I smiled, knowing Nora must be thrilled by this good fortune. Not being officially Quaker, I had attended numerous balls since coming out into society. Nora, on the other hand, had to be content with a secondhand recounting the next morning. Finally, she could experience the gaiety and splendor for herself.
From everything Henry had told me, only one dark shadow remained. “Did you report how Nathan threatened me this morning?”
“I did. And that, I’m afraid, is the bad news.”
“What do you mean?” I had hoped to hear that Nathan was sitting in a dark cell right now, reflecting on the impropriety of openly declaring his intentions to kill me.
“After I relayed the threat to George, he sent a deputy out to Nathan’s farm. He wasn’t there, and according to his housekeeper, he hasn’t been home since yesterday afternoon. The town’s been searched, but there’s no sign of him.”
I frowned. “What about the servant who’s been helping him? I’ll wager she’s privy to his whereabouts.”
“I’ve already spoken to the maids. No one knows anything, or so they are saying.”
“Well, someone is obviously lying and I’ll not tolerate it a moment longer. The whole lot of them will be dismissed at once.” I had reached my wit’s end, living for so long with a duplicitous maid. “Mrs. Ryan can stay, of course, since she would no more betray me than Ben. She was also at Brighmor the night the bed warmer fell open at the Goodwins’, as was Karta. I don’t think either of these ladies would point to something that could be so easily disproved. The rest will have to go, though.”
Henry shook his head. “Our best bet is to wait until Nathan is caught. Then he can lead us to the accomplice without our putting innocent girls out on the street. Besides, now that he is gone, the two-faced maid will have no one to tell your secrets to. I believe she is harmless enough for the time being.”
Harmless or not, I disliked living with the wicked creature, but Henry had a point about the other girls. Very little would be accomplished by throwing out a handful of servants when the real trouble was still at large. “Where do you think Nathan is?”
“There’s some talk that he’s gone mad and is hiding out in the forest. George thinks he went to Philadelphia to make a formal complaint against you.”
I crinkled my brow. “And what do you think?”
“Nathan is certainly not in his right mind at present, but George is probably right. Just the same, I don’t want you wondering around in the woods alone.”
Henry didn’t have to say anything more for me to know exactly what he meant. Without divulging my entire secret, there was no way to explain that healing Meg Appleton had taken a great deal of my strength, and that I had planned to visit the Otherworld tonight. I dropped my eyes to the bed covers, hoping he hadn’t already guessed at my intentions.
“Is it something you have to do?” he asked quietly.
I considered denying it, but then simply nodded.
“Can I go with you?”
“I don’t know,” I said, looking back up at him. It was an odd idea having Henry stand by while I went through the rituals necessary to enter the Otherworld. “I can wait a few more days. Maybe Nathan will be found by then.” If not, I didn’t know what I would do.
*
No sign of Nathan emerged over the next two days, confirming the constable’s belief that he was currently in Philadelphia, petitioning the various magistrates to formally charge me. Having already made it through one inquiry, I felt more confident about surviving another, especially now that Nathan’s vision had been discredited in regards to my scar and the baby.
By Saturday morning my worries had changed entirely and I was so preoccupied with the prospect of dancing with Henry at our wedding ball that I could hardly spare another thought for any trouble Nathan might be stirring up. With so much to celebrate, I wanted to be merry, but my mood was dampened by the real possibility that my power could betray me once again. Still unable to fully control it in his presence, I feared that in my excitement it might bubble up to the surface the very minute Henry led me to the dance floor.
Weighed down by this concern, I went upstairs to my room in the late afternoon to get ready. My mind was fully distracted—partly with the preparations, but mostly with Henry—when I heard heated voices and walked into the midst of an argument. Alice and Mary stood by my dressing table, glaring so intently at each other that my presence went unnoticed.
“Yer up to no good, Mary Finney. Let it alone or I’ll tell every bit I know.”
“Ye shan’t do nothing of the sort,” Mary said. “She’ll come to no harm, not while I’ve still breath to live by.”
I looked between the two girls, anxious to hear what they would say next. Who would come to no harm and what did Alice know?
Alice saw me first and clamped her mouth shut before any of my questions could be answered. Bobbing a curtsy, she rushed from the room without another word.
“What was that all about?” I asked Mary.