Joan reached for the door latch. “Everyone says it was an accident. None of us think it was, but we all pretend it happened that way. I’m telling you this because you are the first to say maybe it wasn’t. But I can’t swear to any of it. I’ll not repeat this even if you ask me to.”

“You may have to someday, but for now I will not ask you to. I thank you for confiding in me, however.”

Minerva pulled her little watch out of her pocket. Eight o’clock. In two hours she would see Chase and could tell him about this, without naming Joan. Only he wasn’t coming to her chamber to talk about the duke’s death, was he?

A mixture of excitement and foreboding gripped her stomach whenever she allowed herself to think of that assignation. She made her way up to her chamber, with little else on her mind.

* * *

Chase bided his time in the library with Nicholas, but the back of his mind ticked away the minutes. They had ridden out in late afternoon, and hence eaten late. Now they sprawled on divans and drank port.

“I think you are right. I need a better land steward.” Nicholas spoke like a man reviewing thoughts on which his mind dwelled often. “Surely I can find one who will not press me to enclose. Or, if we must, have the imagination to find a way to do that without displacing too many families.”

“Why not speak with Brentworth? His family’s handling of it is often admired by the more generous among us.”

Nicholas accepted that and drank more port. He looked to the ceiling and the invisible beyond. “Did you go up there today?”

“I did.” He would have to tell his cousin eventually. “I am convinced it was not an accident.”

“Convinced?”

“I ran an experiment to see how hard it would be to push someone of his size over. If a person were determined and waited for the right moment, it would not be difficult at all.”

“What kind of experiment?”

“I used my own body.”

“Risky. I’m not sure I approve.”

“It is the sort of thing those who conduct inquiries sometimes have to do.”

“How did you manage it? Pretend you were pushed and allow physics to take its course? You might have gone over. I am sure now that I do not approve.”

“I was never in danger. I had help. Someone held on to my coat to counterbalance the forward movement.”

“Did you drag a footman up there? He might have done it wrong.”

“Not a footman. Mrs. Rupert aided me.” She pushed me herself, damn it. He glanced to the clock on the table. Fifteen minutes past nine. Any residual annoyance he felt about the experiment disappeared while his anticipation rose several notches.