Page 17 of A Dangerous Engagement

CHAPTER SIX

Felicity screamed and then covered her mouth as two men suddenly attacked each other and fell to the floor. She glanced around her, then remembered Auntie was upstairs. She’d claimed a headache after their outing and declined to come down for dinner.

Lady Blackstone’s face turned crimson as she started toward the two men. Mr.Ratley stood, but Mr.Merrick sprang forward, and he and another man pulled the two fighters apart.

Lady Blackstone said in a loud voice, “How dare you behave in such a way!”

“How could you disrupt the evening of my engagement?” Mr.Ratley said.

“You two don’t get to decide who is in charge of anything,” another man said, pointing at Sproles and then Rowell.

What were they talking of? It made no sense, but her uneasy feeling had been correct. Something was going on here, something subversive. But what?

She looked to her fiancé for answers, but he was stepping closer to the two men whom Mr.Philip Merrick was holding by the scruffs of their necks, keeping them separated by the span of his own arms.

“This is unacceptable!” Lady Blackstone was livid. “I shall not have this kind of behavior at my dinner table.”

Felicity’s stomach tied itself in a knot as several men looked angry or made a resentful remark. Then someone touched her arm. Mrs.Cartwright stood at her side.

“Perhaps we should go to our rooms and let the men sort this out amongst themselves.”

“Yes, perhaps you are right.” She couldn’t help staring at Mr.Ratley. Wouldn’t he notice that she was leaving? Could he not see how much she wished to talk to him? But as she and Mrs.Cartwright left, no one seemed to notice, and soon they were walking up the stairs and bidding each other a good night.

“Mrs.Cartwright,” Felicity called out from just outside her bedroom door.

“Yes?”

“What were the two men fighting about?”

“The two men?” Mrs.Cartwright bit her lip and did not look her in the eye. “Oh, who knows what men fight about? They are like children sometimes. I am sure they will have it all smoothed over by tomorrow.”

“Yes.” Felicity’s heart sank into her stomach. She and Aunt Agnes must be the only two people at this party who did not understand what was going on.

Felicity went down to breakfast at the time she thought Lady Blackstone most likely to be there, but she must have missed her. Instead, Felicity ate with Mrs.Cartwright and three men, who talked quietly amongst themselves.

“You look very bright-eyed and cheerful this morning,” Mrs.Cartwright said after she had seated herself directly across the table from Felicity.

Felicity almost said, “Even though I barely slept, my eyes are red, and I look rather pale?” But she refrained and finally answered, “Thank you.”

“I am eager for the ball tonight, though I’m a bit nervous about dancing.” Mrs.Cartwright smiled, but there was an almost brittle quality to her voice and a wariness in the way her eyes darted repeatedly to the men at the other end of the long table. “I am sure Mr.Cartwright will help me not to make too many mistakes, but I shall be too afraid, I think, to dance with anyone else. I do believe it rained last night.” She rushed into a new topic without even taking a breath. “The ground may be too wet to take a walk in the garden today, which will be such a shame.”

Obviously, she was trying to avoid speaking about what had happened the night before. Felicity did not wish to make her uncomfortable—she sensed the young woman might cry if she questioned her about the incident—so she ate her food, smiled reassuringly at her new friend, and asked the others in the room, “Do you know where I might find Lady Blackstone?”

They all answered in the negative, so she excused herself and left the room.

Felicity looked through all the rooms where the guests usually gathered, but she saw no one. Finally, she found a servant and asked her, “Do you know where I might find Lady Blackstone?”

“No, miss. Have you tried her bedroom?”

“I have not. Thank you.”

Felicity did not like to knock on her hostess’s bedroom door, but she went up the steps anyway.

“Felicity. Darling.” Mr.Ratley stood at the top of the stairs, then started down. “I was just looking for you.”

Felicity took a deep breath.

“Darling, is something wrong?”