Why should Giff waste time on that? Why wait? He could just go to the man’s lodging at once and force the issue. Ask him what he meant by this.
Negotiation? What negotiation was possible? Giff was the earl. She did not for a moment believe Piers meant to relinquish what he held. Did he propose to offer him money? Some kind of share?
Impatience claimed her. She looked to the boat and was relieved to see Scoley returning.
He held up a couple of small fish as he neared. “A meagre catch, miss. This was all I could get.”
“It doesn’t matter. We must hurry back.”
The groom’s face took on concern. “Trouble, miss?”
“No, no. It is only — I have remembered something and I must speak to her ladyship.”
In fact she was desperately trying to recall whether Giff had told her the address of his lodging. If he had, she could not remember it. Even if she knew it, she could not go there. Aunt Gertrude would have a fit! It was bad enough she already thought Delia compromised. If she was to go visiting Giff at his lodging, she might as well throw her cap over the windmill this minute.
Gnawed now by apprehension and impatience rather than her earlier heart-sore agitation, she could not refrain from hurrying Scoley back to Mrs Tuckett’s apartment house.
She would have to wait until Giff made an appearance in the Assembly Rooms. But what if he was too stiff and sore to make the effort? No, she could not wait. She would have to write. But then who would know where to take the note?
Arrived at the lodging, she hurried up the stairs and went to her room to remove her light cloak. Her hair had become a trifle wild in the wind and she sat down to make a repair, brushing it back and putting in a couple of pins.
Her mind continued to turn over Piers’s words, but for the life of her she could think of no sort of negotiation either possible for him to make, or that could be acceptable to Giff.
By hedge or by stile she must get word to him. She would counsel him to confront Piers in Weymouth and demand to know what he had in his head.
Now that Lady Matterson wasaufaitwith the truth, Delia did not hesitate to acquaint her with this latest development. As she’d hoped, it served to turn her aunt’s attention away from further discussion of her prospects vis-à-vis Giff and a marriage to save her face.
Anxious to get to the Assembly Rooms at an early hour in hopes of his making an appearance, she went to her aunt’s room as soon as she’d finished prinking her hair. Scratching on the door, she opened it and poked her head into the room.
“Are you still abed, Aunt Gertrude?”
Lady Matterson was sitting up against her pillows, sipping from a tall cup, from which wafted the unmistakeable aroma of hot chocolate. “Come in, child.” She added, as Delia slid into the room and crossed to the bed, “What’s to do? You look to be more agitated than you were last night.”
“I am, and with reason,” Delia returned, perching on the edge of the bed. “That wretched Piers accosted me!”
The old lady’s brows rose. “You’ve been out?”
“I went to the beach with Scoley to buy fish.” She threw up a hand. “For heaven’s sake, don’t scold, Aunt! You know I often do so.”
Lady Matterson disregarded this. “Why did this Piers accost you?”
“He wants me to give a message to Giff.”
“Does he know then of your liaison?”
“There isn’t any liaison! How can you talk so?”
“Well, I don’t know what else you call it. Secret trysts and clandestine goings on!”
With difficulty, Delia controlled an urge to argue. “Piers sought me out once before, in the library.” Remembering the circumstances of that meeting, she amended this. “At least, he came to find me because I sent to him through the man Barney.”
Lady Matterson’s gaze narrowed alarmingly. “It seems to me, young madam, that your conduct has been a good deal more reprehensible than I supposed.”
“Yes, never mind that now, Aunt,” Delia said hastily, nevertheless feeling her cheeks grow warm. “What is of importance now is that Piers is up to something.”
“Such as?”
Glad to have deflected her, Delia gave her a rapid account of what had passed between herself and Piers Gaunt.