“I am quite certain he would not. In any case, Mama, I would rather not tag along in Lucy Cavendish’s wake. She is so frightfully clever and just a little bit intimidating, if I am honest, and I don’t want to be ordered about like a junior officer.”

“Margaret, really! You are welcome to assist me in raising funds for one of my own favoured charities.”

“No! I beg pardon, Mama, but I’d prefer to do something off my own bat. If Mrs. Elmhirst—that is Father Sebastian’s sister—if she is willing to take me on, then I could go to Lambeth, not as Lady Margaret but as plain Miss Scott, ready and willing to learn and to do whatever is needed—do you see, Mama?”

What Charlotte saw was a daughter eager to contribute, and where was the harm in that, if it helped her to cope with the restrictions that would be placed on her for the rest of her life? There was a glint of excitement in her eyes that had been absent for a long time. By the end of the year, assuming Killin came up to scratch, Margaret would be the latest in a long line of female sacrifices to the family weal. She deserved this much. And if she was in Lambeth, being useful incognito, then there would not be the additional worry of the press latching on to the story.

“Very well. If I can be assured that this Mrs. Elmhirst is a respectable person, then I see no reason to object.”

“Thank you! I am certain she is, because Father Sebastian is a most respectable man. Indeed, he gave up a parish in Cheltenham to come to London and work with the poor and Lochiel says that such a post would be more than comfortable.”

Margaret had met the brother but not the sister. A vague warning bell rang in Charlotte’s head, but the man had Lochiel’s approval, and Charlotte, herself an excellent judge of character, would take a view on Mrs. Elmhirst when she met her. It was highly likely that Margaret would quickly tire of traipsing about after the no doubt earnest and well-meaning parson and his sister, but at least she’d have had some respite from the strain she was under. And Killin would be none the wiser.

“Then it is agreed,” she said. “You may send Mrs. Elmhirst a note asking her to call on me at her earliest convenience. If she passes muster, I will smooth the waters with your father.”

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

LADY MARGARET I PRESUME, do come in.” Mrs. Susannah Elmhirst, a slim, fair-haired woman in her early thirties, with the same warm brown eyes as Father Sebastian, opened the door to the rectory herself. “You found us easily enough, then?”