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The tiny victory gave her the will to stand taller and actually look him in the eye.
    â€œFine,” he replied sharply. “Splendid. But you will be Mrs . Osborne while at Pendurgan. There’ll be the devil of time explaining your arrival in any case,” he continued in the same angry tone, brushing away the rain from his face. “But I refuse to have it put about that I have brought an unchaperoned young miss into my home. God almighty, that’s the last thing I need.”
    With that, he tugged again on her arm and led her to the big doors that now stood open. A plump, silver-haired woman in a dark blue dress and white apron held the door. “My lord!” she exclaimed, her hands fluttering in agitation. “Come in quickly before you catch yer death.”
    Lord Harkness pushed Verity ahead until they were safely inside an enormous hall. The woman looked at her quizzically. “My lord?” she asked.
    â€œIs the yellow bedchamber made ready for a guest, Mrs. Tregelly?” he asked in a curt, sharp tone as he removed his hat and shook the rain from his coattails.
    â€œYes, my lord,” the woman replied. “’Twas only last week we aired the mattresses and laid down fresh linen.”
    â€œGood. This is Mrs. Osborne. She will be staying with us for a while. Tomas, bring along her trunk and show Mrs. Osborne the way to the yellow bedchamber. Mrs. Tregelly, a word, if you please.”
    Without so much as a backward glance at Verity, he left the room. Mrs. Tregelly regarded Verity with a puzzled look, and then followed Lord Harkness. Verity stood in the entry hall, dripping rain all over the floor, and prayed the woman would come back. She had seemed so…normal. Grunting, the ginger-haired footman heaved the trunk onto his back. “This way, ma’am,” he said.
    Tomas, moving slowly with his heavy burden, led Verity across the broad hall. A fire in an enormous fireplace at one end provided the only light. It was difficult to make out details, but the room appeared to have a high beamed ceiling and dark paneling halfway up the whitewashed walls. Above the paneling, on every wall, hung row upon row upon row of swords, pikes, battle-axes, spears, rifles, and pistols of every kind. Scattered among the weapons were bits of armor—breastplates, helmets, and shields. Everything was polished to a sheen and glistened in the light of the fire.
    â€œThere be a candle on table just over there, ma’am,” Tomas said, nodding toward a long trestle table placed against one of the walls. “Gets fair dark in these hallways. Best if ’ee takes a candle.”
    Verity picked up the candle and lit it by the fire, then followed Tomas as he led her into a dark corridor. They came at last to a stairway, the poor footman grunting and gasping with his burden. After a moment to catch his breath at the top of the stairs, he led her down another hallway and finally to an open doorway. “Here ’tis,” he said, and stood aside waiting for Verity to enter. She hesitated, loath to go willingly into what might be her prison cell. At Tomas’s plaintive look, she straightened her shoulders and walked into the room. The footman followed quicklybehind and, with a groan, deposited her trunk near the foot of the bed. He then quickly set about making a fire in the fireplace.
    â€œIs there anything else ’ee needs, ma’am?” he asked after he had initiated a roaring blaze.
    Verity glanced about her. It was not at all what she had expected. “No,” she said at last, still unprepared to trust her voice with more than a word or two.
    â€œVery good, then,” Tomas replied. “They dines at six, ma’am. It just be getting on five, so ’ee has a chance to rest up a bit. I’ll make sure someone comes to get ’ee just afore six.”
    He bowed and left the room, closing the door behind him.
    Verity sank down onto the edge of the