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hesitated. He did not want her to think unkindly of his mother. Even if Mama had been unkind for many years.
    "Has Glee ever spoken to you of my mother?"
    Again, she waited a moment to answer. "She told me that your mother is a step-mother to your elder brother."
    "Did she say anything else about my mother?"
    "Only that there was an estrangement between her husband and his step-mother, but she did not tell me the cause of the estrangement."
    Gratified that Glee had not maligned his mother, he pondered how much he was willing to tell his friend. "Gregory and his wife have some justification to be estranged from Mama, but both my mother and I are deeply desirous of mending the rift."
    "Christmas is the perfect time to do that."
    He smiled at the woman whose thoughts always paralleled his own. "It is up to me to make the proposal to Gregory, and I've been a coward."
    "What is the worst that can come of your magnanimous proposal?"
    He suddenly realized the worst thing that could happen would be for things to stay as they were now. "Then it is well worth bringing up the subject with my brother. Thank you, Miss Arbuckle."
    "I am honored that our friendship enables us to speak of personal matters."
    Personal matters, indeed. How he wanted to ask her if there was a particular man whom she was honoring with her affection, but he did not want to hear the answer. He wanted to continue on as he and Miss Arbuckle always had.
    Throughout much of the day, they rode though Sydney Gardens, then along most of the streets of Bath and never exhausted their conversation. When the coach finally returned to her house, he said, "I have excessively enjoyed being with you today. I should like to send my brother's coach to your house tomorrow to collect you. I thought an afternoon together in the library at Blankenship House would be an agreeable way for us to pass the time."
    Her brows lowered. "As much as I should adore spending the afternoon with you, I must decline. I have made other plans."
    He hoped to God she was not going to be with that lecher Appleton!
     

Chapter 4
     
    The first thing she saw after she said good-bye to Mr. Blankenship on her home's doorstep was another bouquet on the sideboard in the entry hall. Glee must be spending a fortune on flowers. All in a vain effort to make Mr. Blankenship jealous.
    Her aged parent met her in the corridor. "You've just missed a Mr. Appleton, who brought those violets for you. How popular you've become since you've acquired Lady Sedgewick's castoffs. It's fortunate for my daughter that breeding twins put the extra weight upon the countess."
    Her mother was incapable of suppressing an inflection of pride in her voice when she mentioned Lady Sedgewick—friend to her daughter. (And to Miss Arbuckle's mortification, Mama was guilty of boring her own friends by casually working into every conversation, "My Mary's friends, Lady Sedgewick and the Earl of Sedgewick's two sisters. They were together at Miss Worth's School for Young Ladies, you know.")
    "I am not sorry to have missed Mr. Appleton. By comparison to my dear Mr. Blankenship, his company would have been tiresome."
    Her mother's eyes narrowed. "May I remind you that Mr. Blankenship treats you only as a friend . Other men may wish to offer you something more."
    Even though her mother spoke only out of love, her words wounded Miss Arbuckle. She had never before realized how disappointed her mother was in her failure to attract a husband.
    Mary nodded, then spun away. She could not allow her mother to see that she was on the verge of erupting into tears. She clutched Mr. Blankenship's partial essay more tightly in her hands and began to mount the creaking wooden stairs. "I am most anxious to read this piece that Mr. Blankenship has asked my opinion of."
    In her bedchamber, she sat near the fire. Before she began to read Mr. Blankenship's work, she wished to recall the many things she and he had so freely discussed that day. She had not enjoyed