Juliana produced a handkerchief and handed it over as she took a place on the chair across from the settee. “No, most definitely not.”

The young woman all but sagged in relief. “Mr. Shelley yelled so loudly the night Miss Anne ran away,” she explained. “And no one’s talked to me about anything since. I thought sure I would be on the street as soon as we reached London. Perhaps even left out here in the wilds where I’d never find a position.”

Thomasina exchanged a guilty look with Juliana and squeezed the maid’s hand. “I’m so sorry, of course we should have thought of your feelings. Everything has been such a whirlwind with the marriage and Anne’s disappearance. I’m so sorry we didn’t reassure you earlier.”

“So Mr. Shelley won’t put me out?” Nora asked, her tone filled with hope.

Thomasina worried her lip. “In truth, I’m not certain. Our father can be mercurial and he’s angry at Anne. But I promise you that you won’t be on the street. I’ll find a way to help you, and so will Juliana.”

Juliana leaned forward. “And if Anne were to return, she would certainly be our ally in protecting you.”

Thomasina could see where her sister was steering the conversation. She didn’t like the manipulation, but she could see it worked for Nora shifted on the settee gently. She smiled at Nora.

“Juliana is correct, of course. Your best advocate is Anne.” She tilted her head to meet Nora’s gaze. “What can you tell us about her disappearance?”

Nora swallowed and cast her eyes toward Juliana. “Miss Juliana was there when Mr. Shelley asked me. I didn’t know she was going to run away.”

“Of course you didn’t,” Juliana said. “I believed you that night when you told us that. But you and Anne were very close. I know she considered you a friend and perhaps confided in you when she felt she couldn’t in us. Did she tell you anything about this Ellis person?”

Thomasina could see the answer to that question before Nora even answered. The guilty twitch of her gaze, the tensing of her hands. The maid knew something.

“Do you remember the country dance the family went to at the assembly hall the first week we got here?” Nora asked.

Thomasina nodded. “Was that where she met him?”

Nora sighed. “Miss Anne had been so…sad…since her engagement. I knew she wasn’t happy. But that night she came home light as air and couldn’t wait to tell me about this man she met on the terrace.”

Thomasina shifted and she saw Juliana do the same. Their sister had said nothing to either of them about her sadness…or her connection to this new man.

“Did she say his name? His full name?” Thomasina pressed.

Nora shook her head. “Just Ellis. I tried to remind her that she was about to be a married lady, but you know Miss Anne.”

“She can’t be stopped once she wants something,” Juliana mused.