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“that titles must have been invented to confuse us all horribly. As if the fact that most of us are blessed with at least two names is not challenge enough for those who meet us in the course of our lives! And so you are to be a governess, Miss Wood. And doubtless a superior one too, well educated and well trained at Miss Martin’s School.”
    He looked immediately at Claudia in such a way as to signal to Edna that she need not feel the necessity of composing a reply to his observation. It was, Claudia admitted grudgingly, thoughtful of him.
    â€œMiss Martin,” he said, “I came to see if the three of you are ready to retire for the night. If you are, I shall escort you through the crowded dining room and up to your rooms and see that no one accosts you on the way.”
    â€œThank you,” Claudia said. “Yes, it has been a long day, and there is another facing us tomorrow.”
    And yet after escorting them upstairs past several groups of loudly talking men and seeing Flora and Edna safely inside their room with the door shut, he did not immediately hurry off back downstairs.
    â€œOf course,” he said, “it is still rather early, Miss Martin. And weary as I am after such a long ride, I feel the need to stretch my legs before I lie down. You may feel a similar need and an additional one to draw fresh air into your lungs. Would you care to accompany me on a short walk?”
    She would like no such thing.
    But her dinner was still sitting heavy in her stomach even though she had not taken large helpings of anything. And she was still feeling cramped from the journey with as much distance again to travel tomorrow. She craved fresh air and exercise.
    She could not go walking alone in a strange town when it was already dusk.
    The Marquess of Attingsborough was Susanna’s friend, she reminded herself. Susanna had spoken highly of him. The only reason she could possibly have for
not
going with him was that she did not like him, though really she did not know him, did she? And that he was a man—but that was patently ridiculous. She might be an aging spinster, but she was not going to dwindle into the type of old maid who simpered and blushed and generally went all to pieces as soon as a male hove into sight.
    â€œThank you,” she said. “I will fetch my cloak and bonnet.”
    â€œGood,” he said, “I will wait for you at the head of the stairs.”

3

    Miss Claudia Martin, Joseph noticed, wore the same gray
cloak and bonnet she had worn all day. Once they were outside the inn, they walked along the street beyond the stable yard until they turned onto a narrower lane that would take them out into the country. She strode along at his side, making it unnecessary for him to reduce his stride. He did not offer his arm. He sensed that it would be the wrong thing to do.
    It was already dusk, but it would not be a dark night, he judged. Now that it was too late for the sun to shine, the clouds had moved off and the moon was already up.
    â€œPerhaps,” he said, “tomorrow will be a brighter day.”
    â€œIt is to be hoped so,” she agreed. “Sunshine is always preferable to clouds.”
    He did not know quite why he had invited her to walk with him—except that her school interested him. She had never shown one sign of liking him.
    â€œI trust your rooms meet with your approval,” he said.
    â€œThey do,” she said. “But so would the other rooms have done, the ones I reserved, the ones overlooking the stable yard.”
    â€œThey might have been noisy,” he said.
    â€œThey
are
noisy,” she told him. “I have stayed in one or other of them before.”
    â€œYou
like
noise?” He turned his head to look at her. She was gazing straight ahead, her chin up, her nose in the air. Good Lord, she was annoyed. With
him
? For insisting that she be treated with courtesy and respect at that inn?
    â€œI do