She squeezed her eyes shut. What would she do if Sheridan didn’t object? If she went home at the end of summer and the situation was exactly how she’d left it? No, if it was worse. By then, Bram and Sheridan could have spoken to far too many people about their ridiculous agreement. And how in the world would she muster the gumption to argue with everyone?

Darling leapt onto the table, batted at the envelope for Beth, and gave a loud meow when Libby picked him up and deposited him back on the floor. Even she had her limits, and kittens on the same surface where she ate pushed beyond them.

As did mothers suddenly taking the side of brothers. But how could she resolve that one?

The knock at the door interrupted those morose thoughts, and she jumped to her feet even as she called out, “Come in!”

Most of the gentlemen she knew would still wait for someone to open the door for them, but Oliver took her at her word and let himself inside with his usual smile. “Good morning, my lady.”

Mabena surged out of her room with a scowl. “It’s about time.”

He lifted his brows. “Am I late? It’s scarcely nine thirty.”

“She’s been a bit impatient.” With Mama’s words still fresh in her mind, Libby expected to have to dig for a smile. But it came easily to her lips as she motioned toward the envelope on the table. “I insisted we wait for you before we opened it.”

Oliver’s lips twitched. “You’re a brave soul, Lady Elizabeth.”

“Here.” Mabena snatched up the envelope and thrust it toward him. “It’s a fat one, but small. Doesn’t seem like it would include pages of manifests again.”

With an amused calm that surely covered his worry over his sister, Oliver joined them at the table and took the envelope. He opened it, withdrew the single sheet of paper inside, and frowned as he unfolded it. It took Libby only a moment to see why as a pile of pound notes slipped into his hand.

“Money?” He sounded utterly baffled. “Looks like . . . a hundred pounds.”

“What does the note say?” Not that Mabena waited for him to read it. She simply moved to his side to read it over his shoulder.

Tempted as Libby was to do the same, she made herself remain in her place. Mama’s voice was still too fresh in her mind and would be scolding her for unseemly enthusiasm in a gentleman’s company.

Thankfully, Oliver satisfied her curiosity. “It says, ‘Since you never answered as to whether you’d prefer a wire or a bank draft in exchange for the artifact, please find the cash enclosed.’ That’s all. No signature, as usual.”

Mabena’s brows were knit as tightly as Mamm-wynn’s shawls. “That’s a lot of money. But for what? What artifact?”