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timidly. “I can’t even feel the sting anymore.”
    Justin smiled at her kindly before turning a scowl on Beverly. Evelyn almost felt sorry for the poor man, and had it not been for the metaphorical daggers he was hurling at her, she would have.
    “You are very lucky Miss Evie is kindhearted, Beverly,” Justin said. “We shall let it pass this time. But no more of your loathsome pranks in the future. Do we understand each other?”
    “Quite well, sir.”
    “Good. Then you may go about your usual business. Oh! Drat. Nearly forgot. You may
not
go about your usual business—which is undoubtedly a good thing, you hooligan—you must make ready for us to go to North Cross Abbey.”
    This won a startled glance from the butler. “North Cross Abbey, sir?”
    Justin sighed. “Yes, yes. And why should you be regarding me as though I’d sprouted horns and a tail? Don’t we go to North Cross Abbey every year?”
    “Yes, sir. I forgot. Sir.”
    “We’ll be going a bit earlier is all. And, Beverly, make sure I have sufficient white shirts and evening attire. We’ll be having Knickerbockers at dinners. As well as Miss Evie.”
    By now, the butler had completely regained his aplomb. He replied in perfectly neutral tones, “Knickerbockers. Very well, sir. Will that be all?”
    “Yes. I think so.”
    “Very good, sir.” Beverly bowed and took his leave. Justin and Evelyn watched him depart.
    “It’s rather like having Puck as one’s butler,” Justin mused. “I never know what bit of mischief he’ll get up to.”
    “He doesn’t look like an irrepressible prankster. He doesn’t look like he has any sense of humor at all,” Evelyn replied. “He looks like the quintessential butler. Or a particularly severe church deacon.”
    “I know. That’s the devil of it. But you heard him. Brash as brass and twice as bold,” Justin said. “Honestly, I don’t know why I put up with him. Sentiment, I suppose. Beverly’s a legacy from my grandparent.”
    “The one that didn’t like you?”
    “Oh, no,” Justin said in surprise. “The one that did.”
    “Ah,” Evelyn murmured, confounded.
    Justin turned to her. “Now that you’ve accomplished your mission, I suspect you’d like to get home and out of those pants.”
    Evelyn looked down. She’d forgotten about the ruined knickers. “Yes. I suppose.”
    “Have you transportation, or should I have the carriage brought round?”
    “No, thank you. I have already made arrangements. A hansom cab is waiting for me around the corner.”
    “Foolish of me to ask. I should have realized you’d have all contingencies accounted for. Now, then . . .”
    Before she realized what he was about, he’d plucked her from the chair and was heading out the kitchen door toward the front door. He couldn’t . . . He wouldn’t . . . Hadn’t she just been thinking she could trust his discretion?
    “You can’t carry me out your front door in the middle of the day and drop me on the sidewalk!”
    “I wasn’t going to.” He sounded offended. “I was going to carry you to your cab.”
    “That’s worse!” she exclaimed, drawing a confused look from him. Good heavens, one would think he’d no idea how one got rid of a female visitor without being seen!
    “I can’t be seen in public looking like this, Mr. Powell. One leg of my pants is missing—and heaven knows, no respectable woman wears pants to begin with—”
    “You look very nice in them,” he said.
    She perked up at that. She didn’t think they looked so awfully bad, either. “Thank you. They’re ever so comfortable, too, and—”
What was she thinking?
They were drawing perilously near the front door and he still showed no signs of releasing her. “That’s beside the point! I shouldn’t be wearing them and you know it. Just as you know you can’t be seen carrying me out of your house, and
no,
” she answered his expression as clearly as if he’d spoken out loud, “it would not be better if you waited and