“Very well.” Jane fluffed her skirts, waved her fan a few more times before her cheeks, then cast the fan out across the room to land with a clatter between the counsel tables.

“Oh, dear heavens, the heat!” She raised her forearm to her brow, then fell into a dramatic heap at Constance’s feet.

“My duchess has fainted,” Quinn bellowed, a credible note of dismay in his voice. “I want a sedan chair, smelling salts, and a glass of hock, and I want them now.”

Assuming the nearest tavern stocked German wines, a glass of hock would take a good five minutes to produce. Sedan chairs were an outmoded means of transport, and finding one—even for a duchess—would take a good quarter hour.

“Thank you,” Constance whispered, gently patting Jane’s hand.

Jane’s eyes remained closed, but she squeezed Constance’s fingers before Quinn scooped his duchess into his arms and recommenced making a fuss worthy of an upset duke.

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-one

“Her Grace of Walden has suffered a grand faint,” Sir Leviticus whispered. “Walden is putting on a performance worthy of Mrs. Siddons when the royal box is occupied. I suspect your duchess is directing the play.”

“I’m sure of it,” Robert said, resisting the temptation to smile. The same wily determination that had prompted a young maid to slip a wedge of cheese between clean sheets was still much in evidence, and thank God for it.

For her.

The morning had had a low point—the moment when Robert had realized he was about to have a shaking fit before half of York and the commission of lunacy itself—but a high point had been granted him too, when he’d announced, before the entire room, that Constance had become his wife.

“Are you ready to testify?” Sir Leviticus said.

“Best not. Not yet. Soon.”

The sight of Alexander, full of his usual energy and cheer, Helen clearly as devoted to her husband as Alexander was to her, was another high point. They’d met at the madhouse, as Robert and Constance had.

Robert let his thoughts drift, as they were inclined to do after a seizure, and eventually tried a sip of water. That went down easily, an encouraging sign. A sedan chair was eventually procured for the Duchess of Walden, and that good lady left the Mansion House, her duke at her side.

The time gained had been precious, but not enough.

Sir Leviticus moved to have Alexander testify out of turn, claiming that the witness had traveled some distance, and could not tarry long in York. Moreover, his wife was with him, also prepared to testify, and she was in a delicate condition. Weatherby had no credible reason for opposing the request, though he snorted and pawed about irregular proceedings and inordinate deference to certain parties.

Alexander was sworn in, and Sir Leviticus had the first opportunity to question him.