no belief that she would return his feelings, but he still hoped that they could at least become friends, and share their love of botany.
He was getting ahead of himself, of course, allowing his mind to run away from him. It wasn'tproperto think these things, about a woman who would never approve.
Still, a selfish little part of Elmore hoped that Aurora would prove him wrong, and learn to like him anyway.
Chapter 14
Aurora Washam
When Lord Winters had returned to his home — the one in Glouchestershire, not London — Aurora had allowed herself to believe that he was gone for good. Or at least a month or two, until he would hear back from his friends in Italy.
As it was, he was back in only two weeks, much to her surprise. Now, why hadn't Father told her in advance? Perhaps because he knew that she wouldn't have wanted to see him again so quickly.
Imagine her shock, when she returned from town and wandered through the front door, only for Father to call her from the downstairs study? It was the study that he preferred for guests, the one he had met with Lord Winters in before.
Aurora knew without seeing or even hearing him, that Lord Winters was inside as well. The thought made her shiver, but it wasn’t an entirely bad sensation.
Had she really gotten so used to having him around, that the very house felt different?
"Aurora dear," Father called from the door, "would you mind coming inside for a moment? We have something to discuss."
She had been hoping to take an evening wash before supper, one with dried lavender from the gardens. It took a while to heat up a basin of warm water, and then let the herbs steep, so she wouldn’t have enough time after the meeting to even bother.