“And to convince myself to do so.”

“Yes, that, too,” Charlotte acknowledged. “So I must ask again, why now?”

Across from her, Margaret was studiously avoiding her gaze.

“Your father seems to think that Mrs. Elmhirst and her brother have something to do with it,” she persisted.

“He blames Sebastian for filling my head with nonsense. He threatened to speak to the Archbishop of Canterbury to bring him down a peg or two, to use his phrase.”

This was news! What else had Walter omitted from his account of the conversation?

“I couldn’t let him do that.” A tear trickled down Margaret’s cheek. “So I went to see Sebastian one last time. I took Molly with me. She tried to stop me, but I was determined. You mustn’t blame her. Please don’t tell my father.”

“I promise that nothing we discuss will go any further, if you will tell me the truth.” Charlotte waited, but her daughter simply stared at her, chewing on her bottom lip. “Very well, then. I will tell you what I think, for it seems obvious to me, if not to His Grace. Father Sebastian is the reason you are suddenly so dead-set against marrying Killin, isn’t he? He hasn’t influenced your thinking but your heart. Is that not so?”

Margaret’s lip trembled.

“You believe you are in love with this man,” Charlotte persisted gently. “Am I right?”

Another tear tracked down her daughter’s cheek. “I won’t let my father ruin him.”

“Your father doesn’t suspect your true feelings, and I promise I won’t tell him. Are you in love with this priest?”

For a long moment, Margaret stared at her, wide-eyed before bursting into tears. Dismayed, Charlotte moved to sit beside her, putting an awkward arm around her. Her worst fears, from reading between the lines of what her husband had relayed to her, were confirmed. There was no point now in trying to persuade her daughter to marry Killin. Curse Walter and his ultimatums!

Finally, Margaret’s sobs dissolved into hiccups and she lifted her head. “I’ve made your gown damp.”

“Never mind that.” Charlotte handed over her handkerchief. “Do you feel up to telling me a little more about what has transpired between you and this man?”

“What is the point, now that it’s over? I love him and he loves me and he asked me to marry him but I told him yesterday that it was simply not possible and we were deluding ourselves.” Margaret scrubbed at her eyes. “Sebastian finally accepted that my father would never relent under any circumstances, so I didn’t need to warn him that if we married, the duke would most likely have us banished to some foreign mission, which he would, wouldn’t he?”

Charlotte made no attempt to deny it, shrugging helplessly.