“It is the youngest gentleman you must watch out for in particular,” she said, thinking about pretty, young Elise alone in the chamber where she served as lady’s maid. “He is the sort to importune a woman, especially if he thinks she has no recourse against him. His name is Phillip.”

“I don’t think he would dare enter Lady Agnes’s chamber uninvited.”

“If he does enter, you are to leave immediately.” She spoke it as a command, which had Elise looking over at her with curiosity just as another dawn broke.

“Perhaps you should not go back,” Elise said.

“I am capable of dealing with such as he. You, however. . . Watch for him, do you hear?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Elise smiled. “Dolores visited Agnes after the dinner while I prepared her for bed. Dolores intends to quiz the solicitor sharply tomorrow. She also shared the opinion that of all of them, if anyone harmed the last duke, it was probably either Kevin or Chase Radnor, since both of them are of questionable character.”

“Did she say why she believed that?”

“Regarding Kevin, it had to do with his common interests. All that mechanical experimentation. Not even real science, she said. He might as well be a factory owner, she said.”

It was not Kevin whom Minerva wanted to hear about. She slowed her steps a bit, to make sure Elise had enough time to explain the rest. When she did so, she heard a sound behind them. She looked over her shoulder. Nothing.

“As for the other Mr. Radnor, she said everyone knew the army threw him out. They let him sell out his commission, but the whole of it was highly suspicious and for her money he had probably been spared a public scandal only due to the duke’s interference on his behalf.”

“No doubt she had an opinion on why it happened too.”

“She began saying something about that, when Agnes interrupted with a very firm ‘We do not talk about that lest we give the scandal wings.’ I was surprised that Dolores indeed stopped talking and left soon after.”

Minerva wondered about the specifics that had remained unspoken. If it could cause a public scandal and if the family did not even refer to it, something serious had happened.

They reached the last lamp before Mrs. Drable’s home. The door showed in the dusky light beyond. Elise climbed the steps when they arrived. “Wait and I will have the footman escort you home.”

“No one is about and it is only another six buildings down the street.”

Elise looked up and down the lane before touching the latch. “Tomorrow morning, then.”