“How is she?” Mr. Dunkirk’s voice was so low that she needed to step close to hear him.

“She is well.” Jane’s knees trembled from the shock of seeing him.

“I have been replaying our conversation and cannot help but wonder if I heard a ‘but—’ in your denial of Beth’s affections for Mr. Vincent. I must ask: Is there someone that my sister has affection for?”

Jane stared at him, aghast that the very topic which she thought she had so neatly dodged had returned to plague her. “You must understand that my confidence belongs to her in this. Telling you will do more harm than good.”

“So there is someone.”

“Mr. Dunkirk!” Jane bit off the sentence before she could go farther. She swallowed, pushing down her angry retort until she could trust herself to speak. Mr. Vincent’s thoughts on emotion and art did not take into account those feelings that arose from a suppressed secret. Jane turned and began to walk away from Beth’s door; whatever else happened, Beth could not be allowed to think that Jane was in collusion with Mr. Dunkirk, or all the girl’s trust would be lost. “Mr. Dunkirk, I would suggest to you that Beth’s history gives her every reason to keep her interests close to her heart.”

She watched as a dawning awareness took place in Mr. Dunkirk. He squeezed his eyes shut and murmured, “May it please God that she never find out the truth.”

“Please God indeed! How could you have thought that killing the man would set things right?”

His eyes flew open as if she had slapped him. Mr. Dunkirk stopped for a moment in the hall, with his nostrils flaring like a racehorse. His jaw clenched once; then he said, “I was a younger man then, and full of righteous anger for my sister’s honour. Understand that I would not make the same choice today.”

“And yet you badger me for confirmation of your suspicions as if you would make the same choice.”

“What would you have me do? Ignore the change in her manner? Should I have rather let her remain wed to Mr. Gaffney?”

Jane nearly stumbled in her shock. “They were wed?”

“I—Yes. They were. He had seen that as the surest way to secure his fortune.” Mr. Dunkirk passed his hand over his face. “You understand why I am so protective of her. She is too trusting and too tender-hearted. You think me too harsh, but what would you have done?”

What indeed? Even now she held to her bosom the knowledge that Beth did have a secret engagement. Mr. Dunkirk would be appalled by how much Jane knew and did not tell. And yet, Beth’s engagement could do no harm, for it was to a man for whom her family could have no objection. Surely, surely it would be for the best to remove Mr. Dunkirk’s fears and tell him.

If it were not for her pledge to Beth, and the certain feeling that Beth would never forgive her for such a betrayal, Jane would relay all that had transpired. But she shook her head. “I cannot say. But you should be aware that she is unlikely to engage you in her confidence, for she is frightened of you.”