Everything this morning had a freshness about it and a sense of moment that made him feel he would recall every object seen or touched, every word spoken, for as long as he lived.

He’d barely slept, his mind pulsing with energy, the stultification and petrifaction of the last month gone as though it had never existed. His statement that he was going after the girl had met with no opposition; Papa and Uncle Hal had exchanged a long glance and then set to making plans.

“She said she’d made arrangements,” Papa was saying, frowning over a forkful of sea trout. “What sort of arrangements, do you suppose?”

“So far as any of the servants can tell,” Hal replied, “she made a raid on the pantry and absconded with enough food for three or four days, took her plainest clothes—and most of her jewelry. She—”

“Did she take her wedding ring?” William interrupted.

“Yes,” Lord John said, and William shrugged.

“Then she’s heading for Ben. She’d have left it if she was done with him.”

Uncle Hal gave him the sort of look he would have given a performing flea who’d just turned a somersault, but Papa hid a smile behind his napkin.

“We wouldn’t let her go alone, even if we were positive that she is headed for her father’s house,” he said. “A young woman alone on the road—and we do think she’s alone,” he added, more slowly. “Though I suppose it’s possible that …”

“More than possible,” Uncle Hal said grimly. “That young woman—”

“Is your daughter-in-law,” Lord John interrupted. “And the mother of your heir. As such, we have every obligation to ensure her safety.”

“Mmphm.” William heard the grunt of agreement he’d made and stopped dead for an instant, a forkful of egg suspended, dripping yolk over his plate. “You probably don’t want to hear this … but Da makes that sort of noise all the time.” He glanced swiftly from his father to his uncle, but neither of them seemed to have noticed anything odd in his response, and the party relapsed into a silent, steady engulfment of breakfast.

William’s new mare, Birdie, was happy to see him and nosed him in search of apples—which he’d brought—and crunched them with evident pleasure, slobbering juice down his sleeve as he pulled the bridle over her ears. She sensed his own excitement and pricked her ears and snorted a little, bobbing her head as he tightened the girth. He wondered just how Amaranthus had managed her vanishing act; none of the horses belonging to the household were missing, not even the elderly mare Amaranthus was accustomed to ride.

Either she’d taken a public coach—unlikely; he thought Uncle Hal had probably sent directly to the coaching inn to have inquiries made, and she would have known he’d do that—or she’d hired a private carriage or a livery horse. Or she’d had help in absquatulating and her bloody assistant had provided her transportation. He was running moodily through a list of local gallants that she might have seduced to her purposes but was interrupted by the appearance of Lord John, with a purse in one hand and a small portmanteau in the other.