Page 62 of A Season for Scandal

“Helene’s too, I should imagine,” Oliver said, his tone dry.

“Perhaps, Mr Lockhart, we may prevail upon you to borrow the carriage?” Mr Lavigne added smoothly, a knowing twinkle in his eye. “The women, you know, will have much to attend to!”

“Of course,” Oliver agreed. “I shall have Barker bring it around.”

With that, the Lavignes departed in a flutter of anticipation, Helene tugged along after them like a limp rag doll.

“What have you dragged me into now?” Oliver groaned, scrubbing his hand over his face. “Years I live an unencumbered, quiet life in this house. Three days in your company, and apparently I’m throwing aparty?” He said the word “party” as if it left a bad taste in his mouth.

“It will be good for you,” Mrs Finch said. “This place could do with a bit of cheer. And you won’t have to invite too many – thirty or forty or so of the local types.”

“Forty people!” Oliver’s stricken expression deepened.

“Just enough to fill out the dance floor,” Mrs Finch explained.

“Dancing…” Oliver shuddered, and it seemed there was a worse word than “party”, after all. “Whydoes it have to bedancing?”

“More to the point, why does it have to be anything?” I interrupted here. “What has Izzy discovered?”

“All I know is that she has information and she deemed it necessary to deliver it in person,” said Mrs Finch. “I suggested the house party as an appropriate ruse. It will also give her an opportunity to meet the Lavignes herself.”

“And you think there is more that they’re hiding?” Oliver said, his posture stiffening. “Because of the advertisement you found in their belongings yesterday?”

He had been quiet when we told him about that last night, troubled and withdrawn.

I myself was uncertain. Helene seemed utterly convincing. And yet … and yet something worried at me. Something I couldn’t put my finger on.

One thingwascertain, however: it was getting easier and easier to pretend to be part of a newly engaged couple.

Whenever I had looked at Oliver over dinner the night before, it was to find his eyes already on me; something in them had made my heart beat faster. I had to firmly remind myself of several important things: that this whole romantic relationship was a ruse; that I had an important job to do for the Aviary, an organization in which I believed wholeheartedly that had invested in my training and were depending on me to be focused and clear-headed; that Oliver Lockhart was – according to the evidence I had seen so far – one of the richest men in the country, and decidedly not for me; and finally that – whatever my family may have said in the heat of the moment – Daisy’s letter made it clear that I was not in a position to abandon my responsibilities to them, even if the offerdidpresent itself.

Which it wasn’t going to. For all the perfectly sensible aforementioned reasons.

“The advertisement, among other things.” Mrs Finch sighed now. “All I can say is that I suspect the Lavignes are hiding something.”

“Doyouthink she is Ellen?” Oliver turned to me. It was the first time he had asked me the question directly, and there was tension in every line of his body as he waited for my answer.

“I think the evidence suggests that she is,” I said carefully, “but until we know the full story, how can any of us be sure? Mrs Finch is right that the Lavignes are keeping secrets. At the very least, their interest in returning Helene home is not as altruistic as they have claimed. But whether their ambitions extend to fraud is another question. Having more of our people here under the guise of the party can only be a good thing.”

“And naturally Mrs Lavigne was suitably awed by the presence of the duke and duchess,” Mrs Finch mused. “In cases such as this one, introducing elements that will unsettle or distract the subjects may lead them to accidentally reveal more than they intend. Mrs Lavigne’s attention will be on them. She wants an advantageous match for her daughter.”

“You think she wants to marry Helene off?” Oliver said.

“Thatpart of the arrangement is not in the least suspicious,” Mrs Finch said, her tone reproving. “With such limited opportunities open to women, I think you would find most mothers would want the same.” She tilted her head. “But I do wonder…” She didn’t finish the thought. “Let us suppose,” she said finally, holding up a finger, “hypothetically of course, that Heleneisan imposter, that the Lavignes are perpetrating a ruse of some kind. The possibility that they will get caught will increase dramatically the longer they are here. There would only be more opportunity for mistakes, for a lie to falter. But if Helene were established as your sister and thenmarried, if they collected her inheritance and then left this house…”

“Then they would have the money without living in fear of discovery,” Oliver said slowly.

“If you accept Helene as Ellen, she will have a fortune,” I pointed out. “You have already made it very clear you intend to share your father’s money with her – above and beyond what he left her himself. She is an heiress.”

“Helene is a sweet, pretty young woman,” Mrs Finch added. “A little old to be making her come out in society, but with all her advantages I think Mrs Lavigne can probably aim high. The Lavignes might not only get money out of such an arrangement – their daughter could gain a title. Their influence would grow.”

Oliver looked miserable.

“We are making progress,” I said with a confidence I didn’t actually feel. “If we pull at enough threads, this whole thing will unravel soon enough.” Unthinking, I rested my hand on his arm. “We don’t know what information Izzy has already, nor what she and Max may observe that we might miss. If I have learned anything from the Aviary, it is that a charm of finches will always work better than any individual.”

Oliver looked down to where my fingers gripped the soft fabric of his jacket.

“Then by all means,” he said with a sigh, “let’s throw a party.”