Lady Smithfield was the first to recover. “Lord Wesleigh, what a pleasant surprise, please sit down.” She tried to approach him to lead him over to a chair, but when she got closer he backed up, waving her away.

“Lady Smithfield, I beg your pardon”—cough, cough—“but I am quite ill. Please do not come any closer, we do not want to risk contagion.”

“Oh, yes, of course.” Lady Smithfield retreated to her seat, racking her brain to try and remember the proper etiquette to follow when one had a guest who had a mysterious illness and would not allow one to approach him.

“I think that I shall be forced to spend the next few days in my room, until I recover from this humiliating illness. Perhaps, once I have been introduced to your charming daughters, you could conduct me to my room?”

“Of course, of course. Girls, come make your curtsy to Lord Wesleigh.” As Lord Wesleigh almost backed into one of the tables as the girls approached, Lady Smithfield hurriedly reminded them, “Not too close, mind.”

Lord Wesleigh pronounced himself charmed to meet first Lydia and then Emily. He started to lift his quizzing glass to peruse the girls more closely, when he saw Emily struggling to keep from giggling. Then he remembered the green glasses he was wearing. Never one to fear ridicule, he raised his quizzing glass anyway, and received a magnified view of Emily’s sparkling brown eyes, through a green haze.

The sight appeared to be too much for Lord Wesleigh. He dropped his quizzing glass, shuddered, and in a weak voice, asked, “My chamber?”

“Of course, my lord, Lydia will direct you to your chamber. Lydia, show Lord Wesleigh to the Green Suite, please.”

Lydia, who appeared just as pale as Lord Wesleigh, nonetheless followed her mother’s dictum. She left the room, Lord Wesleigh following. At the doorway of his chamber, feeling compelled to say something, she mentioned that he must be pleased his father would be arriving soon.

“What’s that? My father?” Marcus asked in stronger tones then he had employed thus far.

“Why, yes, he is to arrive today, is he not?” Lydia asked.

“Of course, of course. Just so.” Lydia left him, and Marcus took off his glasses and began a hurried note to Alexander “Williams,” which he dispatched with one of the servants to be delivered to the vicarage.

Soon after Lord Wesleigh’s arrival, Emily took a maid and went for a walk in the village. She had no real errands, but wanted an excuse to get out of the house. She felt after meeting the marquess that she had some thinking to do.