“Weatherly has come too,” Julia said, echoing my surprise. “That was not part of the plan.”

Indeed, it was not. Nor was it customary for Weatherly to disregard our instructions.

“Oh dear, this cannot be good,” Julia said.

As our carriage approached us, the expression upon Weatherly’s face became clearer. Our butler was perturbed. Good Lord, what had happened? It took a lot to perturb William Weatherly.

John Driver pulled up the horses and Weatherly swung down from the seat to stand at the carriage door, ready to open it. The curtains had been drawn across the windows to hide the occupant; at least Miss Grant had followed my instructions in that matter.

“What is wrong?” I asked Weatherly.

“I tried, my lady,” he said, and opened the door.

Inside the dim cabin, two pale countenances peered out: Miss Grant, stony-faced, and beside her, Lady Hester, mutinous.

What on earth was Miss Grant thinking, allowing her to come?

Behind me, Julia gave a sigh.

I glared at Miss Grant. “Why is she here?” I demanded, my irritation making me abrupt.

Lady Hester leaned forward, eyes overbright and gloved hands clenched tightly around her reticule. “I will see my brother, Lady Augusta. I will not allow you to stop me.” She glanced at her paramour with some reproach. “I will not allow anyone to stop me. It is imperative that I talk to him. He will listen to me!”

“You will make yourself even more ill; then where will we be?” Miss Grant muttered, folding her arms over the gold frogged trim upon her bodice. She met my glare with a worried frown: half apology, half defiance.

Weatherly leaned closer. “It is why we are late,” he murmured. “There was a…debate. But after what Lady Hester has been through, and thinking upon our earlier conversation, I did not think you would want me to stop her with physical force or lock her in her room.”

My turn to sigh. “Quite right, Weatherly.”

Lady Hester already looked burned to the socket, but if we took her back to the house—or even sent her back in a hackney, alone—the Runners might be tipped off and all my careful preparations ruined. Not to mention someone seeing her and reporting back to Deele.

“Get in, Gus,” Julia urged behind me. “We cannot stand here making a scene.”

Indeed, the last thing we needed was to garner attention. I took Weatherly’s hand and stepped into the cabin, taking the seat opposite Miss Grant. Julia followed close behind and sat beside me.

“We will go on as planned,” I said to Weatherly, who waited in the doorway.

He nodded and closed the carriage door.

Across the footwell, Lady Hester settled back into her seat.

“Do not think we will return if you faint,” I said crisply. A horrible thing to say, but I resented this flouting of my plan.