Page 83 of The Heir
“Ach, mein Gott!” screamed Mama.
“Oh, Dash!” Victoria snatched him up.
“Victoria! Yourdress!”
After that, no one paid attention to what might have been lost on the writing table. And as Dash was being taken away by Lehzen to be bathed, and Phillips was shouting orders about the table and the carpet to a small army of servants, and Victoria was being hustled away by Mama and Lady Flora to be changed out of her ruined dress, no one had a spare moment to see how Victoria looked to Jane and smiled.
Chapter 37
Jane knew something was wrong the moment Father climbed into the carriage. His face was flushed, but his expression was ice cold. He pounded on the carriage roof with his closed fist to signal their driver to go but afterward sat rigidly upright, saying nothing.
This silence was a familiar tactic, and the one Jane feared the most. It never failed to set her mind racing. Usually, she asked herself,What have I done?
But now that she had done so much, all she could think was,What does he know?
Perhaps it’s nothing to do with me. Perhaps he’s had some bad news. He and the duchess were shut away so long with Lord Dunham . . .
Lord Dunham was one of the Kensington board. He might have come to bring word that the princess really was being moved out of the palace and away from Father.
That would more than explain his temper. It’s not me. It’s not what—
“Jane.”
Jane froze. Her hands clenched together.
“What have you and the princess been up to?”
Answer him, she ordered herself.Don’t sit there like a stupid block. Answer!
“Just what I told you.” She kept her voice low and her eyes down. She was humble. She was uncertain. “She’s worrying at the death of Dr. Maton. You said that I should play along and keep her distracted . . .”
“And that is everything?”
Jane looked up, made mute by her confusion. It was a mistake. Father’s anger skewered her.
“Because I have reason to believe you are hiding things from me.”
“I’m not!” cried Jane. “I promise I’m not. Only it’s difficult to remember every tiny thing that happens in a day, and it’s not as if I can sit and take notes in front of the princess!”
That seemed to dampen his temper, but only for a moment. “Then tell me now. What is she doing while she plays her little game?”
What do I do? What do I do? He’ll know if I lie!
But an unexpected voice answered this gibbering with calm.Then tell him the truth.
“She . . . she spoke with Gerald Maton.”
Father went very still. “What? How?”
How?
Jane wanted to cry. She wanted to shrink away, to bow her head and confess her sins before Father’s righteous anger. He would be angry, but he would finish shouting eventually. Then he would go away. He’d forget about her again. That was how it always was.
Inspiration, bright and unfamiliar, struck. She knew how it always was. She knew howhealways was. For seventeen years, he had been the driving force of her life.
She knew him far better than he knew her.
“It happened after the vigil,” Jane said, which was true and gave away nothing at all. “I was going to tell you, but I’d had no chance yet. She saw Gerald Maton at the vigil and made shift to speak with him. She thought he might know something you weren’t saying . . .”
