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he demanded. “The children and the estate are my responsibilities, and I will manage them perfectly well without Lady Staithes’s interference or yours. And before you fling young Melanie’s odd behavior in my teeth, let me assure you that whatever your sister may have told you, there is no immediate cause for concern. Melanie is merely suffering from an overreaction to her father’s death. Time will heal her wounds much more effectively than well-meaning interference will. So if that is all, Miss Wingrave—”
    “Well, it isn’t,” retorted Emily. “You will not tell me, I hope, that there is no cause for concern about Miss Lavinia’s missing jewelry, and certainly you must own that you ought to have asked Sabrina’s permission before calling in the Bow Street Runners, as you did. She is distraught.”
    “And would she have been less distraught to see her servants leaving en masse ? That is precisely what would have happened had I not called a halt to her foolish whining and complaining and suggesting to one servant that another might be the guilty party. Bringing in professional help was the only course that made sense. And now, Miss Wingrave, since you have discovered all there is to discover, I must ask you once again to refrain from interference. I will manage everything perfectly well on my own, so if you will excuse me now so that I may return to the work you interrupted, I will be grateful.”
    Once again she was conscious of a strong desire to box his ears, and her knuckles whitened with the increasing tension of her grip on the chair back. But he still stood across the room, his arms folded now across his broad chest, his expression utterly implacable. Since she could hardly fling the chair at him, she smiled instead and said, “I do hope you will find it possible to forgive my intrusion, sir. Had I known you were feeling bilious this afternoon, I would have been glad to postpone my visit to a more propitious occasion. We will discuss this matter more thoroughly, no doubt, when you have recovered your equanimity.” And with that Parthian shot she took dignified leave of him, carefully ignoring the leaping flames of wrath in his eyes and the two purposeful steps he took in her direction before the bulk of his desk impeded his progress.

3
    E MILY FOUND HER SISTER and Miss Lavinia in the drawing room, occupied with their needlework, and passed the rest of the afternoon comfortably in their company. When they retired to change their clothes for the evening meal, she found her tirewoman awaiting her in her bedchamber.
    “I shall wear the gray silk, Martha,” she said. “Since Sabrina still wears her blacks as often as not, I must take care not to offend her by wearing brighter colors just at first. I’ll wear my gold bracelet, however, and carry my pink cashmere shawl. The dining room was chilly last evening.”
    “Pure affectation, if you ask me,” said Martha with a sniff.
    “What, Sabrina’s mourning? Nonsense. I am persuaded that she was much attached to Baron Staithes, just as she says.”
    “Miss Sabrina,” said the henchwoman who had known both of them from the cradle, “only knows that black becomes her better than mauve or gray would do. You ought to dress as you please, Miss Emily. Not that that gray silk don’t become you a treat, for it does. Things be in a shocking way here at Staithes, I’m thinkin’,” she added abruptly.
    “Well, you needn’t think I mean to sit gossiping with you, for I don’t,” Emily said. “I daresay you have learned no more since our arrival than I have, unless”—she glanced sharply at the woman—“unless you have learned something to the purpose regarding Miss Melanie. Have you, Martha?”
    The tirewoman shook her head, frowning. “That I haven’t, miss, for no one don’t know nothing about it. They say Miss Melanie just went quiet all of a sudden and that she don’t talk ’less someone speaks to her direct. Mrs. Crake—she’s the