Beth took her friend’s hand and tugged her to a seat on the newly reupholstered sofa. “I’ve a bit of explaining to do. And then some questions to ask. I hope you can help us sort through the last of it, Em.”

She laid it all out in a few minutes, but the more she explained, the more troubled Lady Emily appeared. When they got to the bit about someone accosting Libby, she interrupted with horror. “Before the Wights’ dinner party? But—what did this fellow look like?”

Libby recited the description she’d put to paper when they’d gotten back to her cottage, which made the lady wash paler still. And mutter, “Well, that can’t be.”

Libby lifted her brows.

Lady Emily flushed. “Not your description, my lady. I beg your pardon. I was referring to my own immediate thought. It sounds like . . . but it couldn’t have been him. He wouldn’t.” So said her lips, while her eyes said, Would he?

Beth scooted closer to her on the sofa. “Who wouldn’t?”

Lady Emily’s gaze bounced from one of them to the next. “My brother, Nigel,” she admitted quietly. “He was here with us, on St. Mary’s, but he didn’t show up at the Wights’ dinner party that night until nearly midnight.”

“And he’s involved in your parents’ archaeological ventures?” Telford asked.

“He’s involved in all their ventures.” She unpinned her hat and held it out, the lady’s maid she’d nearly left behind on the ferry springing forward to take it from her. Then she rubbed at her temple. “Far more than I am, which is to be expected. Or so Father says. He says the world of archaeology is too cutthroat for ladies.”

Sheridan grunted. “Sometimes. Or at least—it can get cutthroat. And Mr. Nigel Scofield—I’ve never actually met him, though I’ve seen him around. Have you, Telly?”

Libby’s brother shook his head.

Sheridan mirrored him. “Older than us, a bit. Missed him at school. But I’ve heard stories. Always thought I’d like to be introduced, but perhaps . . . Well, perhaps not.”

Lady Emily’s nostrils flared as she looked to Beth again. “I thought . . . I was so excited when you wrote to me and sent that map. For the first time in my life, I had something of interest to them. I thought that maybe, finally, they’d let me be a part of it. Truly a part. Perhaps I shouldn’t have wished it at all. I cannot bear the thought that I put you in danger, Beth.”

“You didn’t, Em.” Beth took her hand. “You’ve been nothing but a friend. It’s this rival, I think. Lorne.”